Key road tests for Lady Griz at Sac State, NAU
2/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The University of Montana women's basketball team faces an important road test this weekend when the Lady Griz play at Sacramento State and Northern Arizona Thursday and Saturday. Montana (16-5, 5-3 BSC) is currently in fourth place in the Big Sky Conference standings, a half game behind Weber State (6-3 BSC) and Idaho State (6-3 BSC) and a game and a half behind league-leading Northern Arizona (7-2 BSC).
The Lady Griz will face the Hornets (8-13, 3-6 BSC) Thursday night at 8 p.m. (MTN) and the Lumberjacks Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
WSU and ISU play on the road this weekend at Portland State and Eastern Washington.
"I don't recall a race like this one where there are this many people in the hunt," Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said Monday. "But there are a lot of games left to go.
"NAU had a huge win at Weber (last Saturday), but I don't think there are any outcomes this year that would really surprise me."
Montana Explodes Offensively: The Lady Griz have scored 195 points in their last two games, a 105-55 victory over Idaho State on Feb. 4 and last Friday's 90-65 win against Montana State. That follows a two-game stretch during which Montana averaged just 52.5 points per game in losses to Eastern Washington and Weber State.
The Lady Griz shot 48.0 percent from the field against the Bengals and Bobcats, including a 27-for-45 (.600) effort from 3-point range (16-for-24 against ISU, 66.7 percent, and 11-for-21 against the Bobcats, 52.4 percent).
Now in its 18th season of competing in the Big Sky Conference, Montana had only seven previous league games of scoring at least 90 points and only the 1995 team did so twice in the same regular season.
"I thought we executed a little bit better on offense the last two games," Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said when asked about the reason for the two-game outburst. "But it still comes down to us just shooting the ball better. I don't have any secret answer for it.
"I've thought all along we're a better shooting team than we've shown. We shot the ball really well from three, and that's how we scored so many points (over the last two games), but you can't rely on that every night."
Edwards' Hot Hand Leads the Way: Senior Katie Edwards' hot shooting has played a large role in Montana's recent scoring explosion. The senior guard has averaged 19.5 points per game over the last two games, going 11-for-15 (.733) from 3-point range (5-for-7 against ISU and 6-for-8 against MSU).
Edwards now has 220 career 3-pointers, tops on the Montana career list and second on the Big Sky Conference list. Weber State's Julie Gjertsen owns the league record with 233 career threes.
Home Attendance Among National Leaders: Montana is averaging 3,835 fans over its 12 home games this season. That total ranks 23rd in the nation, placing the Lady Griz just behind Rutgers (22nd, 4,151) and just ahead of Virginia Tech (24th, 3,821).
Tennessee leads the nation in home attendance, averaging 15,118 fans per game. Texas Tech (11,875), Connecticut (11,810) and New Mexico (10,140) also average over 10,000 fans per home game.
Bracketology Talk: Proving it's never too early to talk about March Madness, ESPN.com's Charlie Creme has started his weekly Women's Bracketology. In this week's version, he has Northern Arizona (or the Big Sky tournament champion) earning a No. 15 seed and facing No. 2 seed Maryland (22-3 and ranked No. 4 nationally with two first-place votes), at Norfolk, Va.
Lady Griz on the Radio: All of Montana's games during the 2005-06 season will be broadcast on KLCY radio (930 AM). Tom Stage calls the action, beginning with a pregame show that starts approximately 30 minutes prior to tipoff. Dick Slater provides the color commentary.
Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig makes an appearance during the postgame show.
A link to the internet feed of KLCY's coverage can be found at MontanaGrizzlies.com.
About Sacramento State: The Hornets are 8-13 overall and 3-6 in league play, though three of those six losses have come by a combined nine points.
Sac State got swept on the road last week, starting with a 59-55 loss at Weber State. The Hornets allowed WSU to shoot 49.0 percent from the field, but stayed in the game with a 44-26 rebounding advantage, including 21 offensive boards to get 15 more shots than their opponents. Senior guard Cindy Alldrin had 16 points in the loss.
Against Idaho State, a 75-60 loss, Sac State shot just 22.6 percent in the first half to fall behind by 17 at the half, 39-22. The Hornets, who were led by junior guard Stephanie Cherry's 14 points, shot 29.2 percent for the game, including 4-for-24 (.167) from 3-point range.
Sac State has three players averaging in double figures. Junior guard Kim Sheehy and Cherry both average 11.1 points per game, while Alldrin adds 10.6. Senior forward Ashley Cadotte leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. In league play, senior center Katelyn Ciampi leads the Big Sky in shooting percentage (.577) and ranks fourth in blocked shots (1.22 bpg).
As a team, the Hornets rank second in league play with 7.00 made threes per game. They are getting out-shot on the season, 42.6 percent to 37.8 percent.
Sac State is coached by Dan Muscatell, who is 17-59 in his third year.
The Last Meeting: Senior Katie Edwards scored a career-high 28 points on 7-of-8 3-point shooting and added a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Lady Griz to a 78-59 victory over Sacramento State Jan. 21. Montana shot 48.3 percent from the field in the win, its second-highest production of the season.
Edwards has gone 16-for-20 from 3-point range in her last two games against Sac State. Last season at Sacramento, Calif., Edwards broke the UM record for 3-pointers in a game with nine, finishing with a then career-high 27 points. (Edwards missed the Sac State-Montana game at Missoula last February.)
Freshman Mandy Morales joined Edwards in double figures with 15 points. Senior Jody McLeod grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, her 18th career double-figure rebounding game, helping the Lady Griz to a commanding 47-27 advantage on the boards.
Cindy Alldrin led the Hornets with 13 points, while Lindsay Calmettes added 12.
The Series: Montana has never lost to the Hornets, winning all 19 meetings. The Lady Griz are 9-0 in games at Sacramento.
Coach Selvig's Preview: "Sac is a very good team. They've lost three conference games by four (59-55 vs. Weber State), three (79-76 vs. Idaho State) and two points (57-55 vs. Weber State). You flip that around and they could easily be 6-3 right now. The teams are just so balanced in the league this year."
About Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks are 17-7 and atop the Big Sky standings at 7-2. They have a one-game lead in the league with three weeks remaining. After this weekend's two games at home, where NAU is a perfect 11-0 this season, the Lumberjacks close the regular season with three road games.
Northern Arizona opened last weekend with an 84-71 setback at Idaho State. Down four at the break, the NAU defense gave up 49 second-half points to the Bengals on 48.4 percent shooting. The Lumberjacks hit four more field goals then ISU in the game, but the Bengals outscored them from the line, 27-5. Junior forward Megan Porter led NAU with 15 points.
With first place on the line last Saturday night at Weber State, Northern Arizona broke free from a 30-30 halftime tie to pull out a 65-53 victory when it limited the Wildcats to 25.9 percent second-half shooting. Junior forward Alyssa Wahl had 17 points and nine rebounds in the win.
Wahl averages 13.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, both team highs. Porter averages 12.3 points. Junior guard Kim Winkfield is number one in the Big Sky in assists, averaging 5.00 per game in league play. She also ranks number two in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.65.
In Big Sky games, Northern Arizona ranks first in the league in field goal percentage (.462), assists (18.56 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22).
NAU is coached by Laurie Kelly, who is 48-33 in her third season.
The Last Meeting: Northern Arizona shot 54.7 percent against the Big Sky Conference's best defense and came away with a 65-60 victory over Montana Jan. 19. The Lumberjacks led by two at the break, 30-28, and had to rally back from an eight-point, second-half deficit to pick up their second straight win on the Lady Griz' home floor after 20 consecutive losses.
Alyssa Wahl scored 15 points and Natalie Metz added 11 to lead NAU.
Freshman Mandy Morales had 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Montana. Sophomore Johanna Closson added 17 points and senior Katie Edwards had eight, but the rest of the Lady Griz combined for just nine additional points.
The Series: Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona, 34-7, but the Lumberjacks have won the last two meetings, both at Missoula. The Lady Griz are 13-5 in games at Flagstaff, including three straight wins.
Coach Selvig's Preview: "We didn't shoot well in our last game with NAU (in Missoula), we didn't defend them particularly well and they shot the ball real well. We need to defend them better and hopefully we'll be able to keep shooting the ball."
Montana 90, Montana State 65: Senior Katie Edwards scored a game-high 20 points and freshman Mandy Morales added 18 points and a season-high seven assists to lead Montana to a 90-65 victory over Montana State Friday night at Dahlberg Arena. The Lady Griz opened up a nine-point halftime lead, then posted 49 second-half points on 45.2 percent shooting to win their second straight and improve to 16-5 overall, 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play.
The Bobcats dropped to 2-18 on the season, 1-7 in league play.
After averaging 52.5 points per game in back-to-back league losses to Eastern Washington and Weber State, both of which were decided in the final seconds, the Lady Griz have now posted back-to-back games of 105 and 90 points.
Edwards provided the spark against MSU, hitting all four of her 3-point attempts in the first half to score 12 points as the Lady Griz jumped out to a 41-32 halftime lead despite Montana State's 48.0 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
Montana opened the second half on a 16-5 run to take its first 20-point lead of the game, 57-37, when freshman Tamara Guardipee scored inside with 14:59 remaining.
The Bobcats twice fought back to cut the second-half margin to 12 points, but a 9-0 Lady Griz run mid-way through the half put the margin at 22 points, 73-51, and Montana State would get no closer than 20 the rest of the way.
Guardipee joined Edwards and Morales in double figures with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the line. She also added three blocked shots.
Sophomores Dana Conway and Laura Cote both added nine points. Cote's came in just 12 minutes off the bench.
Senior Jody McLeod had six points and a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Lady Griz to a 42-35 advantage on the boards. Junior Sara Gale had four points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Edwards finished 6-for-8 from 3-point range, and Montana was 11-for-21 (.524), making the Lady Griz 27-for-45 (.600) from 3-point range over their last two high-scoring games.
Whitney Connolly scored 16 points for Montana State. Alyssa Nelson added 13 points, six assists and three steals, while Jenny Heringer had 11 points and five rebounds.
Lady Griz Notes: Senior Jody McLeod has posted back-to-back double-figure rebounding games, with 10 against both Idaho State and Montana State. She now has five on the season and 20 for her career.
McLeod has 685 career rebounds, moving with 44 of the Montana career top 10.
Montana committed a season-low seven turnovers against the Bobcats.
Senior Katie Edwards ranks eighth on the UM career scoring list with 1,281 points. She is 46 from No. 7 Jeanne McNulty and 79 from cracking the top five.
Montana is 11-3 with a starting lineup of freshman Mandy Morales, Edwards, sophomore Dana Conway, McLeod and freshman Tamara Guardipee.
The Lady Griz will face the Hornets (8-13, 3-6 BSC) Thursday night at 8 p.m. (MTN) and the Lumberjacks Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
WSU and ISU play on the road this weekend at Portland State and Eastern Washington.
"I don't recall a race like this one where there are this many people in the hunt," Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said Monday. "But there are a lot of games left to go.
"NAU had a huge win at Weber (last Saturday), but I don't think there are any outcomes this year that would really surprise me."
Montana Explodes Offensively: The Lady Griz have scored 195 points in their last two games, a 105-55 victory over Idaho State on Feb. 4 and last Friday's 90-65 win against Montana State. That follows a two-game stretch during which Montana averaged just 52.5 points per game in losses to Eastern Washington and Weber State.
The Lady Griz shot 48.0 percent from the field against the Bengals and Bobcats, including a 27-for-45 (.600) effort from 3-point range (16-for-24 against ISU, 66.7 percent, and 11-for-21 against the Bobcats, 52.4 percent).
Now in its 18th season of competing in the Big Sky Conference, Montana had only seven previous league games of scoring at least 90 points and only the 1995 team did so twice in the same regular season.
"I thought we executed a little bit better on offense the last two games," Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said when asked about the reason for the two-game outburst. "But it still comes down to us just shooting the ball better. I don't have any secret answer for it.
"I've thought all along we're a better shooting team than we've shown. We shot the ball really well from three, and that's how we scored so many points (over the last two games), but you can't rely on that every night."
Edwards' Hot Hand Leads the Way: Senior Katie Edwards' hot shooting has played a large role in Montana's recent scoring explosion. The senior guard has averaged 19.5 points per game over the last two games, going 11-for-15 (.733) from 3-point range (5-for-7 against ISU and 6-for-8 against MSU).
Edwards now has 220 career 3-pointers, tops on the Montana career list and second on the Big Sky Conference list. Weber State's Julie Gjertsen owns the league record with 233 career threes.
Home Attendance Among National Leaders: Montana is averaging 3,835 fans over its 12 home games this season. That total ranks 23rd in the nation, placing the Lady Griz just behind Rutgers (22nd, 4,151) and just ahead of Virginia Tech (24th, 3,821).
Tennessee leads the nation in home attendance, averaging 15,118 fans per game. Texas Tech (11,875), Connecticut (11,810) and New Mexico (10,140) also average over 10,000 fans per home game.
Bracketology Talk: Proving it's never too early to talk about March Madness, ESPN.com's Charlie Creme has started his weekly Women's Bracketology. In this week's version, he has Northern Arizona (or the Big Sky tournament champion) earning a No. 15 seed and facing No. 2 seed Maryland (22-3 and ranked No. 4 nationally with two first-place votes), at Norfolk, Va.
Lady Griz on the Radio: All of Montana's games during the 2005-06 season will be broadcast on KLCY radio (930 AM). Tom Stage calls the action, beginning with a pregame show that starts approximately 30 minutes prior to tipoff. Dick Slater provides the color commentary.
Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig makes an appearance during the postgame show.
A link to the internet feed of KLCY's coverage can be found at MontanaGrizzlies.com.
About Sacramento State: The Hornets are 8-13 overall and 3-6 in league play, though three of those six losses have come by a combined nine points.
Sac State got swept on the road last week, starting with a 59-55 loss at Weber State. The Hornets allowed WSU to shoot 49.0 percent from the field, but stayed in the game with a 44-26 rebounding advantage, including 21 offensive boards to get 15 more shots than their opponents. Senior guard Cindy Alldrin had 16 points in the loss.
Against Idaho State, a 75-60 loss, Sac State shot just 22.6 percent in the first half to fall behind by 17 at the half, 39-22. The Hornets, who were led by junior guard Stephanie Cherry's 14 points, shot 29.2 percent for the game, including 4-for-24 (.167) from 3-point range.
Sac State has three players averaging in double figures. Junior guard Kim Sheehy and Cherry both average 11.1 points per game, while Alldrin adds 10.6. Senior forward Ashley Cadotte leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. In league play, senior center Katelyn Ciampi leads the Big Sky in shooting percentage (.577) and ranks fourth in blocked shots (1.22 bpg).
As a team, the Hornets rank second in league play with 7.00 made threes per game. They are getting out-shot on the season, 42.6 percent to 37.8 percent.
Sac State is coached by Dan Muscatell, who is 17-59 in his third year.
The Last Meeting: Senior Katie Edwards scored a career-high 28 points on 7-of-8 3-point shooting and added a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Lady Griz to a 78-59 victory over Sacramento State Jan. 21. Montana shot 48.3 percent from the field in the win, its second-highest production of the season.
Edwards has gone 16-for-20 from 3-point range in her last two games against Sac State. Last season at Sacramento, Calif., Edwards broke the UM record for 3-pointers in a game with nine, finishing with a then career-high 27 points. (Edwards missed the Sac State-Montana game at Missoula last February.)
Freshman Mandy Morales joined Edwards in double figures with 15 points. Senior Jody McLeod grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, her 18th career double-figure rebounding game, helping the Lady Griz to a commanding 47-27 advantage on the boards.
Cindy Alldrin led the Hornets with 13 points, while Lindsay Calmettes added 12.
The Series: Montana has never lost to the Hornets, winning all 19 meetings. The Lady Griz are 9-0 in games at Sacramento.
Coach Selvig's Preview: "Sac is a very good team. They've lost three conference games by four (59-55 vs. Weber State), three (79-76 vs. Idaho State) and two points (57-55 vs. Weber State). You flip that around and they could easily be 6-3 right now. The teams are just so balanced in the league this year."
About Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks are 17-7 and atop the Big Sky standings at 7-2. They have a one-game lead in the league with three weeks remaining. After this weekend's two games at home, where NAU is a perfect 11-0 this season, the Lumberjacks close the regular season with three road games.
Northern Arizona opened last weekend with an 84-71 setback at Idaho State. Down four at the break, the NAU defense gave up 49 second-half points to the Bengals on 48.4 percent shooting. The Lumberjacks hit four more field goals then ISU in the game, but the Bengals outscored them from the line, 27-5. Junior forward Megan Porter led NAU with 15 points.
With first place on the line last Saturday night at Weber State, Northern Arizona broke free from a 30-30 halftime tie to pull out a 65-53 victory when it limited the Wildcats to 25.9 percent second-half shooting. Junior forward Alyssa Wahl had 17 points and nine rebounds in the win.
Wahl averages 13.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, both team highs. Porter averages 12.3 points. Junior guard Kim Winkfield is number one in the Big Sky in assists, averaging 5.00 per game in league play. She also ranks number two in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.65.
In Big Sky games, Northern Arizona ranks first in the league in field goal percentage (.462), assists (18.56 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22).
NAU is coached by Laurie Kelly, who is 48-33 in her third season.
The Last Meeting: Northern Arizona shot 54.7 percent against the Big Sky Conference's best defense and came away with a 65-60 victory over Montana Jan. 19. The Lumberjacks led by two at the break, 30-28, and had to rally back from an eight-point, second-half deficit to pick up their second straight win on the Lady Griz' home floor after 20 consecutive losses.
Alyssa Wahl scored 15 points and Natalie Metz added 11 to lead NAU.
Freshman Mandy Morales had 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Montana. Sophomore Johanna Closson added 17 points and senior Katie Edwards had eight, but the rest of the Lady Griz combined for just nine additional points.
The Series: Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona, 34-7, but the Lumberjacks have won the last two meetings, both at Missoula. The Lady Griz are 13-5 in games at Flagstaff, including three straight wins.
Coach Selvig's Preview: "We didn't shoot well in our last game with NAU (in Missoula), we didn't defend them particularly well and they shot the ball real well. We need to defend them better and hopefully we'll be able to keep shooting the ball."
Montana 90, Montana State 65: Senior Katie Edwards scored a game-high 20 points and freshman Mandy Morales added 18 points and a season-high seven assists to lead Montana to a 90-65 victory over Montana State Friday night at Dahlberg Arena. The Lady Griz opened up a nine-point halftime lead, then posted 49 second-half points on 45.2 percent shooting to win their second straight and improve to 16-5 overall, 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play.
The Bobcats dropped to 2-18 on the season, 1-7 in league play.
After averaging 52.5 points per game in back-to-back league losses to Eastern Washington and Weber State, both of which were decided in the final seconds, the Lady Griz have now posted back-to-back games of 105 and 90 points.
Edwards provided the spark against MSU, hitting all four of her 3-point attempts in the first half to score 12 points as the Lady Griz jumped out to a 41-32 halftime lead despite Montana State's 48.0 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
Montana opened the second half on a 16-5 run to take its first 20-point lead of the game, 57-37, when freshman Tamara Guardipee scored inside with 14:59 remaining.
The Bobcats twice fought back to cut the second-half margin to 12 points, but a 9-0 Lady Griz run mid-way through the half put the margin at 22 points, 73-51, and Montana State would get no closer than 20 the rest of the way.
Guardipee joined Edwards and Morales in double figures with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the line. She also added three blocked shots.
Sophomores Dana Conway and Laura Cote both added nine points. Cote's came in just 12 minutes off the bench.
Senior Jody McLeod had six points and a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Lady Griz to a 42-35 advantage on the boards. Junior Sara Gale had four points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Edwards finished 6-for-8 from 3-point range, and Montana was 11-for-21 (.524), making the Lady Griz 27-for-45 (.600) from 3-point range over their last two high-scoring games.
Whitney Connolly scored 16 points for Montana State. Alyssa Nelson added 13 points, six assists and three steals, while Jenny Heringer had 11 points and five rebounds.
Lady Griz Notes: Senior Jody McLeod has posted back-to-back double-figure rebounding games, with 10 against both Idaho State and Montana State. She now has five on the season and 20 for her career.
McLeod has 685 career rebounds, moving with 44 of the Montana career top 10.
Montana committed a season-low seven turnovers against the Bobcats.
Senior Katie Edwards ranks eighth on the UM career scoring list with 1,281 points. She is 46 from No. 7 Jeanne McNulty and 79 from cracking the top five.
Montana is 11-3 with a starting lineup of freshman Mandy Morales, Edwards, sophomore Dana Conway, McLeod and freshman Tamara Guardipee.
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