Lady Griz survive ISU comeback, win 13th straight
1/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The University of Montana women's basketball team jumped out to a 21-point first-half lead, then survived a furious Idaho State second-half rally to pull out a 90-87 win at Pocatello, Idaho, Thursday night. The win was the Lady Griz' 13th straight as they improved to 16-1 overall and remained unbeaten in Big Sky Conference play at 4-0.
The loss was the first league loss of the season for the Bengals, who dropped to 6-9 overall, 2-1 in Big Sky play.
Montana will face the league's only other unbeaten team Saturday afternoon when the Lady Griz play at Weber State at 2 p.m. The Wildcats improved to 5-0 in conference play, 10-8 overall, with a 67-66 home-court victory over Montana State (6-10, 1-3 BSC) Thursday night.
In other league games, Northern Arizona (11-7, 4-1 BSC) won at home over Eastern Washington (6-12, 1-4 BSC), 76-51, and Portland State (6-12, 2-3 BSC) won at Northern Colorado (3-14, 0-5 BSC), 81-63. Sacramento State (3-15, 1-3 BSC) lost at Kansas, 69-50, Wednesday night.
Montana appeared on the verge of blowing out Idaho State, jumping out to a 25-4 lead in the game's opening 6:10. Six different players scored in UM's opening run, highlighted by sophomores Mandy Morales and Tamara Guardipee, who had seven and six of the 25 points.
Idaho State scored eight straight points to stop Montana's momentum and eventually pulled to within four, 36-32, when Oana Iacovita hit a 3-pointer for the Bengals with 4:57 to play in the half.
Guardipee scored inside to spark a 9-0 run that put the Lady Griz up 13, 45-32, with just under three minutes to play, and a jumper by junior Johanna Closson late in the half sent Montana to the locker room with a 53-39 lead.
The Lady Griz shot 52.4 percent in the first half and held a dominating 31-11 advantage on the boards.
Guardipee had a double-double in the first half alone, totaling 14 points and grabbing 10 boards, nearly out-rebounding ISU for the first half despite playing only 12 minutes.
Morales and sophomore Britney Lohman both had 11 first-half points, while Idaho State's Andrea Lightfoot, the 2006 Big Sky Conference MVP, had 17 points at the break for the Bengals, who shot 37.5 percent for the first half.
The second-half lead appeared safe at 16 points, 58-42, when Guardipee scored inside with 17:57 to play, but ISU's Natalie Doma scored six straight points, igniting a 19-1 Idaho State run over a span of 6:03 that was capped by a Jeni Boesel 3-pointer to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 61-59.
Junior Dana Conway answered for Montana, tying the score at 61-61, and the game would remain tight, still deadlocked at 76-76 until Lohman hit one of her three 3-pointers, giving the Lady Griz the lead, 79-76, with 5:21 to play that they would not give up the rest of the way.
The UM lead reached seven, 85-78, when Conway scored at the 2:10 mark, and the lead was still six, 88-82, with 50 seconds to play after Lohman scored inside and added the ensuing free throw.
Lightfoot scored inside with 36 seconds to play, then Boesel scored with 22 seconds remaining after a Montana turnover to quickly cut the lead to two, 88-86.
Conway missed two free throws with 13 seconds to play, and Lightfoot, an 84.7 percent free shooter coming into the game, got to the line with eight seconds to play. She hit the first and missed the second, and Idaho State was forced to foul Lohman after she rebounded the miss.
Lohman hit two free throws with six seconds to play, pushing the Montana lead to three points, 90-87, and a potential game-tying 3-point attempt by Kaylynn Fager was off the mark at the buzzer.
Guardipee finished with a career-high 25 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season and the seventh of her career.
Lohman also finished with a career high, scoring 23 points and adding eight boards.
Morales finished with 17 points and a game-high seven assists.
Lightfoot had 27 points, Boesel 23 points and five assists and Doma 20 points and 15 rebounds for Idaho State.
Montana shot 49.3 percent for the game and had a 52-28 rebounding advantage.
The Bengals shot 41.7 percent, went 27-for-31 (.871) from the line and only turned the ball over five times.
The loss was the first league loss of the season for the Bengals, who dropped to 6-9 overall, 2-1 in Big Sky play.
Montana will face the league's only other unbeaten team Saturday afternoon when the Lady Griz play at Weber State at 2 p.m. The Wildcats improved to 5-0 in conference play, 10-8 overall, with a 67-66 home-court victory over Montana State (6-10, 1-3 BSC) Thursday night.
In other league games, Northern Arizona (11-7, 4-1 BSC) won at home over Eastern Washington (6-12, 1-4 BSC), 76-51, and Portland State (6-12, 2-3 BSC) won at Northern Colorado (3-14, 0-5 BSC), 81-63. Sacramento State (3-15, 1-3 BSC) lost at Kansas, 69-50, Wednesday night.
Montana appeared on the verge of blowing out Idaho State, jumping out to a 25-4 lead in the game's opening 6:10. Six different players scored in UM's opening run, highlighted by sophomores Mandy Morales and Tamara Guardipee, who had seven and six of the 25 points.
Idaho State scored eight straight points to stop Montana's momentum and eventually pulled to within four, 36-32, when Oana Iacovita hit a 3-pointer for the Bengals with 4:57 to play in the half.
Guardipee scored inside to spark a 9-0 run that put the Lady Griz up 13, 45-32, with just under three minutes to play, and a jumper by junior Johanna Closson late in the half sent Montana to the locker room with a 53-39 lead.
The Lady Griz shot 52.4 percent in the first half and held a dominating 31-11 advantage on the boards.
Guardipee had a double-double in the first half alone, totaling 14 points and grabbing 10 boards, nearly out-rebounding ISU for the first half despite playing only 12 minutes.
Morales and sophomore Britney Lohman both had 11 first-half points, while Idaho State's Andrea Lightfoot, the 2006 Big Sky Conference MVP, had 17 points at the break for the Bengals, who shot 37.5 percent for the first half.
The second-half lead appeared safe at 16 points, 58-42, when Guardipee scored inside with 17:57 to play, but ISU's Natalie Doma scored six straight points, igniting a 19-1 Idaho State run over a span of 6:03 that was capped by a Jeni Boesel 3-pointer to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 61-59.
Junior Dana Conway answered for Montana, tying the score at 61-61, and the game would remain tight, still deadlocked at 76-76 until Lohman hit one of her three 3-pointers, giving the Lady Griz the lead, 79-76, with 5:21 to play that they would not give up the rest of the way.
The UM lead reached seven, 85-78, when Conway scored at the 2:10 mark, and the lead was still six, 88-82, with 50 seconds to play after Lohman scored inside and added the ensuing free throw.
Lightfoot scored inside with 36 seconds to play, then Boesel scored with 22 seconds remaining after a Montana turnover to quickly cut the lead to two, 88-86.
Conway missed two free throws with 13 seconds to play, and Lightfoot, an 84.7 percent free shooter coming into the game, got to the line with eight seconds to play. She hit the first and missed the second, and Idaho State was forced to foul Lohman after she rebounded the miss.
Lohman hit two free throws with six seconds to play, pushing the Montana lead to three points, 90-87, and a potential game-tying 3-point attempt by Kaylynn Fager was off the mark at the buzzer.
Guardipee finished with a career-high 25 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season and the seventh of her career.
Lohman also finished with a career high, scoring 23 points and adding eight boards.
Morales finished with 17 points and a game-high seven assists.
Lightfoot had 27 points, Boesel 23 points and five assists and Doma 20 points and 15 rebounds for Idaho State.
Montana shot 49.3 percent for the game and had a 52-28 rebounding advantage.
The Bengals shot 41.7 percent, went 27-for-31 (.871) from the line and only turned the ball over five times.
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