Lady Griz face finals, Rams, Pilots this week
12/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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The University of Montana women???s basketball team will face finals, Colorado State and Portland this week. The Lady Griz (5-2) will host the Rams (2-5) Wednesday in the heart of finals week and the Pilots (3-5) Saturday at the end of finals week.
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Both games begin at 7 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena, where Montana has won 19 straight games.
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The Lady Griz snapped a two-game losing streak with a pair of wins over Oregon and Boise State last week. Montana won at Oregon, 60-52, last Thursday and downed the Broncos at home Sunday, 72-51.
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Colorado State, which will be playing for just the second time this season outside the state of Colorado, won its last game Saturday, 62-47 at home over Northern Colorado.
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Portland, which has played just two of its eight games to date at home, lost to Seattle University Sunday in Portland, 56-51. The Pilots won???t have another game before Saturday.
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Montana will have three games next week leading up to the Christmas break.
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???I think we???ve had our hands full with this early schedule, particularly with the number of games we???ve had away from home,??? Montana coach Robin Selvig said. ???I???m more than happy we???re sitting 5-2 right now.
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???I think we???ve gotten better, and I think the schedule has helped make that possible. We???ve got a long way to go and a lot of improving to do, but I feel good about what we???ve done up to this point.???
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Media: Both games this week will be aired on KENR 107.5 FM in the Missoula area, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater on the broadcast. The games are streamed through the station???s Web site (www.energy1075.com) for fans outside of the Missoula listening area. A link to KENR???s Web site is available at MontanaGrizzlies.com.
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MontanaGrizzlies.com will offer live stats of both games this week. BigSkyTV.org will have free video.
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Defense keys recent wins: Montana left the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, with back-to-back losses to Maryland and South Dakota State but snapped its longest losing streak since the close of the 2006-07 season with two victories last week.
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In their eight-point victory at Oregon, the Lady Griz limited the Ducks to 17 first-half points on 18.2 percent shooting.
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In Sunday???s win over Boise State, Montana held the Broncos to 22 second-half points on 26.5 percent shooting to break open a game that was 33-29 at the half.
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Oregon and Boise State averaged 51.5 points in the losses and shot 31.3 percent. The Ducks and Broncos went a combined 8-for-36 (.222) from 3-point range.
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The Lady Griz even found a way to defend the free throw line, where UO and BSU shot a combined 57.7 percent.
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???The defensive end has been our strength so far, and that surprises me,??? Selvig said. ???We???ve really made a lot of progress since our exhibition games.
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???We???re capable of shooting the ball better than we have, but part of that has to do with the quality of the opponents we???ve played so far. I think we???ll be able to shoot the ball better as the year goes by, so it???s encouraging that we???re winning games early even though we???re not lighting it up.???
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So, we meet again: Montana has won 23 straight home games against non-conference opponents. The last non-Big Sky team to win at Dahlberg Arena? Colorado State, which posted a 65-53 victory Jan. 8, 2005. In that game, the Rams held the Lady Griz to 4-of-25 (.160) shooting in the first half to race out to a 41-17 halftime lead. Montana would rally in the second half to close within 10 points with just over four minutes remaining, but that would be as close as the game would get down the stretch.
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Home streak at 19: Montana has won 19 straight games at Dahlberg Arena, which ranks seventh in the nation. Hartford won its NCAA-best 29th straight home game Saturday with an 80-56 victory over St. Joseph???s at UH???s Chase Arena.
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Morales cracks 1,500: With 20 points Sunday against Boise State, senior Mandy Morales surpassed the 1,500-point mark for her career. She currently has 1,517 points, just the third Lady Griz player to reach 1,500. Shannon Cate (1988-92) scored a program-record 2,172 points; Hollie Tyler (2001-05) scored 1,698 points.
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Assuming Montana gets at least one Big Sky Conference tournament game, Morales would need to average just over 20 points per game the rest of the season to hit 2,000 points for her career.
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Morales tops free throw list: Morales recently took over the top spot on the Montana career free throw list. She has now connected on 435 attempts (out of 529 for 82.2 percent) to break Cate???s previous record of 423.
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More on Colorado State: The Rams are 2-5 on the season, 0-2 in road games. Wednesday will be CSU???s first road game since dropping a 93-63 decision at Colorado Nov. 19 and its first game outside of Colorado since a season-opening 76-69 overtime loss at Wichita State Nov. 15.
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Colorado State has victories this season over Idaho, 69-60, and Saturday???s win over Northern Colorado, 62-47. That game was tied at the half, 26-26, before the Rams limited the Bears to 24.2 percent shooting in the second half to pull away. CSU shot 57.1 percent in the second half. Freshman forward Chatilla van Grinsven came off the bench to hit 8-of-10 shots and score a game-high 18 points. Senior forward Amaka Uzomah grabbed 18 rebounds, helping Colorado State to a 51-34 advantage.
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CSU went 4-28 in 2007-08. The Rams finished the regular season 2-27 and 0-16 in Mountain West Conference play, then snapped a 20-game losing streak with a 68-49 victory over UNLV at the MWC tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. Colorado State won its second straight game with an upset of top-seeded Utah, 60-52, in the quarterfinals, a victory for a 3-27 team against a 27-3 team. The Rams??? run and season ended with a 65-41 loss to New Mexico in the semifinals.
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Colorado State is coached by Kristen Holt, who is in her first year after moving up from assistant coach. In her only previous head coaching job, Holt led Radford to an 11-16 finish in 2001-02.
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The last meeting: Montana and Colorado State have not met since the Rams??? 65-53 victory at Missoula in 2005. Melissa Dennett had 21 points and 10 rebounds for CSU. Hollie Tyler had 12 points and Katie Edwards 11 for the Lady Griz, though the pair combined to hit just 8-of-31 shots.
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More on Portland: The Pilots are 3-5 on the season with victories over Utah State, 64-51, Boston University, 74-62, and Sacramento State, 63-59. One of UP???s losses was a 68-59 defeat at Boise State.
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Portland lost at home Sunday to Seattle University, 56-51. The Pilots had three players in double figures but could not overcome a 30.6 percent shooting performance.
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Junior guard Laiken Dollente leads the team at 18.3 points per game, UP???s only double-figure scorer. She has a team-best 23 assists and has taken more than twice as many shot attempts for the season as any of her teammates.
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Sophomore guard Tara Cronin is averaging 9.0 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game.
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Portland went 15-15 in 2007-08, tying for sixth in the West Coast Conference at 5-9. The Pilots lost at San Diego, 61-57, in the opening round of the WCC tournament to end their season.
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Jim Sollars is in his 23rd season at UP. He has a record of 303-338 with the Pilots.
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The last meeting: Montana came away with a 67-63 victory at Portland last December 5. The victory started a 10-game Lady Griz winning streak. Montana fell behind 25-20 at the break, then scored 47 second-half points. The Lady Griz had a 53-38 rebounding advantage and went 23-for-25 from the line in the second half.
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Laura Cote had a game-high 17 points for Montana. Dollente had 13 points for Portland.
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Montana 60, Oregon 52: The Lady Griz held the Ducks to 6-of-33 (.182) shooting in the first half to race out to a 32-17 halftime lead. Montana never trailed in the game.
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Oregon closed within six points in the final minute but could get no closer.
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Morales had 14 points and seven assists to lead four UM starters in double figures.
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The Ducks had a 46-31 rebounding advantage and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds but could only convert them into 15 second-chance points.
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Montana 72, Boise State 51: The Lady Griz led by four at the half, 33-29, then opened the second half on a 23-4 run to take control. Morales and senior Sonya Rogers scored Montana???s first 19 points of the second half, hitting five 3-pointers between them.
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Both finished with a game-high 20 points for the game. Morales added a career-high 14 rebounds.
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With 39 second-half points, it was UM???s second-highest scoring half of the season behind the 42 second-half points scored in the Lady Griz??? season-opening 71-64 victory over Wyoming.
