Lady Griz and Bobcats to meet Saturday

The University of Montana women???s basketball team will have its second consecutive single-game week when the Lady Griz face Montana State Saturday afternoon in Bozeman, Mont. Montana (8-9, 3-2 BSC) and Montana State (9-9, 2-3 BSC) will tip off at 2 p.m. at MSU???s Worthington Arena.

The Lady Griz will be at home the following weekend for Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona in what will be the team???s final games of the first round of Big Sky Conference play.

At a glance: Saturday???s game is a key match-up for both Montana and Montana State, who were picked second and third in the Big Sky preseason coaches??? poll. The Lady Griz are currently tied for third with preseason favorite Portland State (9-9, 3-2 BSC), while the Bobcats are in a three-way tie for fifth with Northern Colorado (9-9, 2-3 BSC) and Northern Arizona (4-14, 2-3 BSC).

Media: Saturday???s game will be available through a number of mediums. The game will be televised locally on KPAX and statewide on Montana???s News Stations, with Phil Buck and Amanda Maynard on the broadcast.

The game will also be available on KENR 107.5 FM, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater on the broadcast. The pre-game show starts 30 minutes before the opening tip. The audio broadcast is streamed through the station???s website (energy1075.com) for fans outside of listening range.

Free video streaming of all Montana???s Big Sky Conference games (home and away) will be available through b2 Networks (b2tv.com).

Close losses take their toll: Montana and Montana State are both down in the standings in the early going due to a number of tight losses in the opening weeks of Big Sky Conference play. UM???s two league losses came by a combined five points. The Lady Griz lost at current Big Sky leader Eastern Washington (11-6, 5-0 BSC) 67-64 in overtime and at Portland State 49-47.

All three of the Bobcats??? league losses have come in tight games. MSU lost an overtime game at home to Idaho State, 77-73, then followed that with road losses to Portland State, 69-62, and Eastern Washington, 69-63. Montana State lost at PSU despite holding a 20-point first-half lead and a 55-40 advantage midway through the second half.

Most recently: The Lady Griz and Bobcats are both coming off single-game weeks that saw them host and defeat Sacramento State. Montana topped the Hornets 77-61 last Friday, blowing open a one-point game at the half with a 23-4 run over the opening eight and a half minutes of the second half.

Five players scored in double figures for the Lady Griz, with three of those being career highs: senior Lauren Beck led both teams with 19 points, junior Jessa Loman Linford finished with 15 points and redshirt freshman Alexandra Hurley came off the bench to add 10.

Montana State defeated Sac State one night later in similar fashion. The Bobcats and Hornets were tied at 34 at the half before MSU scored 61 second-half points on 59.0 percent shooting. Montana State went 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the second half.

Sophomore guard Katie Bussey had 21 points and six assists, junior forward Sarah Strand, the current Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, had 17 points, 16 rebounds and seven blocks and junior guard Lyndi Seidensticker came off the bench to add 19 points in 22 minutes on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

Lady Griz seeking road breakthrough: Montana has gone 8-1 at Dahlberg Arena this season but is winless in eight games away from home. The Lady Griz have averaged just 53.4 points per game in those eight losses on 34.8 percent shooting.

Montana State is 6-4 at Worthington Arena this season.

Montana State preview: The Bobcats have one of the top offenses in the Big Sky Conference, averaging 71.4 points per game on Big Sky-best 42.5 percent shooting. MSU???s scoring average ranks second only to Sacramento State (76.3/g).

Montana State will be going up against the Big Sky???s top defense in Montana. The Lady Griz lead the league in both scoring defense (60.1/g) and field goal percentage defense (.377).

On the defensive end, Montana State is allowing 70.3 points per game, second-worst in the Big Sky to the Hornets (86.6/g).

Three players are averaging in double figures in Bussey (14.1/g), Strand (13.3/g) and senior point guard Erica Perry (11.9/g).

Bussey is averaging 2.3 3-point field goals per game on Big Sky-leading 43.3 percent 3-point shooting, Strand is averaging a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game and Perry, a first-team All-Big Sky selection last year, leads the team in both assists (2.8/g) and steals (1.6/g).

One area to watch will be the 3-point line. The Bobcats, who knocked down nine threes against Sac State last Saturday, are averaging 6.2 makes per game. The Lady Griz are allowing their opponents to shoot just 26.7 percent from deep, the best mark in the league.

???The thing that stands out with Montana State is that they have really good guards,??? UM coach Robin Selvig said. ???Perry is a great point guard, Bussey is an explosive scorer, and they are experienced. Then they???ve got Strand, who is a good, solid inside player. They???ve got good kids leading them and a really good supporting cast.

???They are an explosive team that is really good in transition. We???ve got to control their transition game and not let any player go off. Then we need to take good care of the ball and get good shots on our end.???

Deep struggles: After going 16-for-36 (.444) from 3-point range against UC Riverside, Weber State and Idaho State coming out of the Christmas break, Montana has gone just 4-for-36 (.111) in its last three games against Eastern Washington, Portland State and Sacramento State.

The Lady Griz went 0-for-10 against the Eagles, the team???s first three-less game since going 0-for-7 against Santa Clara on Dec. 13, 2005, 1-for-4 against the Vikings and 3-for-22 against the Hornets.

???I think we???ve been taking good, open threes,??? Selvig said. ???Those things tend to balance out, so we???re definitely due to start making some. Saturday would be a good time to start.???

Around the Big Sky Conference: This week???s league schedule features seven games over three days. Friday???s key matchup has second-place Idaho State (9-9, 4-1 BSC), whose only loss was a 63-55 setback at Montana, playing at Big Sky leader Eastern Washington.

Thursday: UNC at SAC
Friday: ISU at EWU, WSU at PSU
Saturday: NAU at SAC, UM at MSU, WSU at EWU, ISU at PSU

Montana 77, Sacramento State 61: The Lady Griz and Hornets were locked in a one-point game at the half, 35-34, but only after Montana came back from an early nine-point deficit against the Big Sky???s most prolific offensive team.

The Lady Griz put the game out of reach in the opening minutes of the second half. After missing its first two shots of the half, Montana would hit seven of its next 10 to take control.

Sacramento State opened the second half going 2-for-10 with seven turnovers.

???We shot poorly in the first half (.310), but then we hit a stretch when we made shots combined with them not scoring for a while. We created some turnovers early in the second half and got away from them a little bit, but not enough to relax because they can score so quickly,??? Selvig said.

Five players reached double-figures scoring for Montana: Beck with 19, Loman Linford with 15, freshman Kenzie De Boer with 12, junior Sarah Ena with 11 and Hurley with 10.

Loman Linford was getting her second straight start in place of freshman Katie Baker, who suffered a season-ending injury at Eastern Washington.

De Boer scored all 12 of her points in the second half.

???We don???t generally take 80 shots in a game, so you???re going to get some kids in double figures,??? Selvig added. ???We didn???t shoot threes well, or we could have had some really big numbers.

???The key was doing a good job in transition. We made them work for the ones they got, and they didn???t get too many easy ones.???

Additional game notes: After going 1-for-11 against Eastern Washington, Beck has gone 14-for-25 in Montana???s last two games. ... Montana has made just 61 3-pointers on the season, the lowest total in the league by over 20 (and ranks 289th nationally out of 332 Division I programs) but has out-scored its opponents by 80 points from the line, 262 to 182. ... Senior Shadra Robison grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against Sacramento State. ... The Lady Griz have out-rebounded their last eight opponents and 11 of their last 12 and lead the Big Sky Conference in rebounding margin at +4.9 per game. ... Montana (.744) and Montana State (.737) rank first and second in the Big Sky in free throw percentage. ... The Bobcats lead the league in blocked shots at 5.9 per game. Strand (2.0/g) and junior forward Beata Bak (1.8/g) rank second and third individually.

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