Lady Griz win with second-half rally
11/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore Kenzie De Boer and freshman Lexie Nelson both scored 13 points off the bench to lead the Montana women???s basketball team to a 65-62 victory over Utah State at Logan, Utah, Saturday night. The Lady Griz trailed 35-24 at the half.
Montana evened its record at 2-2 with the win as the Lady Griz now turn their attention to the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico. Montana will face Purdue on Thanksgiving and James Madison on Friday.
The Aggies dropped to 0-3 with the loss.
The Lady Griz shot just 26.3 percent the opening 20 minutes and never held a first-half lead. For Montana coach Robin Selvig, it brought back bad memories of his team???s season-opening games at UC Riverside and Cal State Bakersfield ??? both double-digit losses ??? when his team shot 28 percent over two games.
???After our first two games where we didn???t shoot well, we came in here tonight and couldn???t make a shot in the first half,??? he said. ???The way we were shooting around the basket was just scary.
???I was sitting on the bench asking myself, Is anyone ever going to be able to make a shot on this team????
Montana???s five interior players struggled to a 4-for-20 shooting performance in the first half, while USU???s 6-foot-6 center, Banna Diop was putting up 14 points and grabbing six rebounds.
???Our zone wasn???t that good to start with, and they were able to get some things out of it,??? Selvig said.
???They hurt us by getting it to the big kid in the zone.???
De Boer, in her first game back after missing the team???s first three games with a broken finger, and sophomore Alyssa Smith both finished with six first-half points.
It was Montana???s three-point shooting that sparked the Lady Griz in the second half.
The team hit six of its eight attempts, with freshman Torry Hill, who got her first career start at the point, going 3 for 3, and De Boer, Nelson and senior Jessa Loman Linford all making their only deep attempt in the second half.
Montana still trailed by eight, 43-35, with 12 minutes to play when the Lady Griz got a jumper from Nelson and then back-to-back 3-pointers from De Boer and Nelson to tie it at 45, the game???s first tie since 2-2.
There would be six more ties, and neither team would lead by more than three points until Montana sealed it late.
Utah State???s Ashlee Brown hit a free throw with 2:20 to play to put the Aggies up 58-57.
Nelson answered with a jumper on Montana???s next possession, and the Lady Griz led the rest of the way.
Diop missed a jumper on Utah State???s next possession that could have retaken the lead.
Nelson hit a pair of free throws with 86 seconds remaining. After a USU turnover, Baker scored inside to give the Lady Griz what would be their largest lead of the game, 63-58, with 44 seconds to play.
The Aggies cut it to two, 64-62, when Brown grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback with 17 seconds to go.
Senior Stephanie Stender was fouled on the inbounds. She hit her first free throw to make it 65-62, but she missed her second attempt.
Both of the Aggies??? 3-point attempts to tie the score in the final 10 seconds were off the mark.
Montana turned the ball over just 12 times and behind a 16-rebound effort from sophomore Katie Baker finished with a 51-39 advantage on the boards.
???Katie was a horse on the boards,??? Selvig said. ???She just kept battling, and we ended up winning the boards pretty good.
???And then we didn???t turn the ball over. Our first two games (when we combined for 46 turnovers) we just tossed it all over the gym. So we made some progress in that area as well.???
Behind De Boer and Nelson???s production, the Montana bench out-scored its starters, 33 to 32.
Baker finished with 11 points but shot just 3 for 15. Stender and senior Sarah Ena combined for just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Hill, who finished with nine points and two assists, and Nelson, who went 5 for 7 from the field and added three assists, split the point guard duties in half, each playing 20 minutes.
???Both point guards did a nice job,??? Selvig said. ???Not only did they do a solid job with the ball, they made some baskets for us.
???Torry hit three threes, and Lexie didn???t get too deep into the crowd and pulled up and hit her dribble-jumpers. She made some good decisions.???
