Lady Griz host top-of-the-league showdowns
2/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The University of Montana women???s basketball team continues the back half of its Big Sky Conference schedule this weekend when the Lady Griz host Portland State and Eastern Washington at Dahlberg Arena. Montana will host the Vikings Friday at 7 p.m. and the Eagles Saturday at 7 p.m.
After this weekend???s home games, the Lady Griz will play four games over the final three weekends of the regular season. Three of those four games will be on the road.
What???s at stake: Eastern Washington (14-8, 7-2 BSC), Montana (12-10, 7-3 BSC) and Portland State (12-10, 6-3 BSC) are atop the Big Sky Conference standings. All sit within a game of one another with four weekends of regular-season games remaining.
Eastern Washington will play at Montana State (12-11, 5-5 BSC) Thursday night. Portland State will face the Bobcats Saturday night in Bozeman.
The first time around: Montana was swept on the Eastern Washington-Portland State road trip earlier this season, the first time in over a decade the Lady Griz returned from the trip with a pair of losses. The Lady Griz lost to the Eagles in overtime, 67-64, and to the Vikings one night later, 49-47.
Montana was down a point or tied, with possession of the ball, in the closing seconds of regulation in both games.
Most recently: Montana opened the second half of its Big Sky Conference schedule with a split of the Weber State-Idaho State road trip last weekend. The Lady Griz shot 33.3 percent and turned the ball over 17 times in Friday???s 59-55 loss to the Wildcats.
Montana bounced back with a 67-53 win at Idaho State Saturday. The Lady Griz shot 60.9 percent in the second half to break open a one-point game at the half.
Senior Lauren Beck averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, three assists and three steals over the two games. She made 12 of her 18 shots in the two games and went a perfect 7-for-7 from 3-point range while playing 39 of a possible 40 minutes.
Portland State and Eastern Washington both hosted Sacramento State (10-12, 6-4 BSC) in single-game weekends for the two teams. The Hornets, suddenly the hottest team in the league with six consecutive wins, came away with an impressive road sweep, winning 83-78 at PSU and 78-69 at EWU.
The Vikings gave up a 10-point second-half lead in their loss. The Eagles fell behind by 16 points in the first half in their loss.
Media: Friday???s and Saturday???s games will be broadcast in the Missoula area on KENR 107.5 FM with Tom Stage and Dick Slater. The pregame show starts 30 minutes prior to tip. The 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). MontanaGrizzlies.com will offer live stats for all home games.
This week in the Big Sky Conference: Sacramento State, the team most wanting to get back on the court, is the only Big Sky team without a league game this week. The Hornets will host Pacific Saturday.
Idaho State and Weber State will be making the Northern Arizona-Northern Colorado swing.
Thursday: EWU at MSU, ISU at UNC, WSU at NAU
Friday: PSU at UM
Saturday: EWU at UM, PSU at MSU, WSU at UNC, ISU at NAU, Pacific at SAC
Home-court edge: With three of its final four regular-season games on the road and with the first- and third-place teams in the Big Sky visiting this weekend, Montana will need to continue its recent home-court success if it wants to challenge for a regular-season championship. The Lady Griz are 59-3 at Dahlberg Arena since the start of the 2006-07 season and have not lost an in-league game at home since the 2005-06 season, a stretch of 33 games.
Montana???s only home losses in the last three-plus seasons have come to Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the 2007 Big Sky Conference tournament, a regular-season loss to Gonzaga in December 2008 and an 86-81 loss to Oregon earlier this season.
Montana???s last regular-season Big Sky Conference loss was to Weber State, 50-49, on Feb. 2, 2006.
Portland State hasn???t won in Missoula since the 1998-99 season. That stretch of 12 games included a pair of edge-of-your-seat thrillers last March, the first with the Big Sky regular-season title on the line, the second with the Big Sky tournament championship on the line.
Eastern Washington has lost 26 straight times at Montana, dating back to the 1986-87 season.
More on Portland State: The Vikings were the coaches??? preseason pick to win the Big Sky after going 14-2 in league last year and returning a unanimous first team All-BSC point guard in senior Claire Faucher along with honorable mention selection junior forward Kelli Valentine.
Like Montana, PSU is hovering around .500 for the season because of road struggles. The Vikings, who play five of their last seven on the road, are 2-7 away from home this season and dropped their most recent Big Sky road games at Northern Colorado, 72-68, and Northern Arizona, 86-80.
In the teams??? first meeting, the Montana defense held the high-scoring Vikings to just 20 second-half points and 49 for the game on 36.2 percent shooting. PSU???s three guards in its starting lineup ??? Faucher, Kelly Marchant and Lexi Bishop ??? shot 3-for-22.
Portland State is coached by Sherri Murrell, who is 57-29 in her third season with the Vikings.
More on Eastern Washington: After opening Big Sky play with seven consecutive wins, the Eagles, who were picked seventh in the preseason coaches??? poll, have dropped their last two league games, 67-60 at Portland State on Jan. 30 and last Saturday at home to Sac State.
EWU has won this year with defense and the 3-point shot. Eastern Washington ranks second behind only Montana in both scoring defense (63.3/g) and field goal percentage defense (.391) and is the Big Sky???s best 3-point shooting team at 35.3 percent.
Junior forward Julie Piper, who had a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double in the teams??? first meeting, leads the team in scoring (11.1/g), rebounding (7.3/g) and shooting (.467).
In the first matchup, Montana had a seven-point lead with three minutes remaining in regulation and led by five with just over two minutes left in the overtime period.
The Eagles are coached by Wendy Schuller, who is 108-144 in her ninth year.
Montana notes: After averaging 10.6 points on 35.9 percent shooting during non-conference play, senior Lauren Beck is averaging 14.8 points in Big Sky games on 44.4 percent shooting. ... Beck has hit 18 of her 29 (.621) shot attempts the last three games while playing 119 of a possible 120 minutes. ... Junior Stephanie Stender is quietly grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game in league play, which is tied for second on the team with junior Sarah Ena. Stender has grabbed a career-high six rebounds in five of UM???s 10 Big Sky games. ... Montana leads the Big Sky in both scoring defense (59.2/g) and field goal percentage defense (.369). The Lady Griz have not allowed an opponent to shoot 38 percent or better the last nine games. ... After shooting 13-for-64 (.203) from 3-point range its previous six games, Montana went 14-for-28 last weekend at WSU and ISU. ... Despite the recent barrage of threes, the Lady Griz have made just 84 on the season, 26 fewer than any other league team. Sonya Rogers alone had 71 a year ago, as part of Montana???s 175.
