Montana
CSU Bakersfield
Roadrunners go deep to knock off Lady Griz
12/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2011
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CSU Bakersfield, with a squad of six, used the 3-point shot and a 29.3-percent shooting performance by Montana to spring a surprising 64-56 victory on the Lady Griz Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena on what was coach Robin Selvig's 1,000th game on the Montana sideline.
The Roadrunners (3-7) went 11 for 25 (.440) from 3-point range and led the final 35 minutes of the game. The Lady Griz (4-5) fell behind by 16 points in the first half and were never able to get closer than seven in the second half on another maddening night on the offensive end.
Despite getting plenty of good looks against the undersized, zone-playing Runners, Montana shot less than 30 percent in both halves and struggled to a 4-for-30 (.133) effort from 3-point range.
"I thought we had better shooters than this, and I still think we do," a nonplussed Selvig said after the game. "Outside of (the Wyoming) game we haven't done it yet. It's just a struggle right now."
The Lady Griz shot 52.8 percent in Saturday's 69-59 win at Wyoming. In Montana's seven other games this season against Division I opponents, it's shot 32.1 percent.
With three of its nine players out with knee injuries, CSU Bakersfield started four guards, and they consistently penetrated the Montana defense and found open spot-up shooters on the perimeter.
Lauren Carter, at 6-1 the team's only player over six feet, did just enough work inside, finishing with seven points and eight rebounds, to keep the Lady Griz honest.
The Runners weren't going to approach their season scoring average of 77 points, but 11 3-pointers and just 11 turnovers were enough to pick up their first road victory of the season and hand the Lady Griz their first home loss.
"Give them credit. They are hard to guard," Selvig said. "They have kids that can score it and obviously have kids that can shoot it."
The story of the game, however, was on the other end of the floor. To protect itself against fatigue and foul trouble, Bakersfield, with just a single player on the bench, packed its defense into a tight 2-3 zone that allowed as many perimeter shots as Montana was willing to take.
Unfortunately those perimeter shooters went 10 for 48 (.208) and got gun-shy as the game wore on. The team's best offense turned out to be the offense rebound and putback. Montana crashed the boards for 25 offensive rebounds that resulted in 20 second-chance points.
The Lady Griz had a 53-34 rebounding advantage and turned the ball over just nine times, winning numbers that cast the team's shooting performance in an even more negative light.
"Their disadvantage was that we were going to get good shots on them, because they had to pack the zone in," Selvig said.
"We out-rebounded them by 20 and didn't turn the ball over, so that's pretty simple math. I just don't have any explanation or coaching secrets for this type of shooting."
Bakersfield scored its first five baskets from 3-point range, and coupled with Montana's 4-for-20 start the Roadrunners opened up an early 21-8 lead. A three by Brooklynn Hinkens made it 26-10 at the 6:30 mark of the first half.
Carly Selvig and Jordan Sullivan both cut the lead to eight late in the first half, both on offensive rebounds and putbacks, but CSUB had an answer each time and took a 35-25 halftime lead.
The Runners were 7 for 16 from 3-point range in the first half and turned the ball over just twice. Montana went 0 for 12 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Three times in the opening five minutes of the second half Montana cut the lead to seven. Each time CSU Bakersfield responded with a basket that extended the lead back to nine or 10.
The Lady Griz' best chance to get back in the game came after Kellie Cole hit a 3-pointer with 8:46 remaining to make it 52-45.
Bakersfield stalled on 52 points for the next four minutes. With an opportunity to get the crowd of 2,493 back into the game, Montana missed four shots and went 0 for 3 from the free throw line.
Ciarra Ford's jumper at the 5:41 mark pushed the lead back to nine, 54-45, and Kristine Herman's three with 3:44 remaining made the CSUB advantage insurmountable at 57-47.
Kenzie De Boer led Montana with 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. She went 3 for 15 from the field but used a number of hard drives to the basket to get to the free throw line 10 times.
Katie Baker and Alyssa Smith both had 10 points. Smith grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
Herman led CSU Bakersfield with 24 points. She went 4 for 6 from 3-point range and a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line.
Montana will play at Gonzaga Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. (MT). The Bulldogs are 5-2 and host Eastern Washington Friday night.
