Lady Griz host Beavers in final exhibition game
11/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2012
The Montana women's basketball team will host Minot State Monday night at Dahlberg Arena in its second and final exhibition game of the preseason. The Lady Griz and Beavers tip off at 7 p.m.
Coverage: There will be no over-the-air radio coverage of Monday night's game. Fans who wish to follow the action can purchase video or audio coverage through GoGriz.com or follow live stats free of charge.
Going forward: All of Montana's regular-season games will be aired on KVWE 101.5 FM and KGVO 1290 AM, unless there is a conflict with Griz men's basketball coverage. If so, the women will be found on KMPT 930 AM. That will be the case Friday night when the Lady Griz play at Temple and the Griz play at Colorado State.
To date: Montana won its first exhibition game 72-45 over Carroll last Tuesday. The Lady Griz shot 49.2 percent and had a 40-4 advantage of points in the paint. Montana did not have a scorer reach double figures, but 11 different players scored between three and nine points.
Minot State opened its exhibition season Sunday afternoon with a 63-47 loss at Montana State. The Beavers (.347) outshot the Bobcats (.344), but MSU had a 48-33 rebounding advantage and forced 20 Minot turnovers.
Where they were picked: Montana was pegged third in the Big Sky Conference preseason coaches' poll. The Lady Griz received two of the coaches' 11 first-place votes.
Minot State, playing its first season in the league, was picked 15th out of 16 teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, one of the nation's top Division II conferences. The Beavers went 11-15 a season ago while transitioning from an NAIA program to Division II.
What to look for Monday: Minot State will provide Montana with a different look than Carroll did. The Fighting Saints were high motion and took 21 shots from 3-point range at the expense of any sort of inside game.
The Beavers start 6-2 junior forward Carly Boag and on Sunday had 6-3 freshman forward Savana Kingsbury coming off the bench. Boag scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, both team highs, and she added three steals and a pair of blocks.
Minot State scored 24 points in the paint against the Bobcats, who were led by Jackie Elliott's and Latisha Adams' 14 points.
The different type of play from last Tuesday to Monday is just what UM coach Robin Selvig wanted out of his two-game exhibition schedule. The Lady Griz played exclusively man-to-man defense against Carroll and only faced man-to-man.
Tuesday Montana will both play and likely face some zone.
"What we want to have after two exhibition games is some experience at different things," Selvig said. "(The exhibition season is) about us and what we're doing. We want to work on certain things before we get to the Temple game.
"We'll play some zone against Minot, and it would be nice if Minot played some zone against us. You don't want to go into your first game not having seen something."
Upcoming: Montana will open the regular season Friday against Temple at Philadelphia, Pa. The Lady Griz and Owls will tip off at 5:30 p.m. (MT) at Temple's McGonigle Hall. Temple is coming off a 23-win season but returns just one starter.
