Montana
Idaho
Cole's three sends Lady Griz to 59-56 win
12/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2013
UCI 85, ASU 77 | UM 59, UI 56 | Photo Gallery 
Kellie Cole hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to break the game's final deadlock and send Montana to a 59-56 victory over Idaho Friday night at Dahlberg Arena on the opening night of the Holiday Inn Lady Griz Classic.
Montana (5-1), which won its 27th straight Lady Griz Classic game and improved to 62-3 in the 33rd year of the tournament, will play UC Irvine (5-3) Saturday at 8:15 p.m. in the tournament championship game. The Anteaters defeated Appalachian State (1-6) 85-77 in Friday's first semifinal.
Cole's shot sent Montana to its fifth victory of the season, but it was the Lady Griz defense that saved the day.
Montana, which led 32-25 at the half, built a 12-point, second-half lead and still led 52-46 on a Cole jumper at the 5:15 mark, but the Vandals scored seven straight points in a little more than a minute to take a 53-52 lead, their first since late in the first half.
Idaho's Christina Salvatore knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:08 to play to put the Vandals up 56-54. And those would be the final points of the night for Montana's former and future Big Sky Conference rival.
Torry Hill missed a chance to tie it on Montana's next possession, but she forced an Idaho turnover on the other end and then fed Carly Selvig, who hit a clutch turnaround with 1:05 remaining to tie the score.
Salvatore missed a rushed 3-pointer for Idaho, and with the shot clock running down for Montana, Jordan Sullivan found Cole open on the left wing. Her shot look true from the moment it left her hand.
With only three second-half fouls, Montana had three to burn if it wanted to employ that strategy when Idaho inbounded the ball following a timeout with 12 seconds left, but the Lady Griz defended straight up, and Salvatore's desperation three at the buzzer wasn't close.
"We got up 11 or 12 in the second half, and I guess it's too much to ask that they wouldn't put some sort of a run together, because they are a darn good team," said UM coach Robin Selvig, who was presented with a cake commemorating his 800 career victories before the game.
"We lost the lead but got some big baskets, and we did a really nice job at the end when they needed a three. We did a nice job of not giving them much of a look."
Montana built its halftime lead on the hot hand of Sullivan, who was 1 for 4 from the floor when she check out of the game at the 11:51 mark of the first half. When she checked back in four minutes later, the Lady Griz were trailing 19-16.
Not for long. Sullivan hit a 3-pointer to tie it and scored 14 of Montana's final 16 points of the half to send the Lady Griz to the locker room with a seven-point halftime lead. Twelve of those points came via the 3-point shot as she went 4 for 4 from the arc over a five-minute stretch.
Her 16 first-half points surpassed her previous career high of 15, which she scored against Weber State her sophomore season.
Sullivan didn't score in the second half, but Cole, who played all 40 minutes, did. She scored 11 of her 14 points in the final 20 minutes, including the game-winner.
Selvig, who went 6 for 11 from the field one game after going 5 for 9, also reached double figures and established a new career high for the second straight game. She scored 12 in Montana's 49-47 win at Loyola Marymount last Saturday afternoon. On Friday night she added 13.
"Carly was really good again," Selvig said. "She's had two nice offensive games in a row, and that's good to see. If we can get some offense out of her more consistently, that will be a nice deal."
Hill had a quiet night scoring the ball, but her five assists and zero turnovers helped Montana to a 17-assist, 12-turnover night.
She picked up two fouls early and played just 10 minutes in the first half. Filling in without any drop-off was Haley Vining, who had three assists in the other 10 minutes of the half.
"Torry got two early fouls, and the way they drive and pressure your guards, I wanted to make sure we had her to play minutes late," Selvig said. "I thought Haley did a nice job and gave us good minutes again."
Cole, Maggie Rickman and Alycia Sims all grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Ali Forde led Idaho, which went just 4 for 21 (.190) from 3-point range, with 13 points.
On Saturday night Montana will face a UC Irvine team that made itself right at home in Friday's opener. The Anteaters shot 62.5 percent in the first half against Appalachian State to build a 57-39 halftime lead, then held on after the Mountaineers cut the lead to five, 75-70, with 2:30 to go.
UCI's Vanessa Aguilar, who scored 20 points off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, answered App State's rally and put the Anteaters up 78-70 with a three from the top of the key, and Methlyn Onogomuho hit a jumper to make it 80-70 and put the game out of reach.
UC Irvine had five players in double figures and finished the game at 48.4 percent shooting despite a 33.3 percent performance in the second half.
Appalachian State was led by Maryah Sydnor, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds, and KeKe Cooper, who went 8 for 9 and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Idaho will face App State Saturday at 6 p.m. in the consolation game.
