Lady Griz make debut Wednesday at annual scrimmage
10/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The 2014-15 Montana women's basketball team will make its public debut Wednesday night at the annual Maroon and Silver scrimmage at Dahlberg Arena.
The men's scrimmage will start at 5:30 p.m. The women's will start at approximately 7 p.m. There is no charge for admission.
The scrimmage comes three weeks to the day after the Lady Griz opened with their first practice, though the team is allowed two hours of practices in the weeks leading up to the first official practice, which means Montana is ready for something different, even if will be against teammates Wednesday.
"I think everyone is excited for the scrimmage," said 37th-year coach Robin Selvig, whose team is practicing this fall at 6 a.m. because of schedule conflicts. "We've had a lot of practices since school started, and we're starting to get to the point when we're ready to be playing somebody else.
"So the scrimmage comes at a good time. You're still playing yourself, but we'll get some people there, which gives it a game-type feeling, so it's fun for the kids. And they won't have to get up at 5 and come to practice at 6 on Wednesday, so they're happy about that as well."
Three players won't be fully healthy and ready to go Wednesday, but all three are on their way back.
Redshirt senior forward Carly Selvig, the 2014 Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year who suffered an ACL tear in Montana's WNIT first-round game against Washington State last March, won't be playing Wednesday, but she may be back earlier in the regular season than anyone expected.
Redshirt junior guard Haley Vining, who also underwent offseason knee surgery, is doing some half-court drills in practice, and freshman guard Maddie Keast, who has yet to practice this season, is doing some shooting and running at 75 percent after offseason foot surgery.
"Maddie is the most excited Lady Griz there is," said Selvig. "It's been a long haul, so she is chomping at the bit to get out there."
Another player who is coming back from knee surgery is redshirt sophomore guard Shanae Gilham. She has the green light to play Wednesday, which is exciting news for Lady Griz fans, who had to spend last winter watching Gilham at the end of the bench while recalling the thrills she provided as a freshman.
"She's going every other day at practice and feeling pretty good, so she's getting the rust knocked off," said Selvig. "If her knee stays good, it's going to be a lot of fun."
So who will be there? Start with a fun head-to-head matchup at point guard between redshirt senior Kellie Cole Rubel and freshman Sierra Anderson, who is waiting patiently for next week's exhibition games, when she won't have to go up against a first-team All-Big Sky Conference player.
"Kellie's just become a really good player," said Selvig. "She is good every day in practice and playing like you'd want a senior to play. I expect her to have another great year."
Junior guard McCalle Feller got her first two career starts in last year's WNIT games. She played shooting guard to Cole Rubel's point guard (who was filling in for the injured Torry Hill) and averaged 10.5 points on better-than-.500 shooting.
Gilham and redshirt junior Hannah Doran will fill out the guard positions Wednesday.
Senior forward Maggie Rickman and sophomore forward Alycia Sims, expected starters at the four and five, will be playing Wednesday, as will be redshirt sophomore forwards Molly Klinker and Rachel Staudacher.
Redshirt freshman forward Mekayla Isaak, who sat out last season, and sophomore forward Kayleigh Valley will be playing as well.
Valley, like Feller, came on strong at the end of last season. She scored nine or more points in four of the team's last five games, with a 15-point, five-rebound outing against Washington State.
Add in second-year assistant coach Sonya Rogers, who is now six seasons removed from her playing days, and both teams will be able to go six players deep Wednesday.
"We've got 11 healthy kids. You throw Sonya in there and we should be able to have six on each team and have a good scrimmage," said Selvig.
"Of course scrimmages are hard to judge, because if you're scoring, then somebody isn't defending. So you learn a lot more when you play somebody else."
Which will come soon enough. Montana will play a pair of exhibition games next week. The Lady Griz will host Great Falls on Tuesday and Minot State on Friday.
"It's kind of shocking that we have a real game in just a week, and those are good teams coming in. They're exhibition games, but they are not exhibition teams. We'll really learn some things about this team then," said Selvig.
Montana will open its regular season by hosting Montana-Western on Monday, Nov. 17, then face a tough four-game stretch. The Lady Griz will play at Pacific, then take on UNC Charlotte, Princeton and Wake Forest at the Cancun Challenge. Three of those four teams advanced to last year's WNIT.
