Lady Griz face Bobcats Saturday in regular-season finale
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes 
The Montana women's basketball team will wrap up its regular season Saturday with a road game at Montana State. The Lady Griz and Bobcats tip off at 2 p.m. at MSU's Worthington Arena in Bozeman.
Coverage: Saturday's game will be televised statewide on Cowles Montana Media stations, with Chris Byers and Dominic Sheldon calling the action. The game will be available on FOX, except for Billings and the eastern part of the state where it will air on SWX. ... The game will have radio coverage in the Missoula area on KGVO 1290 AM/101.5 FM, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater. ... Fans can watch the video stream at WatchBigSky.com and follow live stats at MSUBobcats.com.
What's at stake (Montana): Nothing tangible. The Lady Griz (21-7, 14-3 BSC) last week clinched the outright regular-season championship, its 24th in program history, and the right to host next week's eight-team Big Sky Conference tournament.
What's at stake (Montana State): The Bobcats (14-14, 8-9 BSC) won Thursday night despite not playing. MSU clinched one of the eight tournament spots based on Thursday night's results. Montana State could be as high as the No. 5 seed or as low as the No. 8 seed next week based on Saturday's results.
The first meeting: Montana held Montana State to 28.6 percent shooting and came back from an eight-point, second-half deficit to post a 62-48 victory over the Bobcats on Jan. 17 at Dahlberg Arena. After building a 43-35 lead, MSU made just one field goal the final 10 minutes.
Kellie Rubel and Kayleigh Valley both scored 12 points for Montana, which shot 31.5 percent. Peyton Ferris had 20 points and 12 rebounds, both season highs, for Montana State.
Big Sky Conference tournament notes:
* Montana will host the tournament next Thursday through Saturday, with four quarterfinal games on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Saturday.
In Thursday's quarterfinals, No. 2 and No. 7 play at 11 a.m., No. 3 and No. 6 at 1:30 p.m., No. 4 and No. 5 at 5:30 p.m. and Montana and the No. 8 seed at 8 p.m. The winners of Thursday's first two games will meet in the first semifinal Friday at 5:30 p.m. The second semifinal begins at 8 p.m.
Saturday's championship game would tip off at 7 p.m. HOWEVER ...
* Montana could also host the eight-team men's tournament next week if Northern Arizona wins at home Saturday afternoon over Sacramento State and Montana wins at Montana State Saturday night. Neither outcome requires a long stretch of the imagination.
If that happens, Thursday's women's quarterfinals would all be moved to Wednesday, Friday's semifinals would be played at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Saturday's championship game would be contested at 2 p.m.
* Also clinching a tournament spot Thursday, with a 79-62 victory at Portland State, was Northern Arizona (13-15, 9-8 BSC). The Lumberjacks, picked 10th in the preseason coaches' poll, will be making their first tournament appearance since 2009.
* Sacramento State (14-14, 12-5 BSC) is a home win Saturday afternoon over NAU from clinching the tournament's No. 2 seed. Northern Colorado (17-11, 11-6 BSC) and Eastern Washington (18-10, 11-6 BSC) will also be on the top half of the bracket.
* North Dakota (17-12, 9-8 BSC), which has lost five of its last six games, Northern Arizona and Montana State are all in and will be filling the bottom half of the bracket.
* The final tournament spot will be determined Saturday afternoon. The final tournament entry will be either Idaho State or Idaho. The Bengals get in with a win or even with a loss and some help. The Vandals need to win and get some outside help.
Big Sky Conference notes:
* On the last day of the regular season Saturday, Northern Colorado plays at North Dakota (1 p.m. MT -- unlike UND and its late-season skid, the Bears are rolling on a seven-game winning streak); Idaho State plays at Idaho (3 p.m. MT -- see above); Weber State plays at Eastern Washington (3 p.m. MT -- Eagles could finish as high as the No. 2 seed with a win); Northern Arizona plays at Sacramento State (3 p.m. MT -- two tournament teams playing for seeding and late-season momentum); and Southern Utah plays at Portland State (8 p.m. MT -- a pair of non-tournament teams playing out the season).
* Montana's Kellie Rubel will get some attention in next week's voting by the Big Sky coaches for Most Valuable Player, but Northern Colorado's D'shara Strange probably won the award with her numbers over the back half of the conference season and UNC's late move up the standings, from tournament bubble team a few weeks ago to a possible No. 2 seed. It doesn't happen often that the MVP comes from a team that does not win the regular season, but it happens. Most recently Brianne Ryan of Eastern Washington won the MVP award in 2011-12 on the Eagles' third-place team. That was despite Idaho State winning the regular-season title that year by three games over the rest of the league.
Montana-Montana State rivalry notes:
* The Lady Griz lead the all-time series 76-22 and have won the teams' last five matchups. ... Montana is 28-12 against Montana State in games at Bozeman. ... The Lady Griz have come away with a victory in their last six trips to Bozeman. All six wins have been by nine points or fewer. ... MSU's last win in the series was a 58-49 victory at Missoula in 2012-13. The Bobcats' last win at home over the Lady Griz was a 91-87 win in 2007-08.
Montana notes:
* Pretty good indicator of Montana's Big Sky success this winter. The team's three league losses have come by a total of nine points. In all three the Lady Griz had the ball with under a minute left in a one-possession game.
* McCalle Feller, rainmaker: Montana used big second halves last week to pull away in what had been tight games at the half against Idaho and Eastern Washington. After shooting 3 for 11 against the Vandals and Eagles in the first half, Feller hit seven of her nine second-half shots.
* Montana in the second half this season in two games against Idaho: 99 points on 50.9 percent shooting.
* Montana has shot better than 40 percent in eight of its last 10 games. Anyone who doesn't think that's notable didn't watch the Lady Griz struggle shooting the ball in November and December. First 14 games this season, three times over 40 percent.
* With 21 wins, Montana has now reached the 20-win mark in 30 of coach Robin Selvig's 37 years.
* The Lady Griz have blocked five or fewer shots in their last seven games, but they still rank seventh nationally at 6.5 per game. Speaking of national statistics, Montana, at .333, ranks second nationally in field goal percentage defense behind only Connecticut (.297).
* ESPN.com is sticking with Montana as the Big Sky Conference's NCAA tournament representative and still has the Lady Griz as a No. 15 seed playing No. 2 seed Oregon State at Corvallis.
Lady Griz three-dot notes: Kellie Rubel has played 36 or more minutes the last nine games. ... Rubel has grabbed eight or more rebounds four of the last six games. ... Rubel will be playing in her 125th career game Saturday, tied for second most in program history. Jordan Sullivan, who graduated last spring, holds the record at 129. ... Opponents are finally learning: Carly Selvig has one blocked shot the last three games (combined), and she hasn't had more than two in a game since Feb. 5. ... Hannah Doran was back at practice Thursday. She missed last week's two games because of a concussion. ... McCalle Feller has scored eight or more points in 21 of the team's last 22 games. ... With 64 3-pointers this season, Feller is now only nine away from breaking Sonya Rogers' single-season record of 72, which she set in 2007-08. ... Chelsea Warburton of Weber State hit a Big Sky-record 92 treys in 2006-07. Nobody else in league history has hit more than 78 in a season. ... In two games against Idaho this year, Alycia Sims has gone 12 for 16 and scored 29 points. She has three double-figure scoring games this season. Two are against the Vandals. ... Kayleigh Valley has had nine straight double-figure scoring games. ... Valley has shot at least 50 percent from the field in eight of Montana's last 10 games.
