Montana wins opener of Lady Griz Classic

Wednesday, November 23

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

2-2

Incarnate Word

0-3

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Incarnate Word	15	12	13	16	56
Montana	16	13	21	11	61

11/23/2016 10:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Youth provideth and youth giveth away, and it will probably be like that all season long for the Montana women's basketball team, which opened the 36th Lady Griz Classic with a tense 61-56 victory over Incarnate Word on Wednesday night at Dahlberg Arena.

Behind Taylor Goligoski's 27 points and the team's 9-for-14 effort from 3-point range, Montana was good enough to build a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Griz (2-2) also showed their callowness, going 5 for 12 from the line in the fourth quarter and allowing the Cardinals (0-3) to turn what should have been a comfortable victory into a one possession game in the final minute.

"I think every game this year is going to be a battle for us," said first-year coach Shannon Schweyen. "But I was really proud of how hard the girls worked and how they answered when it got close down the stretch."

Montana improved to 68-3 in Lady Griz Classic games and won't close out the tournament until Sunday, when it faces Utah State. Incarnate Word and Utah State will play at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Goligoski started her collegiate career going 3 for 29 against Great Falls and South Dakota State, and through the first half against Massachusetts. But she went 3 for 4 in the second half against the Minutewomen and carried that over to Wednesday's game.

She scored 10 first-half points to stake Montana to a 29-27 halftime lead. Her 10 third-quarter points allowed the Lady Griz to outscore the Cardinals 21-13 and take a 10-point lead into the fourth.

Her fifth 3-pointer of the game -- she would finish a perfect 6 for 6 from the arc, 10 for 17 overall -- put Montana ahead 53-40 early in the fourth quarter.

"Taylor's been in a little bit of a shooting slump the last couple of games, so it was nice to see that come back for her tonight," said Schweyen. "We needed every one of her 27 points.

"She had a complete game as well. She had a couple of assists and took care of the ball."

Outside of a pair of Goligoski 3-pointers in the final quarter, Montana was 0 for 10 from the field. Combined with 41 percent free throw shooting, it nearly allowed Incarnate Word to become the first team to knock off Montana at its home tournament since 1998.

After a Goligoski free throw put Montana up 54-44 with 8:06 remaining, the Cardinals scored seven straight points to make it a three-point game with more than four minutes still to play.

Incarnate Word had two possessions to get it closer, but a turnover and a missed three, followed by a Goligoski 3-pointer, made it 57-51 with less than two minutes left.

Montana was 4 for 8 from the line in the last two minutes but still managed to hold on to its lead. Sierra Anderson made one of two from the line with 19 seconds left to make it 60-56, and Incarnate Word wouldn't score again.

Montana finished 6 for 15 from the line, one game after shooting 5 for 13 in a one-point loss to Massachusetts on Sunday in Iowa City.

"That's a couple of games in a row now," said Schweyen. "That needs to be an area we start working on and the girls start taking more seriously in practice. They're better shooters than that."

Celia Garcia Paunero had 18 points and 19 rebounds for the Cardinals, who hung around because of their work from the 3-point line. Their drive-and-distribute approach led to open shooters most of the game at the arc, where they took 27 of their 58 shots. UIW knocked down 10 of them.

After Montana built a 16-9 first-quarter lead, Haley Frias drained two threes in the final minute to make it 16-15 at the first break. The three ball was how Incarnate Word would remain within reach the entire game.

"With the threes they were hitting, a lead can go in a heartbeat. We had a really tough time locating their shooters," said Schweyen. "They had multiple shooters, and it was new for us having to think about two or three kids and where they're at all the time."

Incarnate Word went 3 for 8 from the arc in the fourth quarter and came up one short of making the game even tighter.

"We made that good run (at the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth), but then we had a couple of turnovers, they knock down a couple threes, and all of a sudden it's a tight game at the end," said Schweyen.

"We've got to be smarter about the tempo we play in that situation and make them earn it. We gave them too many easy chances to get back in the game."

Goligoski was the only player in double figures, but Anderson scored nine points in a reserve role, helping the Lady Griz finish with a 24-4 advantage in bench points. Gabi Harrington provided her usual spark off the bench, knocking down a pair of threes and finishing with eight points.

Mekayla Isaak grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, blocked three shots and dished out a pair of assists to balance out a night she went 1 for 7 from the field, 1 for 4 from the line.

"Even though Mekayla didn't make many baskets, I thought she had a huge game boarding it and defensively," said Schweyen, who had nine of the 10 players she sent into the game finish with points. "And just about everybody scored for us tonight, which was nice to see."

The Lady Griz and Aggies will tip off at 2 p.m. on Sunday in what would be a straight-up championship game if Utah State (3-1) knocks off Incarnate Word on Friday afternoon.