Aggies win Lady Griz Classic

Sunday, November 27

Missoula, Mont.

2:00 PM

Montana

2-3

Utah State

5-1

Utah State

Montana

11/27/2016 6:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

It was Utah State's size and length that gave Montana the most trouble on Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the 36th Lady Griz Classic, but it was the shortest player on the floor who collected Most Valuable Player honors.

Five-foot-five freshman point guard Eliza West, who didn't have a turnover in 55 minutes in Utah State's two tournament wins, scored 18 points and led a stout defensive effort that forced Montana into 21.6 percent shooting in the Aggies' 65-47 victory at Dahlberg Arena.

The loss snapped Montana's 31-game winning streak at its annual home tournament, and for the first time since 1998, when Arkansas won, someone other than the Lady Griz stood at midcourt after the game holding the championship trophy.

"They are long and athletic, and we didn't handle that very well today," said coach Shannon Schweyen. "They rattled us more than they should have. I'm disappointed we didn't handle it better."

After Utah State had its way with Incarnate Word by 33 points on Friday, a team the Lady Griz held off to defeat by five on Wednesday, taking down the Aggies was going to take Montana's best performance of the young season. That didn't happen.

Freshman Madi Schoening opened the game's scoring, but that would be Montana's only lead of the game. The Lady Griz missed their next 12 shots and trailed 17-5 after the first quarter.

Junior Mekayla Isaak, who was named to the all-tournament team, sparked a second-quarter surge that brought Montana within four, 25-21, but two late baskets by Utah State gave the Aggies a 29-21 halftime lead.

Utah State blew the game open in the third, going 4 for 8 from 3-point range and outscoring Montana, which made just five second-half field goals, 22-9. Jessie Geer, West's freshman backcourt running mate, knocked down all three of her triples in the third quarter.

"That third quarter hurt us," said Schweyen. "Geer hit those threes, and we couldn't find anybody to come in and give us a spark.

"I felt like we never got into our stuff very clean. When we didn't get our first thing, we just weren't getting to our secondary options. There is supposed to be some structure, and there just wasn't today. We had kids standing. We weren't organized."

Utah State shot 46.6 percent for the game and scored 36 points in the paint. The Aggies started 6-foot-2 forward Shannon Dufficy, who finished with a game-high 14 rebounds, and 6-foot-4 center Deja Mason, who had six points and seven rebounds.

The Aggies have six players who stand 6-foot-2 or taller.

"We had to go with some smaller lineups again. I thought the girls battled pretty hard down there for the most part," said Schweyen.

But it was West who was the biggest pest. She badgered Montana's guards all 35 minutes she was on the floor and forced multiple turnovers that led to run-out layups at the other end.

On the offensive end she went 8 for 14, with a pair of 3-pointers.

"She's a good little player," said Schweyen. "They have good quickness at the guard. They were in our guards' shorts the entire game. They made it tough for them.

"This team was something new we haven't seen. Every team we play, we're seeing something different. In the long run it's going to make it better for this group, but it doesn't make it any easier right now."

Despite the loss, Schoening had her best game of the season. She went 4 for 8, with a pair of 3-pointers, to finish with a team-high 12 points.

Freshman Hailey Nicholson, who totaled six points and eight rebounds, was the most aggressive she's been this season, which Montana needs from its undersized interior player, and Isaak had seven points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Sophomore Maddie Keast had eight points, all coming from the free throw line.

Utah State, which rarely allowed her a sliver of daylight, held redshirt freshman Taylor Goligoski, who scored 27 points in Wednesday's win over Incarnate Word, to five points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"Of Taylor's 11 shots, for four or five they were into her pretty good," said Schweyen. "She still had a lot of open looks that were similar to the ones she made the other night. She'll snap out of it."

Making her season debut was redshirt senior Rachel Staudacher, who joined the team just six days ago. She had four points and four rebounds.

"I thought Rachel did some nice things tonight," said Schweyen. "She's just going to get more and more comfortable the more minutes she gets."

Goligoski joined Isaak on the all-tournament team. West was joined by Dufficy and Rachel Brewster for Utah State. Incarnate Word's Celia Garcia Paunero rounded out the team.

Montana will play at Cal State Fullerton (0-4) on Wednesday and at Seattle (1-5) on Friday.