Lady Griz in Texas, then back home for three

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The Montana women's basketball team will play its third straight road game on Saturday when it travels to Nacogdoches, Texas, to face Stephen F. Austin. The Lady Griz and Ladyjacks will tip off at 4 p.m. (MT) at the William R. Johnson Coliseum.

Montana will travel back to Missoula on Sunday and host Rocky Mountain at 7 p.m. on Monday in Dahlberg Arena, the first of three straight home games to wrap up the team's nonconference schedule.

The Lady Griz will host Wyoming on Sunday Dec. 18, and Colorado State on Wednesday, Dec. 21, before taking a short Christmas break.

Big Sky Conference games open Dec. 29 and 31, when Montana plays at Idaho State and Weber State.

Where they stand: Montana is 2-5 and has dropped three straight games for just the third time since the start of the 2012-13 season. Montana dropped both ends of last week's road trip, losing at Cal State Fullerton and Seattle, to fall to 0-4 in games away from home this season.

Stephen F. Austin is 6-2 and on a five-game winning streak. The Ladyjacks' losses came by six at South Dakota and 63-48 at Texas A&M, two teams that are a combined 12-4. On Wednesday, SFA won at Louisiana Tech 60-58 after trailing by 17 points early in the third quarter.

Rocky Mountain is 7-4 but has dropped three straight after opening Frontier Conference play with home losses to Carroll and Montana-Western last week. The Battlin' Bears lost an exhibition game at Montana State in early November, 75-43.

Coverage: Saturday's game will air in the Missoula area on KMPT 930 AM, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater. The audio stream can also be found on the All Access page at gogriz.com. Video coverage will be available on ESPN3.

Monday's game will air on KGVO 101.5 FM/1290 AM, with streaming audio and video options on the All Access page at gogriz.com.

Most recently: Montana lost at Cal State Fullerton last Wednesday, 72-56, the Titans' first win over the Lady Griz in six tries and their first Division I win of the season. Montana trailed 35-30 at the half, then got outscored 21-13 in the third quarter to fall into a 13-point hole entering the fourth.

Taylor Goligoski, who went 3 for 7 from 3-point range, led Montana with 17 points.

Two days later at Seattle, Montana fell behind by 11 early in the second quarter before rallying back and taking a 26-24 halftime lead. Once again it was the third quarter that did in Montana. The Redhawks outscored the Lady Griz 22-10 in the third frame to pull away.

Goligoski, who once again went 3 for 7 from the arc, led Montana with 15 points but needed 17 shots to get there. The team's other four starters combined for three baskets and 11 points.

"I felt like we ran things well enough to get good shots," said first-year coach Shannon Schweyen. "We've just got to have other people stepping up. It can't be a one- or two-person show.

"We're not that big, so without a lot of offensive rebounding, it's not like we're going to get a lot of easy second-chance points either."

Playing from behind: Montana held the lead for less than seven minutes during its three-game losing streak. The Lady Griz did not lead in the second half against Utah State or Cal State Fullerton, and led for less than 90 seconds early in the third quarter at Seattle on Friday.

Youth, by the numbers: Nearly 60 percent (59.3) of Montana's minutes this season have been played by either freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Expand that to include all underclassmen, and the percentage of minutes played increases to 85 percent.

More on Stephen F. Austin: The Ladyjacks went 18-12 last season under then first-year coach Mark Kellogg and finished fourth in the Southland Conference at 12-6. ... SFA was voted third in this year's preseason coaches' poll behind Abilene Christian and Central Arkansas. ... Senior guard Taylor Ross, who is averaging 15.6 points through eight games, was voted preseason first-team All-Southland. ... Stephen F. Austin is 2-0 at home this season, with blowout wins over Oklahoma Panhandle State, 77-43, and LSU-Shreveport, 93-56. ... The Ladyjacks are forcing more than 26 turnovers per game but also allowing their opponents to shoot 42.0 percent, which is Sacramento State-like.

"After scores, they like to press, then fall back into zone," said Schweyen. "Their zone is really active, by far the most active we'll have seen this season. They get after you and make you have to gamble a little bit. They will be harder to get good shots on because of their quickness.

"Hopefully we can be organized and take care of the ball and not have so many turnovers. Then get to the other end and be able to get into our stuff. Our main goal with a team this young is to make sure we don't turn it over, then get organized at the end."

History: Montana and Stephen F. Austin have played just once before, in the WNIT following the 1986-87 season. The Ladyjacks defeated the Lady Griz 78-68 in a game played at Amarillo, Texas.

More on Rocky Mountain: The Battlin' Bears were picked fifth in the Frontier Conference preseason poll behind the big four of Lewis-Clark State, MSU Northern, Great Falls and Carroll, all of which are in the NAIA's top 25. ... The Lady Griz defeated MSU Northern, 64-56, and Carroll, 61-39, in exhibition games, and opened the regular season with a 66-55 home win over Great Falls. .... ... Rocky Mountain is led by third-year coach Wes Keller. ... Junior guard Mikayla Jones leads RMC in scoring at 15.1 points per game. ... The Battlin' Bears have eight players from Montana on their roster.

"That will by no means be an easy game for us. Wes does a really nice job with his crew," said Schweyen. "But it will be nice to face someone that we're not going into it being a huge underdog. It will be good for the girls.

"And it will be nice to be back home. It feels like we've been on the road for quite some time."

History: Montana is 5-0 all-time in regular-season games against Rocky Mountain, with the teams' last meeting coming in 2005-06, a 34-point Montana win. ... When the teams met in 1988-89, Montana won 82-23, still the program record for fewest points allowed in a game.

Important stretch upcoming: After returning from Texas on Sunday, Montana will be home for its final three pre-Christmas games. But the schedule does not get any easier. Wyoming is 6-2, and Colorado State is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last season.

"These next few weeks will be good," said Schweyen. "I feel like we're finally starting to know what we have and are able to identify ourselves a little bit more.

"We're starting to fine-tune some things, and we almost have everything in. It feels good to feel like we finally have had some practices with the people we're going to have out there."

Trending:

Up: While it was a minor victory, Montana held Seattle to 39 percent shooting in Friday's road loss. In their first four losses of the season, the Lady Griz allowed 47.9 percent shooting.

Down: Montana's offensive struggles continue. Four times this season the Lady Griz have shot worse than 30 percent, and only once have they shot better than 36 percent. Montana's season percentage of 30.7 ranks 340th out of 344 Division I teams.

Up: Despite being undersized because of injury, Montana is still out-rebounding its opponents by two boards per game.

Down: Montana is shooting 28.7 away from home this season.

Three-dot notes: Montana ranks fifth nationally in fouls at just 12.9/game. ... The Lady Griz averaged 0.62 points per possession at Seattle, their second-lowest production of the season behind the 0.59 against South Dakota State. ... Montana has averaged more than a point per possession just once this season, 1.05 against Incarnate Word. ... Montana is 0-4 this season when trailing at the half. ... Rachel Staudacher, in her third game back since rejoining the team, scored a season-high seven points at Seattle. ... Maddie Keast is 6 for 8 from the arc this season, with games of 3 for 3 and 3 for 4. ... The Lady Griz went 10 for 26 from 3-point range at Cal State Fullerton, a season high for makes. ... Montana has shot 60 percent or worse from the free throw line in four of the last five games. ... The Lady Griz had 17 turnovers at Fullerton, then a season-high 19 at Seattle. ... Montana forced Seattle into 21 turnovers, but the ensuing possessions somehow led to just three points. ... The Lady Griz have been outscored by 39 points in the second half in their last three games. ... Montana's bench scored just 10 points at Fullerton, a season low. ... The Lady Griz were outscored 60-26 in the paint in two games on the road last week.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Goligoski

Maddie Keast

Rachel Staudacher

University of Montana Athletics