Lady Griz outlast Lumberjacks, sweep road trip

Saturday, February 13

Flagstaff, Ariz.

5:30 PM

Montana

15-9, 8-5BSC

Northern Arizona *

6-18, 2-11BSC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Montana	20	13	21	7	61
Northern Arizona	16	11	16	14	57

2/13/2016 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

PDF Box Score | Season Stats

It was an all-available-hands-on-deck victory for the Montana women's basketball team Saturday evening as the Lady Griz won 61-57 at Northern Arizona to complete a two-game road sweep and up their winning streak to four games.

With only eight players in uniform and two of them saddled with four fouls before the end of the third quarter, Montana (15-9, 8-5 BSC) still managed to lead from start to finish to close to within half a game of a top-four spot in the Big Sky Conference standings.

Kayleigh Valley, who scored 30 in Montana's 81-50 win at Southern Utah Thursday night, led the Lady Griz with 26 points. Her two free throws with three seconds left were the game-winning points after the Lumberjacks (6-18, 2-11 BSC) had cut a 15-point deficit to just two in the closing moments.

"This was a real battle. I had tired kids, but we did enough to get it done. It was a great win for us," said coach Robin Selvig. "To sweep this road trip shorthanded was great."

Montana shot 50 percent in the first half to take a 33-27 lead to the locker room. The margin grew to 15 points late in the third quarter, and the Lady Griz still led 58-44 early in the fourth after Alycia Sims scored on a nice post move with 8:49 left.

But that's when foul trouble and fatigue started catching up with Montana. Valley left the game with four fouls with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter. She wouldn't return until the 6:14 mark of the fourth. By that time momentum had starting shifting toward Northern Arizona.

"It started to get a little tense," said Selvig. "We've got Kayleigh with four fouls, so she sits down for half a quarter. Rachel (Staudacher) has four fouls. It was starting to get a little thinned out."

Montana, running on fumes by that point, was just 2 for 13 in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Griz did enough defensively to maintain their lead, despite missing their final 10 shots of the game and going scoreless for more than eight minutes.

Northern Arizona pulled within 58-53 on a 3-pointer by Taylor Leyva with 2:04 to play and within four, 58-54, when Alyssa Rader, who finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, hit one of two free throws with 50 seconds left.

A Montana turnover gave the ball back to NAU, but Catelyn Preston's 3-pointer with 28 seconds left was off the mark. A Valley free throw with 16 seconds remaining made it 59-54, and her two free throws with three seconds left after Preston had connected on a 3-pointer were the game's final points.

Montana got outscored 14-7 in the final period. The latter turned out to be just enough because of the effort put in to hold the Lumberjacks to the former.

"We didn't score in the fourth quarter, but our defense was solid the whole time," said Selvig. "They really couldn't score, and that was our savior.

"Kayleigh was out of the game some, and that takes a lot of things away. Not just because she's not there but because of the way teams guard her. It opens things up for everybody else. When she's not on the floor, they can play everybody honest."

With McCalle Feller sidelined for the third straight game, and with Valley in foul trouble, Hannah Doran was a 40-minute bellwether. She scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting and added a team-high eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. Sims finished with eight points.

Sierra Anderson, who joined fellow point guard Haley Vining on the court for chunks of the second half as Selvig mixed and matched his lineup to cover the team's foul trouble, scored five points off the bench.

Kaleigh Paplow matched Rader's double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Northern Arizona, which held a 40-31 rebounding advantage. Both players are true freshmen.

Montana State week now arrives for Montana, and it couldn't come at a better time. The Lady Griz won't play until next Saturday, a break that should allow Feller, the team's second-leading scorer, to get back to full health.

The Bobcats (19-5, 12-1 BSC), who won 87-66 at Southern Utah Saturday night, will arrive in Missoula atop the Big Sky Conference. And with four straight wins and its next three at home, Montana has rejoined the hunt for a top-four finish.

Eastern Washington (17-8, 11-2 BSC) and Idaho (18-7, 10-3 BSC) held on to their second- and third-place positions with road wins Saturday. The Eagles won 66-57 at Northern Colorado, the Vandals won 65-59 at North Dakota, a result that snapped the Fighting Hawks' seven-game winning streak.

Montana and North Dakota (12-12, 8-5 BSC), who play in Grand Forks the final week of the regular season, are tied for fifth place, half a game behind Weber State (16-7, 8-4 BSC). The Wildcats, who trailed 40-29 at the half, won 75-58 at Portland State Saturday.

In other league action, Sacramento State picked up an 83-62 home win over Idaho State.