The Road to Reno reaches its final destination

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For the 28th time in the 28-year history of the Big Sky Conference, the Montana women's basketball team will play in the league's postseason tournament. This year's edition will be held in Reno, Nev., and include all 12 teams from the Big Sky.

The Lady Griz, the No. 5 seed, will open the tournament against No. 12 Northern Arizona on Monday at 3:30 p.m. (MT) in a first-round game at the Reno Events Center.

If Montana wins Monday, it would play No. 4 North Dakota at 3:30 p.m. (MT) on Wednesday. If the Lady Griz keep winning, they would play a semifinal game on Friday at 1 p.m. (MT). Saturday's championship game also would be played at 1 p.m. (MT).

Coverage: All of Montana's games this week will air in the Missoula area on KGVO 101.5 FM/1290 AM, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater making the trip to Reno to call the games. ... All 11 games of the women's tournament will have video coverage through Eversport and live stats. Links to both can be found at gogriz.com.

How they got here: Montana, 19-10 overall, won eight of its last nine regular-season games to finish 12-6 in league and alone in fifth place. The Lady Griz finished two games behind regular-season champion Montana State (14-4 BSC) and one behind Idaho, Eastern Washington and North Dakota, all 13-5.

Northern Arizona (6-23, 2-16 BSC) enters the tournament on a nine-game losing streak and with losses in 14 of its last 15 games. The Lumberjacks ended up in a three-way tie for 10th, with Southern Utah and Portland State, and dropped to the No. 12 seed on tiebreakers.

Meeting No. 3: Montana swept the season series with Northern Arizona, winning 81-58 in Missoula back on Dec. 31 and 61-57 at Flagstaff on Feb. 13.

The Lady Griz, who shot 41.5 percent during the regular season, shot 46.3 percent in two games against the Lumberjacks. Kayleigh Valley averaged 27.5 points on 54.1 percent shooting in Montana's two wins, and McCalle Feller had 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting while playing in just the first game.

In the teams' first meeting, Montana led by just six at the break, then outscored Northern Arizona 47-30 in the second half on 55.2 percent shooting. Valley had 29 points, Feller added 26. NAU was led by Rene Coggins, who went 5 for 5 from the 3-point line and scored 19 points.

In the second meeting, Montana led the final three quarters but had to hold off a late comeback attempt that had Northern Arizona getting within two in the final 10 seconds. Valley's two free throws with three seconds left gave the Lady Griz a four-point cushion. She finished with 26 points.

Alyssa Rader, with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Kaleigh Paplow, with 13 and 10, both had double-doubles for the Lumberjacks.

Tournament bona fides: Through the first 27 years of the Big Sky women's basketball tournament, Montana has gone 44-10, with 17 titles won. A bulk of that record and all but two of the championships came in Missoula, which has hosted 16 of the tournaments.

The Lady Griz are 11-6 in neutral-site tournament games and 2-3 in true road games.

Northern Arizona made last year's tournament as the No. 7 seed, its first postseason appearance since 2009. The Lumberjacks played in 16 of the first 27 Big Sky tournaments, going 9-15, with a tournament championship in 2006 at Pocatello as the No. 3 seed.

Tournament history: Montana and Northern Arizona have met six times at the Big Sky tournament, with the Lady Griz winning the first four games, the Lumberjacks the last two.

1993-94 (at UM): UM, 74-41 (SF)
1996-97 (at UM): UM, 73-42 (SF)
1997-98 (at UM): UM, 58-48 (CH)
2002-03 (at WSU): UM, 65-58 (QF)
2005-06 (at ISU): NAU, 73-66 (SF)
2006-07 (at UM): NAU, 64-59 (SF)

The rest of the field: Montana State, Eastern Washington, Idaho and North Dakota earned the top four seeds, respectively, and won't play until Wednesday's quarterfinal round.

In Monday's first-round games, No. 8 Northern Colorado will play No. 9 Idaho State at 1 p.m. (MT), followed by Montana and Northern Arizona. UNC defeated ISU twice during the regular season by a grand total of three points, 48-47 in Greeley and 61-59 at Pocatello.

Monday evening's games will be No. 7 Sacramento State against No. 10 Southern Utah at 6:30 p.m. (MT) and No. 6 Weber State versus No. 11 Portland State at 9 p.m. (MT).

The Hornets defeated the Thunderbirds 82-72 at Cedar City on Wednesday in their only meeting of the season. The Wildcats swept the Vikings, winning 102-73 at Ogden and 75-58 at Portland.

In Wednesday's quarterfinals, Montana State will face the UNC/ISU winner at 1 p.m. (MT), North Dakota will face the UM/NAU winner at 3:30 p.m. (MT), Eastern Washington will face the SAC/SUU winner at 6:30 p.m. (MT), and Idaho will face the WSU/PSU winner at 9 p.m. (MT).

Friday's semifinals will be played at 1 and 3:30 p.m. (MT), Saturday's championship at 1 p.m. (MT).

Should the seeds hold (and there is no reason to think they will): Montana would face North Dakota on Wednesday for the third time this season. The Fighting Hawks won 61-59 at Missoula and 73-61 on Wednesday in Grand Forks.

Wide-open field: The Big Sky tournament is far from top-heavy this year, and any small advantages between teams might be wiped out by playing in front of sparse crowds and on a neutral floor.

The top three seeds went 1-5 last weekend, though all were on the road, and it's the No. 4 seed, North Dakota, which has won 12 of 13, that brings the most momentum into Reno.

Montana closed the regular season winning eight of nine, and Monday's 8-9 matchup features two teams -- Northern Colorado and Idaho State -- that top-seed Montana State isn't exactly thrilled about having to face on Wednesday.

The Bobcats needed two Delany Junkermier 3-pointers in the final 13 seconds of regulation to force overtime (and win 82-80) at home last Saturday against the Bengals, and the Bears dropped 13 3-pointers on MSU on Wednesday in their 80-73 win in Greeley.

Reno is a betting town, and you'd need to be a gambler to try to pick the winners.

Tournament questions for Montana:

1. How far can Kayleigh Valley carry this team? The junior forward won the regular-season scoring title at 21.6 points per game to become Montana's first player to lead the Big Sky in scoring since Mandy Morales in 2008-09.

Valley is playing more than 35 minutes per game, and not a minute of that goes by when she isn't surrounded by help defenders. That extra attention has put her at the line 202 times, where she's connected 172 times. She ranks eighth in the nation in made free throws, 16th in free throw attempts.

If the strategy is to beat her up, she'll out-tough any game plan. If it's to keep her from scoring, teams might try a new strategy. She is 48 for 52 from the line in Montana's last five games and shooting 85.1 percent for the season

It's a big load on a single player, and Valley has yet to falter. She has scored 15 or more points in 24 straight games and 11 times this season has scored 25 or more.

Valley's 625 points this year are the second-highest single-season point total in program history behind the 668 Shannon Cate scored in 1990-91. If Montana advances beyond Monday, that record might be in jeopardy.

Remember when Valley totaled 24 points through the first three games of the season, with just two against Pacific? One made basket, no free throw attempts against the Tigers (granted, while in game-long foul trouble)? Feels like years ago.

2. What's happened to Montana's defense, and is there cause for alarm? The team's last three opponents have all shot 41 percent or better, the first time that's happened this season for a three-game stretch.

The Lady Griz went 2-1 against Weber State, North Dakota and Northern Colorado, but those teams combined to shoot 45.7 percent. That's not the type of percentage that leads to long tournament life spans.

Montana needed all of its season-best 56.6 percent shooting to outscore Weber State 84-75 last Saturday, and then fell into 17- and 12-point holes on the road against North Dakota and Northern Colorado, respectively.

3. How will Montana fare if it gets more shots at the top four seeds? During the regular season the Lady Griz went 1-5 against Montana State (1-1), Eastern Washington (0-1), Idaho (0-1) and North Dakota (0-2). And here's why: the Lady Griz shot 35.4 percent in those six games while allowing 42.8.

Of course it wasn't as one-sided as 1-5 appears. Four of those six games were on the road, and Montana fell at the buzzer in two-point losses to North Dakota and Eastern Washington, and led going into the fourth quarter at Montana State before losing by nine.

4. Will the road catch up to Montana? The Lady Griz left Missoula before sunrise on Tuesday, played at North Dakota Wednesday night, traveled to Greeley on Thursday, played at Northern Colorado Friday night, then traveled back to Missoula on Saturday.

On Sunday Montana will fly to Reno and face an afternoon game on Monday. The team could be there all week if it keeps winning and fly home on Sunday. Somewhere in there the Lady Griz are supposed to be students first, athletes who are at the mercy of the Big Sky's scheduling whims second.

5. Will McCalle Feller ever be McCalle Feller again? The senior guard plays like she's on a pogo stick, at least she did before rolling her ankle in Montana's home win over Sacramento State back on Feb. 4. She missed three games and hasn't been quite the same since her return.

She hit five 3-pointers in Wednesday's loss at North Dakota, but she's shooting 28.1 percent from the arc in five games since her return, and she only had a single rebound in two games on the recent road trip. All signs that point to a fearless, dynamic player who's still harboring doubts.

6. Can Montana win four games in six days when it relies so heavily on a few key players? Kayleigh Valley, McCalle Feller and Alycia Sims all have to come up big in Reno. And on an every-game basis, or the trip likely won't last long.

That's because the team's bench has had a drop-off in production, at least in scoring. Over the last 11 games, the team's reserves are contributing less than 10 points per game.

Starter Mekayla Isaak is averaging 3.2 points on 31.3 percent shooting, and Haley Vining, a capable 3-point shooter, is a pass-first, shoot-second starting point guard. So a lot will come down to Valley, Feller and Sims, with Vining and Hannah Doran starring as the wildcards.

Three-dot notes: Montana has won seven straight against Northern Arizona and is 52-11 against the Lumberjacks overall. ... NAU is 1-15 away from Flagstaff this season, with a win at now 4-25 UC Irvine. ... After totaling nine assists and one turnover at Northern Colorado, Haley Vining is up to 18th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.44. She had 14 assists and four turnovers on the road trip. ... Montana picked up a split on the road despite trailing for 34:19 at North Dakota and 34:57 at Northern Colorado. ... It was a game of firsts Friday at UNC: first time this season winning after trailing at the half, first time winning after trailing with five minutes remaining, first time winning after trailing with two minutes remaining and first time winning when shooting a lower percentage than the opponent. ... When Montana fell behind North Dakota 35-23 in the second quarter on Wednesday, it was the first time in 10 games the Lady Griz faced a double-digit deficit. ... Montana's 0.85 points per possession at North Dakota was its second-lowest in league (0.79 at Montana State). ... With 70 3-pointers, McCalle Feller is within two of Sonya Rogers' single-season program record of 72, which she set in 2007-08. ... Kayleigh Valley's 172 made free throws are the second-most in program history behind Mandy Morales's 179 in 2006-07. ... Seven games ago, Valley became the 32nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. She's already up to No. 21 on the list. ... Valley's 15 made free throws, 16 attempts and 44 minutes played at Northern Colorado were all career highs. ... Any tournament teams that are excited to get Valley away from her home floor should reconsider. She is averaging 23 points on 52.3 percent shooting away from Missoula, slightly better than her home numbers. ... The Lady Griz had held a halftime lead in nine straight games before trailing 46-29 at the break at North Dakota. ... Montana has had more assists than turnovers in each of its last nine games. ... Montana has gone 78 for 87 (.897) from the line the last four games to jump from 93rd in the nation to 31st.

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Players Mentioned

Hannah Doran

McCalle Feller

Alycia Harris

Mekayla Isaak

Kayleigh Valley

Haley Vining

University of Montana Athletics