Lady Griz end break in schedule with School Day game

The Montana women's basketball team, which hasn't played since facing Gonzaga on Nov. 7, will return to the court on Tuesday for the second annual Lady Griz School Day game.

Montana will host Providence (MT) at 11:30 a.m. inside what is expected to be a full Dahlberg Arena.

Coverage: Tuesday's game will air on SWX, with Riley Corcoran and former Lady Griz Krista Redpath calling the action, and Shaun Rainey working the sideline. ... The game will have radio coverage, with Tom Stage and Dick Slater, on KMPT 930 AM/99.7 FM. ... The game will also be available through WatchBigSky.com and Pluto TV.

Body of work (Montana): The Lady Griz are 0-1 after opening their season nearly two full weeks ago with a 76-52 loss at Gonzaga. Montana trailed 42-17 at the half and got no closer than 22 points in the second half.

Body of work (Providence): Coming off a 22-win season and a run to the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament, the Argos, ranked No. 18 nationally in the NAIA preseason poll, are off to a 7-0 start, with three consecutive wins over ranked teams.

Tuesday's game is an exhibition for Providence and won't count against the Argos' record. Providence dropped its only other exhibition game this season, 73-65 at MSU Billings.

History: Montana has never lost to the team formerly known as Great Falls, holding a 9-0 advantage, the last eight of those being played in Missoula. The teams played annually from 1978-79 to 1984-85 but have played just twice in the regular season since.

The teams' most recent meeting, a 66-55 victory in Montana's season opener in 2016-17, was the first win for Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen as head coach after 24 years as Robin Selvig's assistant.

Game notes:

* Montana is 0-1 in its own Lady Griz School Day game. In front of a crowd of 7,018 last December, Montana got outscored 27-14 in the fourth quarter to fall to Seattle 78-64.

* Montana is one of just three (of 349) NCAA Division I teams with only one game played at this point of the season. Sacramento State and Pepperdine have also played only one game. Both would have played more but had games cancelled last week because of the fires burning in California.

* With its loss at Gonzaga, Montana has dropped its season opener three of the last four years.

* Montana averaged just 0.68 points per possession against the Bulldogs, the lowest offensive output for the Lady Griz since averaging 0.62 points per possession in a 60-44 loss at Seattle early in the 2016-17 season.

* Montana's six points in the second quarter, when the Lady Griz were outscored 19-6 -- they had as many shot attempts (9) in that rough 10-minute period as turnovers (9) -- were the fewest in a quarter since scoring five in the first quarter last February in a road loss at Idaho.

* Yes, Montana shot 35.0 percent at Gonzaga and turned the ball over 21 times and went 2 for 15 from the arc and got just seven points from its bench, but there were some good things:

* Trailing by 25 at the half, the Lady Griz scored more points in the third quarter (19) than they had the entire first half (17) and outscored the Bulldogs in the second half 35-34.

* Montana had 17 assists on 21 made baskets, so it wasn't faulty offensive execution that did in the Lady Griz. It was turnovers (21 of them) and missed shots (39 of them).

* McKenzie Johnston had 17 points (on 50 percent shooting) and seven assists, Jace Henderson had six points and 10 rebounds. It was Johnston's 34th double-figure scoring game in her career, Henderson's seventh double-digit rebounding effort.

* Gabi Harrington matched a career high with six rebounds off the bench, Abby Anderson blocked three shots in 13 minutes in her collegiate debut.

* After shooting 25.7 percent from 3-point range in 2016-17 and 27.5 percent last winter, it was hoped Montana would improve its shooting from the arc this year. It's something to monitor after the Lady Griz went 2 for 15 (.133) at Gonzaga. That's something that has to improve if Montana is going to have the season it wants to have.

* Playing five of its first seven countable games at home, Providence is off to a 7-0 start, with three consecutive wins over ranked teams: 62-59 over No. 14 The Master's University, 75-70 over No. 8 Westmont College and 100-87 on Saturday over No. 22 Arizona Christian.

* Six-foot-one sophomore center Parker Esary (Kalama, Wash.) is averaging 18.6 points and 10.3 rebounds through seven games while shooting 66.7 percent.

* Jenna Randich (Olympia, Wash.) is averaging 15.3 points and has gone 16 for 36 (.444) from the 3-point line, sophomore point guard Emilee Maldonado (Sunnyside, Wash.) is averaging 14.3 points and has 53 assists through seven games (7.6/g).

* Providence is shooting 44.4 percent on the season and is +13.0/game on the boards.

* The Argos were picked for a third-place finish in the Frontier Conference, behind Carroll and Montana-Western, teams picked seventh and ninth in the preseason NAIA national poll.

* The seven teams of the Frontier Conference, four of which were ranked in the top 25 preseason poll, with one other collecting votes, are 30-6.

Game preview:

It will have been nearly two full weeks between games when Montana returns to the court on Tuesday to face Providence. The last time the Lady Griz played was on Nov. 7, a loss at Gonzaga to open the season.

"I'm not going to lie. It's been long," said third-year coach Shannon Schweyen, whose team has practiced, practiced some more and even played another scrimmage, this one against Sammy Fatkin and the team's four male practice players.

"We're ready to play somebody else after having so many practices without having someone specific to prepare for. We had a great scrimmage last week. It was very game-like with some great reps and it was very helpful, but we're certainly ready to get back after it."

Montana started slowly at Gonzaga, falling behind 23-11 after the first quarter, 42-17 at the half, and could never catch back up.

Opportunities to hang around -- which is how a team goes into McCarthey Athletic Center and wins, by hanging around and then pulling it out at the end, the way teams used to hope to survive a trip to Dahlberg Arena -- were given away by either turnovers or missed shots.

"Looking back at it, we had a lot of 2-on-1's and 3-on-2's, when we should have capitalized, and came out of the possession with nothing," said Schweyen. "There were a lot of points we left out there."

Beyond missed transition opportunities, Montana went just 2 for 15 from the arc, a problem that is going to plague this program until ... it no longer does.

"We had a lot of good looks on the perimeter," Schweyen said. "I felt like when we finally did move the ball and get it turned, we had some wide-open looks that didn't go down. When you go to a place like that, you'd better be making some of those if you want to stay in it."

Only time will tell if the second half was just the team with a 25-point lead playing it out or if Montana really did go toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs, who are now 4-0, with wins over Eastern Washington, Idaho State and UNLV, and a matchup on Thursday against No. 1 Notre Dame in Vancouver, B.C.

Schweyen believes it was more of the latter.

"The second half was really encouraging. We executed things a lot better the second half after we settled in a little bit and got more comfortable with the pace of the game," she said.

Now comes the second annual Lady Griz School Day game, which brings two separate dynamics.

First is the crowd, which, if last year is any indication, treats the opportunity like a Get Out of Jail Free card. There is singing. There is dancing. There is general hysteria. And that's before the game even tips off.

"It's not your normal crowd, but it doesn't matter. To have all those kids there and see it packed to the rafters and feel that kind of energy, it's inspiring for our girls," said Schweyen.

"They'll be into it. We're excited to get out there and play hard in front of them."

Second is the opponent, which is 7-0 and will be coming in with a load of confidence after knocking off three straight nationally ranked NAIA opponents. And has played seven regular-season games to Montana's one.

"They have more games under their belt, so they have a little more feeling of who they are than we do right now," said Schweyen. "They also have size."

True. There is 6-foot-5 freshman Alicia Oatis (Kennewick, Wash.), Parker Esary, who's the team's leading scorer and rebounder and a 66.7-percent shooter at 6-foot-1, and three other players listed as six-feet or taller.

"Oftentimes when you play (an NAIA opponent), you're usually bigger than they are and you usually have an edge there," said Schweyen. "We don't. They are probably bigger than us with the lineups they play.

"One area I'd hope we can hurt them is in transition. When they have some of their bigger lineups on the court, hopefully our girls can run the floor hard and we can get some transition on them."

More than just size, the Argos have point guard Emilee Maldonado, who Schweyen believes is a Big Sky Conference-level point guard in an NAIA jersey.

"She's the real deal. She's a good little player. She could play for anyone in our league," she said. "They are well-coached, they run good stuff and they have good quickness and size. They are very talented."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* It's early, but it's still fun to see Big Sky teams sitting atop the national statistics. Not surprisingly, Idaho leads the nation in 3-point field goals made at 14.3 per game.

Under first-year coach Velaida Harris, Weber State leads the country in turnovers, with just 18 through two games (9.0/g), and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.44), and Southern Utah, also under a first-year coach, Tracy Sanders, has limited its first two opponents to 12.0 percent shooting from the arc (3 for 25).

* Unbeaten through three games is Portland State, the team that split most of the first-place votes with Idaho in the preseason polls. With seven of nine pre-Christmas games at their new home facility and a soft nonconference schedule, the Vikings could very well be 9-0 entering league.

* In games against future Montana opponents, Idaho State lost 71-46 at Arizona -- the Bengals went 1 for 18 from the arc and shot 26.8 percent overall -- and Northern Arizona lost 81-59 at Washington, the Lumberjacks' lone loss through four games.

* Sanders picked up her first win at Southern Utah with a nice 69-59 home victory over San Diego, Harris got hers at Weber State with a 105-43 laugher over La Verne, and first-year Northern Colorado coach Jenny Huth, after her team had competitive losses on the road at Colorado and LSU, got win No. 1 with a 74-66 home win over Denver on Friday night.

* Northern Colorado's Savannah Smith, last year's Big Sky MVP, is still the same player, just under a different coach. She is averaging 22.0 points, with a .400/.414/1.000 shooting line (FG/3FG/FT).

* Newcomer to know: Montana State senior Claire Lundberg, who played three years at Seton Hall before sitting out last winter after transferring. She is averaging 22.3 points through four games with an even sicker shooting line than Smith: .600/.500/1.000. (And that's on 22 free throw attempts, not 1 for 1).

* Idaho has four of the Big Sky's top five 3-point shooters in terms of makes. No surprise: Taylor Pierce and Mikayla Ferenz. The freshmen: Janie King and Gina Marxen.

Upcoming: Montana will host South Dakota on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Coyotes are 3-1 and ranked No. 4 in ESPN's mid-major poll. USD's lone loss came on Thursday, 76-64 at Drake, the nation's top-ranked mid-major team.

Lady Griz end break in schedule with School Day game

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Sammy Fatkin

Gabi Harrington

Jace Henderson

McKenzie Johnston

University of Montana Athletics