Tournament seeding at stake this week

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The Montana women's basketball team, better than Montana State by 24 points on Saturday, will close out its regular-season schedule this week with games at Weber State and Idaho State.

The Lady Griz will face the Wildcats on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Ogden, the Bengals at 7 p.m. on Friday in Pocatello.

Games are a day earlier this week -- instead of the usual Thursday-Saturday schedule -- to account for the travel demands of getting all 12 Big Sky Conference teams to Reno before the start of next week's tournament on Monday.

It's that time of year: Montana, which travels directly to Reno on Saturday, departed for Ogden on Tuesday and won't return to Missoula until the Lady Griz lose in the Big Sky tournament or win the league title 11 days from now.

Where they stand: In a messy tangle of teams, as just two games separate second-place Idaho from seventh-place Montana, with every league team playing two final games this week.

Weber State (18-9, 10-6 BSC) and Idaho State (18-9, 10-6 BSC) are two of four teams, along with Portland State and Eastern Washington, who are tied for third in the standings. Montana (13-14, 9-7 BSC) is a game behind in seventh.

What's at stake: Montana could finish as high as tied for second in the final standings and take the No. 3 seed into next week's tournament, which would come with a bye to Wednesday's quarterfinals, or as low as eighth and play the tournament's opening game at noon on Monday against the No. 9 seed.

In fact, Montana could win twice this week to extend its winning streak to three games, and still not earn a top-four seed. Instead of going through all sorts of scenarios, let's allow the games to play out Wednesday, then reassess.

Trending (Montana): Up. Last week at this time, the Lady Griz were on a four-game losing streak and trending in the wrong direction. Amazing what one game -- an 87-63 thumping of Montana State on Saturday -- will do to change a team's trajectory. Montana had five double-figure scorers against the Bobcats and scored 87 points on 54.5 percent shooting.

Trending (Weber State): Up. After losing at Eastern Washington on Thursday, the Wildcats had dropped four of their last five. But then came Saturday's 105-88 victory at Idaho, when Weber State out-Vandaled the Vandals on their home court. The Wildcats went 13 for 28 from 3-point range to overcome 33 points from Mikayla Ferenz and 31 from Geraldine McCorkell.

Trending (Idaho State): Up. We're going to ignore Saturday's late-game implosion at Eastern Washington -- the Bengals led 56-39 late in the third quarter and lost 66-64 -- and focus on the recent body of work: six wins in the previous seven games, including a 62-52 victory at Idaho on Thursday. And a team has to do plenty of things right to build a 17-point third-quarter lead at Eastern Washington.

Coverage: This week's games will air locally on KGVO (AM 1290, FM 98.3), with Tom Stage and Dick Slater. They can be watched on either Pluto TV or at WatchBigSky.com.

Looking ahead: The Big Sky Conference tournament will open on Monday in Reno, with four first-round games, featuring games between seeds 8-9, 5-12, 7-10 and 6-11. At this point only Northern Colorado, at 13-3 in league, has clinched a bye to Wednesday's quarterfinals.

There will be four quarterfinal games on Wednesday, two semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Friday.

Game-week preview:

The Big Sky Conference is a league of extremes, from zone-playing Portland State to full-court havoc-creating Sacramento State, from we-love-the-three Idaho to post-focused North Dakota.

That will be the case this week for Montana, which plays at Weber State, a team more in line with Idaho offensively and Eastern Washington defensively, on Wednesday night, then travels to Idaho State for a game on Friday night against the Bengals, maybe the Big Sky team most resembling the Lady Griz.

"Everything in this league comes down to the different type of matchups and the style of play that teams have," said coach Shannon Schweyen.

Montana may have lit up Montana State for 87 points on 54.5 percent shooting on Saturday, but that doesn't mean that that type of performance will happen against Weber State.

Remember that the last time a team put the type of ball pressure on Montana that Weber State will on Wednesday night, it was Eastern Washington causing 14 first-half Lady Griz turnovers two weeks ago.

Montana fell behind the Eagles 20-6 and was never able to take the lead in a 75-72 home loss.

"It's easy to say we took care of the ball against Montana State, but they weren't really pressing us or picking us up with really tough on-ball pressure, which is something we're going to see a lot of at Weber," said Schweyen.

"They are quick and they get after you. They deny one pass away, so it will be a totally different type of game."

Picked 10th in the preseason coaches' poll, the Wildcats have been one of the season's surprise teams. Much of that can be attributed to the addition of Larryn Brooks, who is averaging 19.5 points per game.

Brooks began her collegiate career spending two seasons at Indiana before transferring to Texas Tech. After sitting out a year, she averaged 9.3 points last season for the Lady Raiders before moving on to school No. 3.

Weber State is the Big Sky's highest scoring team, at 74.9 per game, partly because the Wildcats rank eighth nationally in 3-pointers made per game (10.0). They also average more than seven steals per game, not as many as Eastern Washington, but enough to make a ball-handler uncomfortable.

On Friday Montana will face a team that took over "hottest team in the Big Sky" honors from Idaho on Thursday after winning in Moscow. That title shifted to Northern Colorado, which has duct-taped its way to eight straight wins, after the Bengals gave one away at Eastern Washington on Saturday.

Idaho State has one of the league's most balanced offensive attacks, with five players averaging between 9.5 and 13.6 points per game, and has the distinction of leading the Big Sky in both field goal percentage (.453) and field goal percentage defense (.372).

Idaho State has gone to the 3-point shot fewer times this season than any team not based in Grand Forks or Missoula, but the Bengals are lethal when they do put it up from the arc.

They make 37.2 percent (best in the Big Sky) of their attempts (compared to Montana's league-worst .269) and have multiple weapons. Brooke Blair has made 53 triples on 43.4 percent shooting, Estefania Ors 43 on 46.7 percent shooting and Saylair Grandon 40 on 38.1 percent shooting.

And that doesn't touch on Grace Kenyon, who is playing at a first-team All-Big Sky level. Kenyon had a triple-double earlier this year against Utah Valley and almost had another one two weeks ago against Portland State. She saved Idaho State on Thursday at Idaho with some key baskets late.

Idaho State was once again overlooked in the preseason coaches' poll, coming in at No. 8, and once again 10th-year coach Seton Sobolewski has the Bengals peaking late. Don't forget: this team has played in the last two Big Sky tournament championship games, both years having to open on Monday.

"Idaho State will be very physical like always. They are big, with lots of size," said Schweyen. "They get after you, but it's more of a physical game than the quickness we'll see out of Weber.

"The hope is we take some of this good feeling we have and this shooting touch and some of the momentum we took out of Saturday and carry it over to this week."

No matter the results of this week's games, it's new and exciting territory for a team that was near the bottom of the league standings last year at this time. It's not guaranteed, but Montana can play its way into a bye this week, and that's all a team wants: a chance.

"Even though there are a lot of scenarios that could happen, we still feel like we have something to be shooting for right now, which is a good thing," said Schweyen.

"We may not be in control of where we end up, but it's a good feeling to know that we actually have an outside chance of playing our way into a spot."

Montana notes:

* The Lady Griz snapped a three-game losing streak to Montana State with their 87-63 home-court victory on Saturday. It was only the second time since the late 70s that the Bobcats had won three straight in the series.

* It was the highest-scoring game of the Schweyen era and the team's best shooting performance under the second-year coach.

* The last time Montana scored that many points in a game was more than two years ago, a 90-83 home-court victory over Sacramento State.

* The last time the Lady Griz shot that well? (Keep reading only if you're ready for it to hurt.) When Montana shot 56.6 percent in an 84-75 home win over Weber State two Februarys ago. Kayleigh Valley (told you) scored 31 points and added nine rebounds.

* The 28-point lead Montana built on Montana State matched its largest lead of the season, the same margin the Lady Griz built on Cal State Fullerton in early December at the Lady Griz Classic.

* Montana's 27-point third quarter was its highest scoring period of the season. Its 53 second-half points was its highest scoring half since putting up 53 on Cal State Fullerton in 2015-16.

* The last time Montana had had five players score 10 or more points, which the Lady Griz did on Saturday, was against MSU Northern, two games into the 2015-16 season.

* That was also the last time Montana more than doubled up a team on the boards, as the Lady Griz did on Saturday, out-rebounding the Bobcats 48-23. Montana out-boarded the Skylights 43-20 in that game.

* Jace Henderson scored a career-high 17 points against Montana State on Saturday on 7-of-9 shooting, but she didn't have the team's top outing. That belonged to Madi Schoening, whose efficiency rating of 29 came from an 18-point, 14-rebound, six-assist afternoon. She set career highs in both rebounds and assists.

It was Montana's third-highest efficiency outing of the season, behind Sophia Stiles' 34 at Southern Utah and Henderson's 30 at home against Portland State.

* Montana averaged 1.26 points per possession against Montana State, bettering the team's previous high this season of 1.13 in a road win at Southern Utah.

* Montana State averaged 1.20 points per possession in Montana's 81-64 loss to the Bobcats earlier this season in Bozeman. That was slashed to 0.91 on Saturday.

* Saturday was the 21st time in 27 games this season Montana's bench has outscored the opponent's.

* Montana is 12-0 this season when leading with two minutes to go but 1-3 in games decided by five points or fewer.

* In their point-guard head-to-head battle on Saturday, Hannah Caudill had seven assists to up her Big Sky-leading total to 137 through 27 games. Montana's McKenzie Johnston had eight assists against the Bobcats to pull within two of Caudill, with 135.

* Montana has made 116 3-pointers this season. As a team. The Lady Griz continue to hold off Mikayla Ferenz, who has made 108. By herself. Not surprisingly, Montana's 3-point field goal percentage of .269 ranks last in the Big Sky and 321st nationally out of 349 teams.

* Madi Schoening has made 14 of her last 15 free throw attempts to move up to seventh in the Big Sky at 84.8 percent for the season.

* Montana did not block a shot on Saturday against Montana State, the third time this season that's happened.

* Montana won its 10th home game on Saturday. The Lady Griz have now won 10 or more games at home 36 of the last 39 years.

* Taylor Goligoski's 14 points -- all 14 came in the third quarter as Montana took control -- on Saturday against Montana State were a season high. She went 4 for 4 from the arc in the quarter, 5 for 5 overall.

* Beware Weber State and Idaho State: Caitlin Lonergan is averaging 12.1 points on 56.9 percent shooting on the road this season. At home: 6.4 points on 39.6 percent shooting.

* After playing just three minutes and going scoreless three games ago against Sacramento State, Hailey Nicholson has come on strong. The last three games: 8.7 points on 50 percent shooting and 6.3 rebounds. She even has six assists against only one turnover. Don't be surprised if she starts on Thursday.

* Madi Schoening, round one vs. Montana State: five points, two rebounds, no assists ... Madi Schoening, round two vs. Montana State: 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists. And a 41-point swing between the two teams in the two meetings.

* Montana's seven 3-pointers on Saturday was the team's third-highest total of the season, behind the 10 makes at home over Southern Utah and eight at home over Long Beach State.

* Montana's 20 makes at the line on Saturday were a season high.

* Since halftime of Montana's home loss to Idaho, the Lady Griz outscored the Vandals and Bobcats by 32 points.

* Weber State and Idaho State are a combined 20-4 at home this season. The Wildcats have losses to Utah and Portland State, the Bengals to Weber State and Northern Colorado.

Montana vs. Weber State: Three Big Things

* Montana leads the all-time series 67-13 and holds a 28-8 advantage in games played at Ogden. The teams split the series last year, with the Wildcats winning 74-58 at home and the Lady Griz doing the same thing, 71-46.

* Montana has given up 11 or more made 3-pointers in each of its last three games, with Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana State shooting 40.1 percent from the arc. That could be troublesome on Wednesday against a team that has made 103 more triples than its opponents this season.

* Larryn Brooks has led Weber State in scoring 18 times this season, with three 30-point outings, but hasn't been the Wildcats' leading scorer the last four games. That's been senior guard Kailie Quinn twice, junior guard Emily Drake and junior guard Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman.

Montana vs. Idaho State: Three Big Things

* Montana holds a 71-10 series lead over Idaho State, though the Bengals won two of three last year, 61-43 in Pocatello and 63-53 in a first-round game in Reno. Montana won 68-53 in Missoula. The Lady Griz advantage is 29-7 in Pocatello.

* ISU coach Seton Sobolewski has four of the program's 10 wins over Montana in a series that has been played annually since 1982-83. Former coach Ardie McInelly had three wins, all coming in 2000-01, while current Idaho coach Jon Newlee had two against the Lady Griz in his six seasons at Pocatello.

* Idaho State and Montana are two of the three best rebounding teams in the Big Sky Conference, both ranking behind North Dakota (+6.4/g) in rebounding margin. The Bengals are +5.0, the Lady Griz now +4.8 after Saturday's rebounding clinic against Montana State.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Seeding for next week's tournament in Reno could start to come into view on Wednesday night, but it will take until Friday's games for everything to be settled.

* Wednesday games: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, SAC at UND, PSU at UNC, EWU at SUU, UI at NAU

* Wednesday note: Two of the teams sitting at 10-6 (EWU/PSU) are on the road, while the other two (ISU/WSU) are at home.

* Friday games: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, PSU at UND, SAC at UNC, UI at SUU, EWU at NAU

* Friday note: Portland State and North Dakota play an afternoon game on Friday. Everyone else has an evening start.

Upcoming: All-Big Sky Conference teams will be announced on Sunday, the madness of Reno begins on Monday.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Goligoski

Jace Henderson

McKenzie Johnston

Caitlin Lonergan

Hailey Nicholson

Madi Schoening

Sophia Stiles

Kayleigh Valley

University of Montana Athletics