Lady Griz fall at Portland State

Thursday, February 8

Portland, Ore.

9PM (MT)

Montana

12-11, 8-4BSC

Portland State

12-10, 6-5BSC

Montana

Portland State

2/9/2018 12:38:00 AM | Women's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

On a night when a win would have put Montana back into a first-place tie atop the Big Sky Conference, a big second half by Portland State kept the Lady Griz looking up at the league leaders.

The Vikings shot 61.5 percent in the second half and broke away from a three-point game at the half to win 70-53 over Montana at the Pamplin Sports Center on the campus of Lewis & Clark in Portland.

Montana (12-11, 8-4 BSC) got a season-high 19 points from Caitlin Lonergan off the bench but nobody else reached double digits as the Lady Griz shot 37 percent and turned the ball over 20 times, the most for the team since December.

"It was a frustrating game. It's tough to win when you shoot 37 percent and have 20 turnovers," said UM coach Shannon Schweyen.

When the teams met in Missoula last month, McKenzie Johnston had 17 points and Jace Henderson added 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 13 rebounds as Montana won 69-53.

That which came so easily inside Dahlberg Arena wasn't happening on Thursday night. Johnston was held to eight points on 2-of-11 shooting, and Henderson, who is battling a groin injury, was held without a point and only grabbed one rebound.

"That made such a big difference for us last time, when we were actually scoring on their bigs," said Schweyen. "They had to collapse on Jace, then we started getting other action and things were spread out a little bit more.

"A lot of the shots Jace took tonight were about what she took in Missoula. She just had a hard time getting anything down tonight, so they didn't have to worry about that. They defended us one-on-one down there."

And yet Montana was down just 23-20 at the half, thanks to an early spark from Mekayla Isaak, who was back in the starting lineup in place of Sophia Stiles, who was lost for the season last weekend.

Isaak would play only 14 minutes, but she finished with six points on 3-of-5 shooting. Not huge numbers but part of what needs to be a collective effort to make up for Stiles' lost production.

"Mekayla played well," said Schweyen. "I was happy for her. She knocked down some shots and did a good job in there."

Montana got baskets from Madi Schoening and Taylor Goligoski early in the third quarter to pull within one, 25-24, but a 12-0 run by Portland State on 5-of-6 shooting started to turn the game in favor of the Vikings.

Portland State would shoot 8 for 13 in both the third and fourth quarters and go 7 for 10 from the arc to put up 47 second-half points after scoring just 23 in the first 20 minutes.

Kiana Brown went 3 for 7 from the 3-point line, while Corey James and Sidney Rielly both knocked down a pair.

"They had multiple kids hitting threes, and we couldn't seem to buy one," said Schweyen. "Brown hit some big threes down the stretch that got them away from us."

Five straight points by Lonergan at the back end of the third quarter and early in the fourth brought the Lady Griz within six, 42-36, but a four-point play by Brown pushed the lead back to a dozen, 48-36, and the Vikings would lead by 10 or more the final eight minutes.

Lonergan scored 11 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter, 16 in the second half.

"Caitlin was a force inside tonight. She was getting them buried pretty deep, and we didn't want to miss her," said Schweyen. "We just had a hard time getting any of our other post shots down."

Johnston played all 40 minutes for Montana and grabbed 10 rebounds, the fourth time in her career finishing with 10 or more. She also added seven assists and two steals.

Brown and Ashley Bolston both had 14 points for Portland State (12-10, 6-5 BSC).

Montana will play at Sacramento State on Saturday at 3 p.m. (MT). The Hornets (4-18, 2-9 BSC) snapped an eight-game losing streak with an 88-77 home win over Montana State on Thursday night.