Lady Griz to face Bears in quarterfinals

Updated Tournament Bracket

And so it gets tougher for the Lady Griz, which is the nature of the postseason and brackets, as the strongest survive and advance, only to face off against one another in a dwindling pool of teams, until only one is left standing.

No. 8 Montana, which defeated No. 9 Sacramento State in a first-round game on Monday, will continue play at the Big Sky Conference tournament in Reno on Wednesday with a quarterfinal game against top-seeded Northern Colorado.

The Lady Griz (14-16) and the Bears (23-6), who take a 10-game winning streak into Wednesday's game, will tip off at 1 p.m. (MT) from the Reno Events Center.

Coverage: Wednesday's game can be watched on Pluto TV, channel 231, or through WatchBigSky.com. Local coverage can be found on KGVO (AM 1290, FM 98.3), with Tom Stage and Dick Slater.

Quarterfinals are set: Montana's 87-80 victory over Sacramento State on Monday was the first of four first-round games, and the chalk held in all four matchups.

(8) Montana 87, (9) Sacramento State 80 -- McKenzie Johnston scored a career-high 28 points and Caitlin Lonergan added 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench. The Lady Griz shot 53.1 percent in the second half to pull away from what was a one-point game at the half.

(5) Idaho State 59, (12) Southern Utah 49 -- The Bengals held the Thunderbirds to 26.1 percent shooting in the first half to go up 32-19 at the break and held the lead from there. Named the Big Sky's Top Reserve on Sunday, Estefania Ors scored a game-high 20 points off the bench.

(7) Montana State 68, (10) North Dakota 58 -- The Bobcats scored the final 18 points of the first half to take a 36-21 lead into the break, then held off the Fighting Hawks' second-half rally that saw them pull within three midway through the fourth quarter. Rebekah Hatchard led Montana State with 18 points.

(6) Portland State 77, (11) Northern Arizona 61 -- Tied 16-16 after the first quarter, the Vikings used a 21-5 second quarter to take control. Sidney Rielly scored 24 points as Portland State outscored Northern Arizona by 15 from the free throw line.

Wednesday's schedule:

(1) Northern Colorado vs. (8) Montana, 1 p.m. (MT) -- The Bears won both meetings during the regular season, 68-50 in Greeley and 64-58 in Missoula.

(4) Weber State vs. (5) Idaho State, 3:30 p.m. (MT) -- The Wildcats won both meetings during the regular season, 76-70 at Pocatello and 84-73 at Ogden.

(2) Idaho vs. (7) Montana State, 6:30 p.m. (MT) -- The Vandals won the teams' only meeting, 95-77 in Bozeman, with one of the most beautiful box scores you'll ever see: 56.5 percent shooting, 17 for 32 from the arc, four turnovers.

(3) Eastern Washington vs. (6) Portland State, 9 p.m. (MT) -- The teams split their regular-season matchups, with the Vikings winning 75-60 in Portland, the Eagles 64-57 in Cheney.

More on Montana:

* The Lady Griz improved to 46-12 in Big Sky Conference tournament games with their 87-80 victory over the Hornets on Monday afternoon to match their season high for scoring output.

* One day after earning only honorable mention All-Big Sky honors, point guard McKenzie Johnston went out and scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting. It was Johnston's seventh straight game scoring in double figures.

* Caitlin Lonergan came off the bench to score 18 points in 24 minutes on 9-of-12 shooting. That upped her season averages to 10.1 points on 51.4 percent shooting and 5.3 rebounds.

* Johnston and Lonergan combined to go 19 for 26. The rest of the team shot 29.8 percent.

* Montana turned the ball over a season-low seven times against the Hornets, with Johnston giving it up just once in 39 minutes.

* Taylor Goligoski (3 for 12) and Madi Schoening (2 for 9) struggled shooting the ball, but both contributed in other ways. Goligoski had seven rebounds and four assists, both season highs. Schoening also grabbed seven boards and matched her career high with six assists, with no turnovers.

* Montana had 22 assists against only seven turnovers, a sweet 3.1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, by far the team's best of the season.

* Sacramento State connected on 12 3-pointers on Monday, the fifth time in six games Montana's opponent has made 11 or more triples.

* Jace Henderson missed last week's road games at Weber State and Idaho State but went through Montana's full pregame warmup on Monday. She played six second-half minutes, limited more by who the opponent was than her injury.

* The Lady Griz improved to 2-2 in Big Sky tournament games in Reno. Montana went 1-1 in 2016 as the No. 5 seed and 0-1 last March as the No. 11 seed.

* Montana is now 56-14 all-time in postseason conference tournament games.

More on Northern Colorado:

* The Bears enter the tournament under ideal conditions. They played at home the last two weekends of the regular season, then got a bye through Monday's first round.

* Northern Colorado enters the tournament on a 10-game winning streak, made even more impressive by the fact that six of those wins have come by six points or fewer. That's what happens when you have the Big Sky's best closer in Savannah Smith.

* This marks the third time in four years the Bears have had a 10-game winning streak.

* Smith was named the Big Sky MVP on Sunday and a first-team selection. She isn't the best player in the league, not in a conference with Delaney Hodgins and Mikayla Ferenz, but she's the leader on the Big Sky's top team that won the league by two games, and that counts for something.

* Savannah Scott was voted second team, Kianna Williams the Defensive Player of the Year.

* Smith ranks fifth in the Big Sky in scoring at 17.7 points and also ranks in the top 10 in assists (3.6/g). Scott averages 17.2 points.

* Williams averages 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds and leads the team in both steals (2.1/g) and blocks (1.2/g).

* It's been a year of potential upheaval for UNC, but the Bears still kept winning.

Courtney Smith started the team's first 18 games before leaving the program in late January. She will finish her career at Denver. She was averaging 13.3 points on 54.8 percent shooting and 5.2 rebounds when she departed.

Scott injured her knee in UNC's overtime home win over Weber State on Feb. 10 and was thought to be out for the year. But she sat just three games, returning with a bomb-proof brace to average 19 points last week in home wins over Portland State and Sacramento State on 65 percent shooting.

* Northern Colorado comes in rolling, with a 90-68 beatdown of Sacramento State on Friday in Greeley in its final regular-season game. Five players scored in double figures and the Bears hit 15 3-pointers for their highest scoring output since opening the season with a 94-88 road win at DePaul.

Series notes:

* Montana leads the all-time series 17-9 but Northern Colorado has won the last three matchups.

* This is the fourth time the Lady Griz and Bears are meeting in the Big Sky tournament. Montana won 55-46 in the semifinals in 2011 at Portland State and 56-43 in 2013 and 60-49 in 2015 in the championship game in Missoula.

* Savannah Scott was a true freshman in the 2015 title game. She started and scored six points as Montana overcame a 29-16 halftime deficit to win its most recent Big Sky championship. Kianna Williams played one minute in that game for the Bears, Mekayla Isaak two minutes for the Lady Griz.

Game preview:

When Montana and Northern Colorado met in Greeley on Jan. 6, both teams were 3-0 in league. It didn't take the Bears long to show they were more ready for the moment.

Northern Colorado, behind eight early points from Courtney Smith, jumped out to a 15-1 lead, holding Montana without a field goal for the game's first six minutes.

On 45.5 percent shooting and four starters in double figures, the Bears rolled to a 68-50 victory, with Scott and Williams both scoring 13 points.

When the teams played in Missoula in early February, Montana couldn't have written a more perfect script for the first half. Smith got into foul trouble and only played 10 minutes, and Smith and Scott combined for two first-half points on 1-of-9 shooting.

But Montana was unable to take advantage. The Lady Griz had 10 first-half turnovers and watched as Northern Colorado got 14 points from its bench, some from unexpected sources. The lead at the break was 27-23, when it should have been at least 10 or more.

That allowed Smith to do Smith things, like score 18 second-half points, with three killer 3-pointers, and lead her team to 14-of-19 shooting over the final 20 minutes to steal a big one. It was win No. 2 on the Bears' current winning streak.

All of which sets the stage for Wednesday.

"It will be a lot like (Sacramento State)," said coach Shannon Schweyen on Monday after her team's win over the Hornets.

"They have some very talented guards who are extremely disciplined, so we have to close people out. Guarding people on the perimeter is going to be a big priority, because they can shoot the three and get to the hole."

One advantage Montana had in the regular-season matchups was the presence of Sophia Stiles, who was the team's best perimeter defender. The game against the Bears in Missoula was her final full game. She was lost for the season two days later in a home win over North Dakota.

Stiles scored a team-high 16 points against Northern Colorado in the Bears' 64-58 win at Dahlberg Arena.

"We played them tough in Missoula and had a chance to win that game," said Schweyen. "We had Sophia then, and she was one of our better defenders, so we'll have our work cut out for us.

"Northern Colorado is coming in with a lot of momentum. Hopefully we can show up and give them all they can handle."

Upcoming: The winner of Wednesday's game will face either Weber State or Idaho State at 1 p.m. (MT) on Friday in the semifinals.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Goligoski

Jace Henderson

Mekayla Isaak

McKenzie Johnston

Caitlin Lonergan

Madi Schoening

Sophia Stiles

University of Montana Athletics