The long road ahead starts ... now

The Montana women's basketball team will begin a stretch of five consecutive road games this week when it plays at Idaho State and Weber State.

The Lady Griz (9-7, 4-3 BSC) will face the Bengals (10-6, 5-2 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Reed Gym in Pocatello and the Wildcats (4-13, 1-6 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Upcoming road games will take Montana to Montana State, Idaho and Eastern Washington. The Lady Griz will not play again at home until hosting Weber State on Feb. 14.

This week's hot topics:

1. Jace Henderson. You can read all about her and what she's done here.

In a nutshell: She scored 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting to lead Montana to an 82-79 victory over Idaho on Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena in the team's only game last week. Her three-point play with 1:11 to go broke the game's final tie and sent the Lady Griz to victory.

Her previous career high was 18 points.

It was the most points scored by a Montana player since Kayleigh Valley dropped 31 on Weber State in February 2016 and gives Henderson six double-doubles in the last eight games. She entered her senior season with five double-doubles in her career.

Henderson now leads Montana in scoring (12.4/g) and rebounding (8.4), and she leads the Big Sky Conference in shooting (.591).

2. Sammy Fatkin's breakout. The transfer from Arizona was declared eligible by the NCAA in late December and had a nice debut as Montana opened league with home wins over Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Fatkin averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 assists in the two wins.

Over the next four games she would take 17 shots and make just one while getting minutes off the bench.

Then Saturday arrived: She scored 19 points, matching what she'd scored over her first six games as a Lady Griz, going 6 for 9 overall, 3 for 4 from 3-point range. And she didn't have a single turnover in 37 minutes.

There were two reasons for the where-did-that-come-from performance.

First, with Taylor Goligoski and Katie Mayhue out with injuries, Fatkin got the start and was able to play without worrying about how many minutes she'd be in and whether making a mistake would have the buzzer sounding, signaling her sub arriving at the score table.

She knew she was in it for the long haul. And it freed up her game.

Second -- and this one might surprise you -- it was her defensive assignment that got her engaged in the game from the opening possession. It was her job to slow down Mikayla Ferenz, the player who is on track to be the Big Sky's all-time leading scorer by season's end.

That carried over to the rest of her game. Her 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter was one of the bigger shots in the game, when back-to-back Idaho baskets had given the Vandals a four-point lead and some momentum.

"I was given a really tough defensive assignment and was really able to focus in on that," said Fatkin. "My job was to stay on her as best I could and not give her anything easy."

Ferenz approached her season average with 20 points, but it was probably one of her quieter 20-point games. She missed 14 of her 22 shots and went just 2 for 10 from 3-point range.

"Obviously she is an amazing player, so she's going to get her shots and she's going to score," added Fatkin. "I just wanted to do my best to make it tough on her. I felt good about it, but it was definitely a team effort on a player like that."

3. Gabi does it again. Gabi Harrington didn't have her best shooting game on Saturday but still produced her third double-double in the last six games. Had she collected one more rebound against both Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado, it would be five in the last six games.

4. Saturday was the 30th win for Montana under third-year coach Shannon Schweyen, and while she doesn't want to make too big of a deal about it, a lot of other people had the same thought afterwards: That one felt different. Like the old days.

Indeed, Idaho, the Big Sky preseason favorite, played a good game and played to its strengths, making 14 3-pointers, eight coming from Taylor Pierce. And Montana not only hung with the Vandals, the Lady Griz made the big plays in a game that had three lead changes in the final five minutes alone.

Montana wasn't handed the win. The Lady Griz earned it.

"They played well and did a lot of things well, and we had to keep finding answers," said Schweyen. "It was fun to see everyone understanding what we needed to do. We did a good job knowing what was working for us that game and buying into it.

"It was a game that had people leaving the arena thinking, that was a really good basketball game. Even if it would have ended up with us on the other end of things, it was an exciting game to watch. There were points scored, big plays being made down the stretch, a ton of lead changes. It was entertaining."

5. Taylor Goligoski is out for the rest of the season. The redshirt junior guard, who started the season's first 13 games, injured herself at practice two weeks ago. She sat out the Eastern Washington game, then started against Northern Colorado two days later but had to pull herself in the second half.

The official diagnosis: an osteochondral lesion in her left leg, meaning there is a dime-sized piece of cartilage at the end of a bone near her knee that is damaged and needs to be repaired. Following surgery, Goligoski will face a three- to four-month recovery. She is expected to return to full health.

Goligoski led Montana in scoring as a redshirt freshman, in 2016-17, and started the final 22 games last year after returning from an early-season injury. She was averaging 6.8 points and 3.5 rebounds this winter prior to the injury while playing more than 23 minutes per game.

This is the third consecutive year under Schweyen that Montana has had a player (or two) have to shut down her season because of a knee-related injury.

6. Five straight road games? Five straight road games. The last time Montana had to play five consecutive true road games came in 1991-92, when the Lady Griz closed nonconference with games at Southern Utah, BYU and Utah before opening league at Weber State and Idaho State.

There have been other times when Montana has played more than five consecutive games away from Missoula, but it always included neutral-site games and/or the postseason.

In the more modern era, from Robin Selvig's first season in 1978-79 until today, the most consecutive league games Montana has faced consecutively has been four, done twice, most recently in 2013-14.

So these are indeed uncharted waters upon which Montana finds itself the next three weeks.

7. Montana and Idaho State largely mirror one another. They are two of the top three shooting teams in the Big Sky, two of the top four teams in field goal percentage defense and assist-to-turnover ratio, and two of the five teams with a positive rebounding margin.

And neither team puts much of an emphasis on the 3-point shot. Even when their totals are combined, they've made 23 fewer than Idaho has this season.

In early January, Idaho State swept the Southern Utah-Northern Arizona road trip while making just two 3-pointers, none while still managing to score 80 points on the Lumberjacks.

As for Montana, only once this season against a Division I opponent -- vs. Northern Illinois in the Lady Griz Classic -- has Montana made more triples than an opponent.

Call it what you want -- deliberate, controlled, patient -- just don't expect the same 82-79 score from Saturday's game against Idaho. But don't be surprised it it's just as tight.

8. Idaho State had a chance to steal one at Northern Colorado on Saturday night but fell 60-56.

With possession in the final seconds of regulation and the score tied at 56, Idaho State's Saylair Grandon made a move to the basket from the top of the key. Savannah Smith stepped in and drew a charge with 1.9 seconds left. At least that's what was called on what was probably a 50-50 play.

ISU coach Seton Sobolewski disagreed with the call and sent his jacket flying halfway to Fort Collins, drawing a technical foul. And that was that. The Bears hit four free throws for the final margin.

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Bengals, who hadn't lost since dropping their league opener at home against Idaho.

9. Idaho State couldn't pull out a close one at Northern Colorado, but Weber State did two days earlier, winning 55-54 to snap a 10-game losing streak. It was the Wildcats' first victory since Nov. 28, when they defeated UTEP.

After Savannah Smith tied it 54-54 with 16 seconds left with a 3-pointer, Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman was fouled with 1.8 seconds left on her way to the basket for Weber State. Her first free throw was the game-winner.

Montana notes:

* Saturday's win over Idaho snapped a season-high three-game losing streak for Montana.

* Idaho's 14 made 3-pointers on Saturday matched a season high for a Montana opponent. Saint Francis also drained 14 triples at the Husky Classic in Seattle in that tournament's consolation game.

* Montana's last five opponents have made 51 3-pointers while shooting 43.2 percent from the arc.

* When Sammy Fatkin opened the scoring on Saturday against Idaho, it marked the first time since the end of the Sacramento State game that Montana held a lead. The Lady Griz never led in losses to Portland State, Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado.

* Idaho State is 5-1 at Reed Gym this year, its only loss to Idaho. Montana is 5-24 in true road games under third-year coach Shannon Schweyen but two of those have come this year, at Grand Canyon and at Sacramento State.

* With Taylor Goligoski, Madi Schoening, Sophia Stiles and Katie Mayue on the bench on Saturday, it was 139 career starts sitting there in street clothes. And the foundation of a pretty good team.

* Seven different players have led Montana in scoring this season, with Jace Henderson and McKenzie Johnston both doing it four times.

* Montana improved to 7-0 this season when leading at the half on Saturday, 9-1 when shooting 40 percent or better.

* Montana has yet to win this season (0-5) when getting out-rebounded.

* With Saturday's 82-79 victory over Idaho, Montana improved to 3-0 this season in games decided by five points or fewer and 7-0 when scoring 70 or more points.

* Jace Henderson had a sick efficiency rating of 39 on Saturday. The last Lady Griz player to have a better rating was Kayleigh Valley, who had a 40 in a home win over Southern Utah in 2015-16.

* Montana's last four opponents have all averaged more than a point per possession. Only two of Montana's first 12 opponents did so.

* Montana's 1.17 points scored per possession on Saturday was a season best.

* Jace Henderson shot 24 for 34 (.706) on Montana's now concluded three-game home stand. She has shot 50 percent or better 13 times in 16 games this season.

* McKenzie Johnston's shooting percentage before she had to wear the mask that protects her broken nose: 48.3 percent. Her shooting percentage while wearing the mask: 36.6.

* Montana is shooting just 66.9 percent from the line in six league games, which doesn't cut it. That will prove costly if it doesn't improve.

* The Lady Griz turned the ball over nine times on Saturday, the third time this season committing fewer than 10.

* Montana scored 44 points in the paint against Idaho, matching its second-highest total of the season.

* Montana's three bench points on Saturday, despite scoring 82 as a team, was a season low. The Lady Griz have scored just 15 points off the bench the last three games.

History (vs. Idaho State): Montana leads the series 71-11, but Idaho State has won three of the last four meetings, all by 10 points or more. The Bengals have won the last two matchups in Pocatello, where the Lady Griz hold a 29-8 advantage.

The teams' lone game last season came at Reed Gym, where Idaho State shot better than 50 percent in both the first and second halves to win 72-60. Grace Kenyon scored 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting and added six rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals.

History (vs. Weber State): Montana leads the series 67-13 and has gone 28-8 against the Wildcats on their home floor.

The teams' lone meeting last season came in Ogden, an 89-73 win for the home team. The game was tied 59-59 late in the third quarter before the Wildcats went on a 19-1 run to blow the game open. WSU scored 28 points in the final period.

Larryn Brooks hit six 3-pointers on her way to 30 points, Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman added 21 points and eight assists as Weber State shot 62.5 percent in the second half, 52.9 percent for the game.

Three things to know about Idaho State:

1. The team picked third in the preseason coaches' poll, behind Idaho and Portland State, has lost just twice since Thanksgiving, at home to Idaho following a three-week break between games and on Saturday at Northern Colorado.

2. Idaho State went 21-11 last season, the second time the Bengals reached 20 wins under now 11th-year coach Seton Sobolewski. ISU won a pair of games in Reno in March before seeing its season end with a 73-66 loss to eventual champion Northern Colorado in the semifinals.

3. Grace Kenyon, now a fifth-year senior, leads the team in scoring (14.1/g) and rebounding (6.5/g). She was voted second-team All-Big Sky last season as a junior. Senior guard Saylair Grandon is averaging 13.4 points and leads the team with 23 3-pointers.

Three things to know about Weber State:

1. The Wildcats are under a new coach in Velaida Harris. She was hired in July after former coach Bethann Ord departed for Binghamton. She spent six seasons on the staff at Utah before working last year as an assistant at Rhode Island.

2. Weber State has the Big Sky's lowest RPI of 302 (out of 351 Division I teams). The Wildcats have wins this season over Division III La Verne, Incarnate Word, which is 1-15, and 4-14 UTEP. Which made Thursday's victory at Northern Colorado, for win No. 4, so surprising.

3. Almost everything goes through senior guard Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman, who leads the team in both scoring (17.1/g) and assists (5.1/g). She also has gotten to the line 100 times in 17 games, more than any other player in the Big Sky this season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* With four weeks in the books, Portland State, at 5-1, sits atop the league standings. The Vikings have played four of six games at home and just one against a team picked to finish in the top four in the preseason coaches' poll. That turned out to be a 79-63 loss at Northern Colorado.

* Northern Colorado (6-2), Idaho State (5-2) and Idaho (4-2) are all sitting on two losses. Montana (4-3), Montana State (4-3) and Eastern Washington (3-3) each have three losses.

* The top five teams in the final league standings will earn a bye through the first round of the Big Sky tournament in Boise, while the bottom six teams will have to play on the opening Monday.

* Thursday's schedule: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, UNC at SUU, PSU at EWU, SAC at UI

* Game to monitor: Portland State at Eastern Washington. The ever-underappreciated Wendy Schuller has the Eagles at .500 in league after Saturday's 89-87 overtime comeback win at Montana State. Violet Kapri Morrow had 37 points as EWU rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit.

* Saturday's schedule: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, NAU at UNC, SAC at EWU, PSU at UI

* Game to monitor: Portland State at Idaho. It's meeting No. 1 between the teams picked atop the preseason polls. The Vandals went 3-0 against the Vikings last season, twice surpassing 100 points, with 15 3-pointers made in one, 16 the other.

* Monday's schedule: Northern Arizona at Southern Utah

Upcoming: Montana faces Montana State on Saturday, Feb. 2, in Bozeman.

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Players Mentioned

Sammy Fatkin

Taylor Goligoski

Gabi Harrington

Jace Henderson

McKenzie Johnston

Katie Mayhue

Madi Schoening

Sophia Stiles

Kayleigh Valley

University of Montana Athletics