Lady Griz reach midpoint of Big Sky schedule

Saturday, February 2

Bozeman, Mont.

2:00 PM

Montana

Montana State

1/30/2019 4:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team will reach the midpoint of its Big Sky Conference schedule -- 10 games down, 10 to go -- when it faces Montana State in Bozeman on Saturday.

The Lady Griz (10-8, 5-4 BSC) and Bobcats (10-9, 5-4 BSC) will tip off at 2 p.m. at MSU's Worthington Arena in what will be the only game of the week for both teams.

Montana State will then host Northern Colorado on Monday.

Coverage: Catch the game on SWX, Pluto TV or WatchBigSky.com, or listen to it in the Missoula area on KMPT 930 AM/99.7 FM.

Opening tips:

* Through five weeks of league games, the Big Sky standings are beginning to take shape. And they look a lot like they were expected to according to the preseason coaches' poll.

Idaho and Portland State, both 6-2 in league and the teams that collected all the first-place votes in the poll, are looking like the two best teams in the league, but not by much.

Northern Colorado (8-2 BSC) and Idaho State (7-2 BSC) make up the next tier, two teams that could knock off Idaho and Portland State in a single game without it being much of a shocker but probably wouldn't beat them if it was a best-of-seven series.

Then there are Montana and Montana State, tied for fifth, exactly where the two teams fell in the preseason poll. The Lady Griz and Bobcats are better than the bottom five teams in the Big Sky but not quite at the same level as the top four. At least not right now.

That's an important distinction this year and going forward with an 11-team league, because the top five teams in the final regular-season standings will earn a bye in March at the Big Sky tournament in Boise.

The bottom six teams will all play first-round games on the opening Monday of the tournament, just two days after the regular season concludes. The top five teams will advance directly to Tuesday's quarterfinals and be joined by Monday's three winners.

With the semifinals being played on Wednesday, it puts added importance on getting out of a first-round game.

With the way Montana is scheduled for March, not getting an opening-round bye would have the Lady Griz playing seven games in 12 days, only two of them at home, if they were to advance to the semifinals in Boise. That's more game days than off days and bound to take a toll.

Should current trends continue, with Montana and Montana State remaining in the middle ground between the top and bottom tiers, their head-to-head meetings will take on added significance. The first of two February meetings takes place on Saturday in Bozeman.

* Not only are Montana and Montana State tied in the standings, their results have largely mirrored one another.

Both swept Northern Arizona and Southern Utah at home to open league. Both split the Sacramento State-Portland State road trip, both lost at home to Eastern Washington and both split on the road last week at Weber State and Idaho State.

The differences: Montana defeated Idaho at home, while Montana State lost to the Vandals in Bozeman. And the Lady Griz lost at home to Northern Colorado while the Bobcats defeated the Bears in Greeley.

The Bobcats have more results to stew over than the Lady Griz do. Three of Montana's four Big Sky losses have come by double-digit margins.

As for Montana State, it lost by two at Portland State, 55-53, despite jumping out to a 20-2 lead in the opening quarter.

And the Bobcats lost at home in overtime to Eastern Washington despite holding a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter. After allowing the Eagles just 41 points through three quarters, MSU gave up 33 points in the fourth quarter and 15 more in overtime to lose 89-87.

Both teams won at Weber State last week, with Montana holding a lead the final 32 minutes in a 72-60 win and Montana State needing to rally back from a 10-point halftime deficit to win 66-59.

And both got worked over pretty well by a meat-grinder of an Idaho State defense. Montana shot just 25.9 percent against the Bengals and turned the ball over 21 times to lose 50-34.

The Bobcats scored a little better -- they lost 61-43 -- but they were worse statistically. They shot 21.7 percent and turnover the ball over 23 times. MSU actually led at the half 29-27 but only scored 14 second-half points on hard-to-believe 3-of-22 (.136) shooting over the final 20 minutes.

* It used to be that Montana State's Worthington Arena was an inviting home-away-from-home for the Lady Griz, back in the first half of Robin Selvig's legendary coaching career. More recently it's been anything but, as Montana State has defeated Montana four straight times in Bozeman.

The biggest weakness for Montana in those four losses has been its offense. The Lady Griz have averaged just 56.8 points on 33.6 percent shooting.

Montana still has the historical advantage, holding a 28-16 lead in matchups in Bozeman and 78-27 overall, but the Bobcats have won five of the last seven.

In last year's meetings, Montana State won 81-64 at home, outscoring Montana by 16 over the second and third quarters. The Lady Griz returned the favor in Missoula, turning a 34-30 game at the half into an 87-63 rout by putting up 53 second-half points.

Of course only three of the 10 Lady Griz who played in that game will be playing on Saturday in Bozeman: Jace Henderson, McKenzie Johnston and Emma Stockholm. Taylor Goligoski and Madi Schoening played in that game but will be watching on Saturday from the bench.

* Montana's best win in league was its 82-79 home-court victory over Idaho. What stuck out just as much as the result was the performance of Jace Henderson, who scored 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting. Her previous career high? Eighteen points.

So it was understandable that much of Idaho State's and Weber State's defensive focus last week was on Montana's lone senior.

It worked wonderfully for the Bengals on Thursday. Montana took its lumps, learned from it and made the Wildcats pay for, understandably, doing mostly the same thing on Saturday.

Idaho State limited Henderson to eight shots. When somebody else needed to step up, only Sammy Fatkin was able to be productive. The other three starters -- McKenzie Johnston, Gabi Harrington and Emma Stockholm -- shot 4 for 27.

It's why Montana scored the fewest points it had since the opening game of the 2010-11 season and shot its worst percentage since going 11 for 51 (.216) in a home loss to Utah State early in the 2016-17 season.

"Idaho State typically doubles in the post anyway, so I anticipated that was coming," said coach Shannon Schweyen. "The adjustment we needed to make in that game was to take the outside shot.

"That's what they were giving us, but we kept trying to force it in there to Jace. We had 21 turnovers, and that cost us."

Two days later in Ogden, Montana shot 50 percent in the first quarter, went 3 for 4 from the arc and put up 20 points to build a lead it would hold the rest of the game.

When it was over, Montana had knocked down a season-high nine 3-pointers, on just 20 attempts, turned the ball over 10 times and shot 46.4 percent.

Fatkin was big early and finished 4 of 8 from the arc. Emma Stockholm matched a career high with three triples (in five attempts), and Harrington went 2 for 3 from distance, with both of her makes coming in the fourth quarter to keep the Wildcats at arm's length.

"Emma's defender was down helping with Jace, and she stepped out and hit some big threes," said Schweyen. "Those were the things, had we done them on Thursday, we probably would have swept the trip or had a better chance of sweeping it."

A lot of that has to do with Henderson, who is fantastic when getting double-teamed and finding not just an open player but the right open player, the one who can score. There is a reason she was three assists shy of a triple-double and leads the team and ranks sixth in the Big Sky in assists.

"We have to be ready for however people are playing Jace, because she can be good doing other things for us than scoring," added Schweyen. "If they take her away, they're giving something up, so I like when teams double Jace."

* Lost amongst the collective angst on Thursday about scoring just 34 points at Idaho State was this: Montana had the league's best shooting team in the 30s on its home floor with six minutes left in the game.

In their previous six games the Bengals hadn't shot worse than 42.1 percent. The Lady Griz held them to 33.3 percent. Only Arizona (.268) did better against ISU this season, and that includes games against 19-2 Gonzaga (.362) and 18-1 Utah (.439).

It was a tough night to focus on silver linings, but they were there.

"As frustrating as it was to not score, we did a heck of a job defensively, and they did too," said Schweyen. "It was really a battle of two good defensive teams who were both struggling offensively. It came down to who in the fourth quarter was finally going to make a few shots in a row."

That turned out to be Idaho State, which went 4 for 11 in the final period, two of the makes coming from the arc. And then the Bengals went 7 for 8 from the line as well down the stretch.

"I was very pleased with what we did," said Schweyen. "They run a lot of actions where they get slips for layups and back screens for layups. That's why they shoot such a high percentage, because they are patient.

"I thought we did a heck of a job. I don't know if they got more than one of those mistake-type things on us."

It was the first time since 2009-10 and a 49-47 loss at Portland State that Montana held an opponent to 50 points or fewer and lost.

* For fans who remember Jasmine Hommes, Peyton Ferris, Riley Nordgaard, Hannah Caudill, Delany Junkermier and Lindsay Stockton of past Montana State teams, very little will look familiar on Saturday.

The Bobcats are led this year in scoring by senior forward Claire Lundberg, a player Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen compares to Kayleigh Valley (yikes!). But she is in her first year playing for Montana State after transferring from Seton Hall, where she played three years, and sitting out last season.

She is averaging 17.6 points on 44.1 percent shooting, is the team's top threat from 3-point range (48 makes on 40.7 percent shooting) and is an 87 percent shooter from the free throw line.

The team's third-leading scorer, junior forward Martha Kuderer is also a transfer from Seton Hall and is in her first year playing for Montana State. Also starting a majority of the team's games this season has been Halle Wright, a true freshman from Aumsville, Ore.

Bobcats who hail from the state of Montana, of which there are three, have combined to score 27 points this season.

* Montana has had balanced production this season, with the team's top four scorers averaging between 10.1 and 11.9 points per game: Jace Henderson (11.9), McKenzie Johnston (11.1), Emma Stockholm (10.5) and Gabi Harrington (10.1).

Throw in Sammy Fatkin, who became eligible in late December after transferring from Arizona and has averaged 15.0 points the last three games, and you have five players who each played at least 31 minutes on Saturday at Weber State.

On Thursday, four of those starters played 31 or more minutes.

There is a reason for it. Taylor Goligoski, who was averaging more than 23 minutes per game as a starter, is out for the season, and Katie Mayhue played limited minutes last week in her first return to the court since the Eastern Washington game, which she started in place of ... Goligoski.

The team's reliance on those five starters can be seen in its point production from the bench. As recently as the Sacramento State-Portland State road trip, the Lady Griz reserves combined to contribute 53 points in two games against the Hornets and Vikings.

In the five games since that road trip: a total of 23 points off the bench, with a season-low two on Saturday, on a pair of Abby Anderson free throws.

"Katie is coming off an injury, and with Taylor out, there goes a little bit more of our depth," said Schweyen. "Saturday was just a game when it was hard to get other kids in there, because I felt good about what we were doing defensively.

"We want to get time for our other kids, but it's hard to say how it will look as we go down the stretch."

Fatkin has made herself indispensable since making her way into the starting lineup against Idaho.

In the four games prior to facing the Vandals, all coming off the bench, Fatkin was 1 for 17. In three games as a starter she is 16 for 27 (.593), 9 for 16 from 3-point range.

She scored 19 points against Idaho, a team-high 10 against Idaho State and came through with 16 more against Weber State on Saturday, 14 of which came in the first half to get the Lady Griz rolling.

Beyond the scoring is what she is adding to the team's defense, not just with her athleticism and length but her savvy and experience.

"I really like what Sammy is doing defensively for us right now," said Schweyen. "She gives me a feeling of confidence when she's on the floor.

"She's played a year in the Pac-12, so she understands scouting reports and what we're looking to do when we have a scheme and how we want to guard somebody. She gets it, and some of our other kids aren't there yet."

Game notes:

* Jace Henderson will be playing in her 100th career game on Saturday.

* Montana State is 5-3 at home this season, with losses to South Dakota State, Idaho and Eastern Washington. Montana is 3-5 on the road, with wins at Grand Canyon, Sacramento State and Weber State.

* Now in her 14th season, Montana State coach Tricia Binford is the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big Sky, behind Eastern Washington's Wendy Schuller, who is in her 18th year.

Shannon Schweyen is in her third year as head coach of the Lady Griz and in her 27th year on the coaching staff.

* Montana ranks first in the Big Sky and ninth nationally at just 13.7 fouls committed per game. The Lady Griz were whistled for just seven fouls on Saturday at Weber State.

* Despite shooting so poorly at Idaho State on Thursday, Montana is still among the top 25 percent in the nation in field goal percentage at 42.3 percent.

* Montana has out-rebounded its last five opponents and now has a rebounding margin on the season of +2.7, which ranks second in the Big Sky behind only Northern Colorado's +3.0.

* With Sammy Fatkin leading Montana in scoring at Idaho State on Thursday, Montana has now had eight players who have led the Lady Griz in scoring through 18 games this season.

* In Montana's 72-60 win at Weber State on Saturday, the Lady Griz improved to 8-0 this season when leading at the half and 8-0 when scoring 70 or more points.

* Forty percent is Montana's magic number. The Lady Griz are 10-1 this season when shooting 40 percent or better, 0-7 when shooting worse than 40 percent. The one outlier: losing at home to Northern Colorado when shooting 40.7 percent.

* Montana limited Idaho State to 0.80 points per possession on Thursday, its second-best defensive performance this season against a Division I opponent. The bad news from that game: The Lady Griz averaged a season-worst 0.51 points per possession.

* Jace Henderson had her fourth player efficiency rating of 30 or better on Saturday at Weber State, despite taking just five shots. That can happen when you make all five and add 13 boards and seven assists.

* Over the last five games Jace Henderson has shot 32 for 47 (.681) to up her Big Sky-leading percentage to 59.3. She is shooting 62.8 percent in nine league games and averaging a double-double, at 14.0 points and 10.3 rebounds.

* McKenzie Johnston has sat just three minutes the last four games.

* Gabi Harrington had scored in double figures six straight games before being limited to two points on 1-of-10 shooting by Idaho State. She rebounded with 18 points two days later at Weber State, going 6 for 10 overall, 2 of 3 from the arc.

* Jordyn Schweyen hasn't attempted a shot that wasn't a 3-pointer since Montana played at Arizona on Dec. 5. Twenty-nine of her 32 shots this season have been from outside the arc.

* Montana has shot better than 70 percent from the line just once in its last seven games. The Lady Griz went 14 for 24 (.583) at Idaho State and Weber State.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

Thursday's schedule: EWU at SUU, UI at NAU, WSU at PSU, ISU at SAC

Game to monitor: Idaho State at Sacramento State -- The Hornets have quietly won three of four, including a 73-70 victory at Eastern Washington on Saturday. It will be a good test at The Nest against an ISU team that is 3-1 on the road in league.

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

Game to monitor: Idaho State and Portland State -- Four teams go into the week tied atop the Big Sky standings with two losses. These are two of them. The Bengals went into Portland last season and won 88-59, shooting 61.2 percent.

Monday's schedule: UNC at MSU

Upcoming: Montana ends its stretch of five straight road games with a trip to Idaho and Eastern Washington next week. Five of the team's last eight games to close the regular season will come at Dahlberg Arena.