Lady Griz win 81-69 in exhibition opener

Friday, October 25

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

Lewis-Clark State (exh)

Photo by: © Derek Johnson 2019

10/25/2019 10:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Montana may have had a size advantage over Lewis-Clark State, but it was the guards who carried the day and led the Lady Griz to an 81-69 victory over the Warriors on Friday night at Dahlberg Arena in their first of two exhibition games.

Gabi Harrington led both teams with 24 points and also added a game-high eight rebounds, and McKenzie Johnston handed out 12 assists against no turnovers to help Montana to a 50-percent shooting night.

Everyone but Madi Schoening played and played at least seven minutes. Ten players scored.

"Overall I'm pleased with the intensity we played at," said coach Shannon Schweyen. "Obviously we'll see some things we need to work on and get better at, but I thought everybody came in and did some good things.

"Getting all those ladies in there was not easy. I thought they all had some good moments in there, some good stretches."

Harrington scored 10 of her points in the game's opening six minutes, but it wasn't enough to shake free of the Warriors, who are one of the better NAIA programs in the nation.

Lewis-Clark State cut it to one, 22-21, late in the opening period before a Sammy Fatkin 3-pointer put Montana up 25-21 at the first break.

"Credit to them. I thought they came in here and played confident and played hard," said Schweyen.

"Their guards are talented. They were hard to contain and beat us off the dribble a little too much tonight. And their posts are active. They don't turn and shoot into you. They go around you."

The Warriors were still within two, 34-32, midway through the second quarter when Montana finally picked up the pace of the game.

Five of Lewis-Clark State's 14 turnovers in the game came in the final five minutes of the first half. That allowed Montana to go on a 15-0 run and take a 49-35 lead into the locker room.

"We had a nice little run right before half when we turned the gas on a little bit and got some turnovers that created easy buckets for us," said Schweyen.

"We certain lineups, we are quick. We want to get turnovers and turn them into points."

Eight players scored for Montana in the second quarter, with Harrington and freshman Jamie Pickens both contributing five.

Pickens would finish with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds. She even showed her range, knocking down a 3-pointer.

"I thought she had a good debut out there," said Schweyen. "She's got a lot of tools and is a big, strong girl. She's so good down around the basket, and she's a good facing shooter. I'm really excited about her future."

Montana led by 10 or more -- never by more than 19 -- until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Warriors crept to within nine, 74-65.

What Harrington started, Harrington finished, knocking down a 3-pointer with 4:27 to go that pushed the lead back to 12 and later scoring in the paint for her final points.

"Those were huge buckets she hit when it was getting close," said Schweyen.

Schweyen started Johnston and Harrington, and complemented them with Sophia Stiles, Emma Stockholm, who had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and Abby Anderson, which may have come as a surprise to some.

But those people weren't around campus during the summer or watching Montana's preseason practices. It's a different Anderson this year, and Schweyen rewarded the effort.

Anderson had six points, five rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes.

"I had somebody ask me, 'How did she work her way into the lineup?' She's been working hard," said Schweyen.

"She's a heck of a defender. She alters shots, she changes them, she blocks them. And she's one of our better passers."

Taylor Goligoski scored seven points off the bench, Kylie Frohlich added six and Fatkin five.

Led by Harrington's 4-of-7 effort from the arc, Montana finished a healthy 7 of 19 (.368) from 3-point range.

"We've got a lot of different lineups I think we could be looking at this year. We've got to get settled in on something here eventually. Hopefully these next few weeks we'll get some things ironed out," said Schweyen.

Peyton Souvenir and Jamie Nielson both scored 15 points for Lewis-Clark State, which shot 46.2 percent and got to the line 22 times to Montana's 10.

Montana will face Carroll on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in its final exhibition game before opening the regular season against MSU Northern on Tuesday, Nov. 5.