Friday a matchup of early unbeatens

The Montana women's basketball team will face its first Division I opponent of the season on Friday night when it hosts Fresno State at Dahlberg Arena at 7 p.m.

The Lady Griz are 1-0 after opening the regular season last week with a 98-45 victory over MSU Northern in their third annual School Day game.

The Bulldogs are 2-0 after opening the season with a 79-52 road win at Cal Poly last week and Tuesday's 73-65 home victory over UC Davis, a 25-win and NCAA tournament team a year ago.

Setting the table (Montana): The Lady Griz went 14-16 last season and got knocked out of the Big Sky Conference tournament in the first round by No. 10 seed Southern Utah.

Montana, picked fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, seventh by the media, returned seven players this season who have started for the Lady Griz in their careers.

One of those is senior point guard McKenzie Johnston, one of seven players voted preseason All-Big Sky. She began the season with 1,001 career points, becoming just the seventh player in program history to reach 1,000 points before the end of her junior season.

Setting the table (Fresno State): The Bulldogs went 19-13 last season, their fifth under former Northern Colorado coach Jaime White, and advanced to the WNIT after falling to top-seeded Boise State in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Fresno State lost Candice White and her 1,697 career points to graduation but was still picked a strong third in the Mountain West preseason poll, behind Boise State and New Mexico, thanks to a decorated freshman class.

Junior forward Maddi Utti, who averaged 12.3 points on 56.5 percent shooting and 7.3 rebounds last season, was one of five players voted preseason All-Mountain West.

Haley Cavinder, who is averaging 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds through the first two games of her collegiate career, was voted preseason co-Freshman of the Year.

School Day highlights:

* After a competitive game against Lewis-Clark State and an overtime win over Carroll in exhibition, Montana rolled to a 98-45 victory last week over MSU Northern in its regular-season opener.

* The 98 points were the most scored by the Lady Griz under fourth-year coach Shannon Schweyen and the most scored by Montana since a 101-65 victory over Montana State in the championship game of the 2008 Big Sky tournament.

* Montana's 30 assists broke the program record of 29, set in a 96-53 home win over Idaho during the 1986-87 season.

* Montana's 41 made field goals -- the Lady Griz averaged more than one made field goal per minute and 1.33 points per possession -- were also a program record.

Montana made 40 field goals in a 95-75 home victory over Montana State in 2008-09 and in a 105-69 road win at Weber State in 1989-90.

* Montana's 11 3-pointers, made on just 19 attempts, were the most under Schweyen and the most for the Lady Griz since going 12 for 24 in a home win over Utah State in December 2015.

* Taylor Goligoski opened her senior season scoring 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. It was her third time scoring 20 or more points in a game, her first since putting up 22 against Rocky Mountain in December of her redshirt freshman season, in 2016-17.

* Montana's 59.4 percent shooting effort was the best for the Lady Griz since going 40 for 64 (.625) in a 95-75 home win over Montana State in 2008-09.

"The thing that stood out to me was the way we shared the ball," said Schweyen. "I don't care who it's against. To share the ball that way, I think it's an indication of what this team can do and the balance we have. We have a lot of girls who can pass and score."

* The School Day crowd of 7,205 was the largest to attend a Lady Griz home game since 7,413 packed the place for an NCAA tournament first-round game against Louisiana Tech in 2004.

What to watch for on Friday:

* The 5-foot-6 freshmen Cavinder twins from Gilbert, Ariz. Haley was the 2019 Arizona Class 5A Player of the Year. Hanna was the 5A Offensive Player of the Year. Both scored more than 2,000 career points at Gilbert High, both were named All-Arizona as seniors.

Through two games of their collegiate careers, Hanna is averaging 22.0 points and leads the Bulldogs in assists. Haley is averaging 18.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.

* Fresno State's three-player dynamic. The Cavinders and Maddi Utti scored 51 of their team's 79 points at Cal Poly. On Tuesday against UC Davis, it was 62 of 73, with Utti and Hanna Cavinder both scoring 21 points, Haley Cavinder 20. The three players shot 20 of 41.

They have taken more than 63 percent of their team's shots through two games. The team's fourth-leading scorer, junior forward Genna Ogier, has taken nine shots in two games.

"It will show us where we're at IQ-wise, as far as understanding the personnel of the team we're facing," said Schweyen.

"When you play a team where two or three have taken a high percentage of the shots, you've got to be intelligent about knowing where those players are at all times and make it tough for them to get things."

* Fresno State is averaging 76.0 points per game despite going 13 for 50 from the arc through two games. It's helped their scoring that the Bulldogs have gotten to the line 44 times in two games and have created 39 turnovers, 20 more than they've committed.

"They are dangerous in transition. They get to the hole a lot off turnovers and long rebounds, so it will be a great test for our transition D," said Schweyen.

"On the offensive end, if we do things properly and take care of the ball, I'd like to think we can have some good execution."

* The list of familiar names and faces. Head coach Jaime White was the coach at Northern Colorado before moving on to Fresno State. She led the Bears to 117 wins in eight seasons and to the Big Sky tournament championship game in 2012 and '13, the latter in Missoula.

Her last trip to Dahlberg Arena was a 61-55 Montana victory over Northern Colorado in 2013-14, her final season at UNC.

In her first five seasons at Fresno State, White led her team to the WNIT three times, once to the WBI.

Mandi Carver, White's assistant since Year 1 in Fresno, was the Big Sky MVP for Idaho State in 2000-01. First-year director of operations D'Shara Strange played for White at Northern Colorado and was the Big Sky co-MVP in 2014-15, along with Montana's Kellie (Cole) Rubel.

* The teams have played only one other time, a 61-58 Fresno State victory in December 2017. In that heartbreaker, the Lady Griz led 32-17 at the half only to see the Bulldogs storm back for the victory.

Fresno State, behind Candice White's 23 points, 21 of which came after halftime, outscored Montana 44-26 in the second half on 58.3 percent shooting.

Montana notes:

* Behind Goligoski's 20 points against MSU Northern, Montana's four available bench players contributed 53 points, with Sammy Fatkin adding 17, Jamie Pickens 11 and Kylie Frohlich five.

* Abby Anderson made her first career regular-season start against the Skylights. Sophia Stiles made her first start since Feb. 3, 2018, against North Dakota, a game that changed the trajectory of her career.

* Gabi Harrington's junior-season debut numbers: 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting (2 for 2 from the arc), eight rebounds, five assists. She is an All-Big Sky talent of the verge of breaking out in a big way.

* With 372 career assists, McKenzie Johnston is within 24 of moving into the top 10 in the Montana record book.

Around the Big Sky:

* Montana is one of four league teams to date without a loss on the season.

* Preseason favorite Montana State is 2-0, with home wins over UC Davis, 77-65, and Carroll, 67-33 (the team Montana went to overtime with). A mega-fun road game at South Dakota State is coming for the Bobcats. That will reveal plenty, as will Montana's game at South Dakota next month.

South Dakota topped the Summit League preseason poll, collecting 20 first-place votes. South Dakota State came in second, with 13 first-place votes.

SDSU made the Sweet 16 last year before losing 63-53 to Oregon, this year's preseason No. 1 ranked team in the country. USD also made the NCAA tournament as an at-large after falling to the Jackrabbits in the Summit League title game.

* Idaho State is 2-0 but has yet to be tested. The Bengals have wins over Arizona Christian and Seattle, a team that went 3-27 last season.

* The best start belongs to Southern Utah, which owns a 16-point home win over Cal State Fullerton and a 13-point road win at Utah Valley, a team Montana plays on the road next month.

* And the rough starts? Eastern Washington is 0-2, including a 92-27 loss at Stanford. Weber State is 0-3. The Wildcats have committed 88 turnovers (29.3/g) while getting outscored by 37.4 points per loss.

Upcoming: Montana will host Grand Canyon (1-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m., Arizona (3-0) on Sunday, Nov. 24, at 2 p.m. The Lady Griz won't have another home game until hosting MSU Billings on Friday, Dec. 20.

In between home games, Montana will play twice at Cal State Fullerton's tournament over Thanksgiving weekend, then play road games at Utah Valley and South Dakota to open December.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Sammy Fatkin

Kylie Frohlich

Taylor Goligoski

Gabi Harrington

McKenzie Johnston

Jamie Pickens

Sophia Stiles

University of Montana Athletics