Lady Griz to host ranked Wildcats

The Montana women's basketball team will conclude its season-opening home stand on Sunday when it hosts No. 24 Arizona at Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz (2-1) and Wildcats (5-0) will tip off at 2 p.m.

Montana hosted two home exhibition contests and after Sunday will have played its first four regular-season games at Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz, who host MSU Billings on Friday, Dec. 20, won't play another home game against a Division I opponent until facing Southern Utah on Thursday, Jan. 2.

Montana will play Santa Clara and the host Titans next weekend at Cal State Fullerton's tournament before single-game road trips to Utah Valley and South Dakota to open December.

Where they stand (Montana): The Lady Griz are 2-1 after picking up their first victory against a Division I opponent on Tuesday, a 72-67 home victory over Grand Canyon. McKenzie Johnston scored 19 points and Montana overcame GCU's 53.1 percent shooting and 12-for-20 performance from the 3-point line.

Where they stand (Arizona): The Wildcats are 5-0 and have won their first five games by an average of more than 27 points. That included Sunday's 25-point win at No. 22 Texas behind Aari McDonald's school-record 44 points that earned her ESPNw and Pac-12 player of the week honors.

Notes on Arizona:

* The Wildcats enter Sunday's game on an 11-game winning streak that dates back to last season. Arizona won six games, all at home, to claim the WNIT title, which included victories over Idaho State and Idaho.

* Arizona drew 14,644 fans for its championship-game victory over Northwestern, the largest crowd to watch a women's basketball game in Pac-12 history.

* The Wildcats finished the season 24-13 and went 16-1 against teams outside of the Pac-12. Arizona tied for eighth in the deep Pac-12 with a 7-11 league record.

* The team's 24 wins in 2018-19 were the most for the program since 2003-04 and were a 10-win improvement from the season before.

* Aari McDonald, who led the Pac-12 in scoring at 24.1 points and finished third in the nation, was voted All-Pac-12 and named to the six-player All-Defensive team. Cate Reese was voted to the five-player All-Freshman team.

* With only two letterwinners lost from that team, Arizona was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason coaches' poll.

* McDonald scored a school-record 890 points last season. For comparison, Montana's single-season record is 678, scored by Kayleigh Valley in 2015-16.

* Arizona's closest game this season was a 65-52 home victory over a Santa Clara team that Montana will play next Friday in Fullerton.

* McDonald is averaging 23.2 points and 5.2 assists through five games. She had 14 assists in Wednesday's 83-48 home victory over Prairie View A&M. Reese is averaging 14.6 points and 7.6 rebounds.

* Arizona has limited its first five opponents to an average of 50 points on 32.6 percent shooting.

* Arizona has made a habit of getting off to fast starts. The Wildcats have outscored their first five opponents 103-51 in the first quarter.

* Despite winning the WNIT and returning all five players who started in the title-game victory over Northwestern, Arizona began the season unranked. That changed on Tuesday after Sunday's road win over ranked Texas.

* The Wildcats entered the rankings at No. 24 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches' Poll, the first time the program has been ranked in said poll since 2004. Arizona is two spots out of the top 25 in the AP poll.

* Arizona is one of five Pac-12 teams ranked in the top 25 in this week's USA Today/WBCA Coaches' Poll. Also: Oregon (1), Stanford (3), Oregon State (5) and UCLA (11).

Notes on Montana:

* The Lady Griz are 11-44 all-time against ranked opponents, 7-10 at home.

* Montana's last game against a ranked opponent was an 87-68 loss to No. 20 Marquette in November 2017 in Cancun.

* The team's most recent home game against a ranked opponent was a 71-54 loss to No. 25 Kentucky eight days before facing Marquette in Mexico.

* Montana has lost 11 straight games against ranked opponents by an average of 22 points. Its last win was a 61-58 victory over No. 24 Utah at Dahlberg Arena in January 2004 behind Hollie Tyler's 15 points and Brooklynn Lorenzen's seven assists.

* Montana is 54-60 against the teams that currently make up the membership of the Pac-12 Conference. The Lady Griz have played all the teams except for Arizona State.

* Montana's last win against the Pac-12: 90-78 over Washington State in Missoula in the first round of the 2014 WNIT.

* Montana lost its first game against a Division I opponent this season last Friday, 76-63 to Fresno State. The Bulldogs went 10 for 26 from the 3-point line to outscore the Lady Griz, who went 0 for 12, 30-0 from distance.

* Montana allowed MSU Northern (6 for 14), Fresno State (10 for 26) and Grand Canyon (12 for 20) to shoot 46.7 percent from 3-point range. The Lady Griz rank 348th out of 348 NCAA Division I teams in defending the 3-point line.

* On a better note, Montana ranks sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.69), 15th in turnovers (12.0/g), 16th in field goal percentage (.492) and 24th in personal fouls (13.7/g). The Lady Griz lead the Big Sky Conference in each of those categories.

* Senior point guard McKenzie Johnston is justifying her spot on the seven-player preseason All-Big Sky team. She is averaging 16.0 points on 59.4 percent shooting, 5.0 assists and 3.7 rebounds through three games.

* Johnston is tied for third in the Big Sky in scoring, ranks third in assists and fourth in field goal percentage.

* Freshman Jamie Pickens leads the Big Sky in field goal percentage at 68.8 percent. She is 9 for 11 inside the arc, 2 for 5 beyond it.

* With 19 points in back-to-back games, Johnston has moved up to 30th on the Lady Griz career scoring list. She passed Johanna Closson (2004-08) last game and is 11 points behind Torry Hill (2010-14).

* Johnston, with 380 for her career, is now 16 assists from breaking into the top 10 in that category.

* Montana junior Sammy Fatkin played her freshman season at Arizona.

Montana-Arizona history:

* Montana and Arizona met for the first time last December in Tucson. The Wildcats led 54-25 at the half and rolled to a 100-51 victory behind Aari McDonald's 28 points and Cate Reese's 20-point, 18-rebound double-double.

* Arizona scored 52 points in the paint, 36 points off Montana's 22 turnovers and turned 23 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points.

* Already leading 98-51 and with the shot clock off, Arizona took three shots in the final seconds in an attempt to reach 100. The Wildcats reached the century mark at the buzzer.

Storylines:

* What happened last year in Tucson?

From a Montana perspective, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The Lady Griz had too many turnovers, allowed too many offensive rebounds, watched the Wildcats go 9 for 22 (.409) from the arc and looked on as McKenzie Johnston walked off the court during the game with a broken nose.

"All of us left that game feeling we were much better than we showed," said coach Shannon Schweyen. "We had a hard time passing and catching and even inbounding the ball, and then it kind of snowballed.

"McKenzie went out with a broken nose, so we had a freshman point guard in there trying to hold her own. There were a lot of things that contributed to that lopsided score last year."

Two scores from the WNIT would back up that claim. Arizona defeated Idaho State in the opening round 66-56, Idaho in the third round 68-60. Both were teams Montana defeated during the regular season.

The Bengals were within eight in the fourth quarter, the Vandals down by just six.

* Could Aari McDonald be the best individual talent to play in Dahlberg Arena since Sheryl Swoopes came to town and led Texas Tech to two wins in the 1993 NCAA West Regional on the Red Raiders' way to the NCAA championship?

It's up for debate but a good argument could be made for the Washington transfer.

If you're trying to come up with a visual of McDonald's game to prepare yourself for Sunday, Schweyen points to a recent player in the Big Sky Conference, only quicker: Northern Colorado's Savannah Smith.

"She reminds me of Savannah Smith but quicker," Schweyen said. "She doesn't shoot the three as well as Savannah did but as far as off the dribble and explosiveness, she is just incredibly fast.

"She can create her own shot at any time, and then she's surrounded by a bunch of great athletes."

McDonald took 32 shots between the floor and the free throw line on Sunday at Texas and missed just four times. She went 14 for 18 from the field and was a perfect 14 for 14 from the line.

The last time Montana faced Smith? She hit seven 3-pointers on her way to 40 points in UNC's 79-61 victory over the Lady Griz in Greeley in February.

* Does Montana have a shot at the win on Sunday?

"Lining up man-to-man, they definitely have the advantage athletically at every spot, but I like this team. I like the way we fought the last game," said Schweyen, whose team overcame 2-for-14 shooting in the fourth quarter to hold off Grand Canyon on Tuesday.

"I like the way the girls adjusted in the zone, and I like how we played hard for 40 minutes. We'll have to be working and communicating at our utmost to be able to contain these guys."

Schweyen likes that she has more ball-handlers on this team -- Sophia Stiles and Sammy Fatkin were both out last December -- and that her team allowed Grand Canyon just three offensive rebounds on Tuesday.

"Rebounding is going to be huge. There were some stretches last year when it was just O board after O board," Schweyen said. "Every rebound is going to be golden so we don't let them get put-backs and extra possessions.

"We've also got to hope they are not shooting the ball well from the perimeter, so if we play some zone, we could be successful at that."

And all of that is about keeping Arizona from scoring at will. Even if it's successful at that end of the floor, will Montana be able to score enough on the other end to keep up?

North Dakota managed just 42 points against Arizona earlier this season. Even Texas, ranked 22nd and playing on its home floor, could score just 58, the most the Wildcats have allowed this season.

"What maybe gets overshadowed is that their defense is really good," said Schweyen. "If something's open, it's not open for long, so you've got to capitalize on it."

* How was it that Montana defeated Grand Canyon on Tuesday?

It's not often a team goes 26 for 49 (.531) on the road, 12 for 20 (.600) from 3-point range, and loses, but that was the case for Grand Canyon on Tuesday.

The Lady Griz went 16 for 25 (.640) in the first half to build a 42-31 halftime advantage, then held on despite going 2 for 14 in the final period, 7 for 30 (.233) in the second half.

Just 10 turnovers helped, as did limiting the Lopes to three offensive rebounds, matching the fewest given up by Montana since facing Portland early in the 2015-16 season.

"It's not easy to hang onto a lead like that for an entire game, so I was proud of the ladies for that," said Schweyen, whose team had its lead cut to three twice in the fourth quarter. "Every time they got close, we didn't panic. Somebody always answered with something.

"I walked away feeling like we played hard. I loved how hard we played every single possession."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* There are no longer any unbeaten teams in the Big Sky, not after Montana State lost at South Dakota State on Thursday night, 60-50. The Bobcats were down just 27-22 at the half but got outscored 24-7 in the third quarter and trailed by as many as 24 in the fourth.

* It was one game of a tough night for the league on the road. Weber State lost 76-53 at Pacific, Southern Utah lost 95-45 at Oregon State, Northern Arizona lost 98-79 at California Baptist and Idaho State lost 85-66 at Duke.

* Friday could be just as rough. Northern Colorado plays at No. 11 UCLA, winless Eastern Washington at No. 21 Gonzaga.

* Idaho has won three straight and is now tied with Montana State atop the standings at 3-1. All three of the Vandals' wins -- home against Colorado State, at San Francisco, at Seattle -- have been by seven points or fewer.

* Eastern Washington (0-3) and Weber State (0-4) are both seeking their first wins of the season. The Eagles have been outscored this season by 40.3 points per game, the Wildcats by 33.8.

Upcoming: Montana will make its first road trip of the season, to Cal State Fullerton's Titan Classic.

The Lady Griz will face Santa Clara (3-1) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. (MT), Cal State Fullerton (3-2) on Saturday at 6 p.m. (MT).

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Players Mentioned

Sammy Fatkin

McKenzie Johnston

Jamie Pickens

Sophia Stiles

Kayleigh Valley

University of Montana Athletics