Lady Griz to face ranked Coyotes on the road

The Montana women's basketball team will play its second ranked opponent of the season and its final Division I nonconference opponent on Sunday when it takes on South Dakota.

The Lady Griz (4-3) and No. 21 Coyotes (10-1) will tip off at noon (MT) at USD's Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion.

Montana's first matchup against a ranked opponent this season was a 77-42 loss at home to then No. 24 Arizona. The Wildcats are now 10-0 and ranked No. 18/19 in the two major polls.

South Dakota, whose only loss this season was at home by eight points to now No. 18/20 Missouri State, is ranked 21st the USA Today/WBCA Coaches' Poll.

The Coyotes are the first team outside of the top 25 in the latest AP poll.

Montana will conclude its pre-Big Sky Conference schedule with a home game against MSU Billings on Friday, Dec. 20.

Coverage: Sunday's game will have video coverage through GoYotes Live and ESPN+. Local coverage in the Missoula area can be heard on KMPT 930 AM/99.7 FM.

Montana notes:

* The Lady Griz enter Sunday's game with a record of 4-3 and are on their first two-game winning streak of the season.

* After going 6-31 in true road games in Shannon Schweyen's first three seasons as head coach, Montana is 2-0 in road games this season.

* The Lady Griz won 71-69 at Cal State Fullerton on the final day of the Titan Classic over Thanksgiving weekend, then won at Utah Valley last Saturday, 63-52.

* It marks the first time Montana has won consecutive road games since the 2017-18 season, when the Lady Griz won at Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

* In Saturday's victory at Utah Valley, Montana trailed by nine, 43-34, late in the third quarter before closing the game on a 29-9 run.

* The Lady Griz scored the final four points of the third quarter, then went 9 for 14 in the fourth period, 7 of 8 from the free throw line to rally for the victory.

* Five players were in double figures despite Montana scoring 63 points against the Wolverines.

* Freshman Jamie Pickens scored a season-high 15 points on 50 percent shooting and had three blocks, the first of her collegiate career.

* Emma Stockholm and Gabi Harrington both scored 11, McKenzie Johnston and Taylor Goligoski 10, with Johnston adding eight assists.

* Montana went 14 for 16 (.875) from the line at Utah Valley, its best performance of the season and best since going 17 for 18 (.944) in a road loss at Northern Arizona last season.

* Montana limited Utah Valley to 0.76 points per possession, its best defensive performance of the season against a Division I opponent.

* Montana had 18 assists at Utah Valley, the team's fourth time in seven games with 18 or more.

* The Lady Griz had 20 assists in their win at Cal State Fullerton, a program-record 30 in their home win over MSU Northern.

* Montana had just eight healthy, active players against Utah Valley.

* The Lady Griz started the season with a roster of 13. That was reduced to a dozen with the departure earlier this week of Sammy Fatkin.

* Carmen Gfeller, Jordyn Schweyen and Shelby Schweyen are all redshirting, and Madi Schoening continues to be day-to-day.

* Teams are shooting 42.2 percent against Montana, 40.4 percent from 3-point range. The latter figure ranks 345th out of 348 NCAA Division I teams.

* Related note: South Dakota went 12 for 22 from the arc in Wednesday's 110-39 home win over Mt. Marty and is shooting 42.2 percent from distance on the season.

* Montana leads the Big Sky in fewest turnovers (13.0/g) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.33). The Lady Griz rank 24th and 16th nationally, respectively, in those categories.

* Montana also ranks 26th nationally in fewest fouls (14.4/g).

* McKenzie Johnston leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.08) and ranks second in assists (5.3/g). She ranks 16th and 35th nationally in those categories.

* Taylor Goligoski, 5 for 9 from the arc in Montana's two road games this season, is shooting 48.4 percent from 3-point range on the season, which ranks first in the Big Sky, 23rd nationally.

* Johnston has reached 1,091 career points to move up to No. 27 on the Montana career scoring list. Next up: Jodi Hinrichs (1990-95) at 1,094, then Linda Weyler (1996-2000) at 1,108.

* With eight assists at Utah Valley, Johnston moved into the top 10 on the Montana career list. She ranks 10th at 402. Next up: her head coach, who sits ninth with 421.

* Johnston played 37 minutes at Utah Valley, the sixth consecutive game she has played 37 or more minutes.

* With 10 points at Utah Valley, Johnston recorded her 60th career double-digit scoring game.

* Montana has shot 48.2 percent in its four wins, with 39 more assists than turnovers, .357 in its three losses.

* Montana's eight points in the third quarter at Utah Valley was its fourth time this season with fewer than 10 points in a period.

* Montana's 25-point fourth quarter at Utah Valley was its best scoring period this season against a Division I opponent.

* The Lady Griz are 12-46 all-time against ranked opponents, with 12 straight losses. Their last win over a ranked opponent was 61-58 over No. 24 Utah in 2003-04.

South Dakota notes:

* The Coyotes went 28-6 last season and returned four starters and 11 letterwinners from that team.

* South Dakota went 14-2 in the Summit League to finish second behind 15-1 South Dakota State.

* The Coyotes lost to SDSU in the Summit championship game but still made the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection.

* No. 8 South Dakota lost to No. 9 Clemson 79-66 in a first-round game in Starkville, Miss.

* South Dakota was picked first in the Summit League preseason poll, ahead of South Dakota State and Denver, teams which also received first-place votes.

* Senior forward Ciara Duffy was voted the Summit League preseason player of the year. Junior center Hannah Sjerven joined Duffy on the six-player preseason first-team.

* Making the five-player second team were senior guard Madison McKeever and junior guard Chloe Lamb.

* South Dakota opened its season with five straight wins, including a road victory at Utah and a home win over Missouri.

* The Coyotes' lone loss came against Missouri State, 74-66, a team that is 8-1 and whose only loss came by 11 on the road at Oregon State, which is 8-0 and ranked No. 4 nationally.

* On the day after Thanksgiving, South Dakota defeated Ohio State in Las Vegas 68-53. The Buckeyes are the only team to defeat Louisville, which handed preseason national favorite Oregon its only loss.

* South Dakota has since defeated Creighton (now 7-2) and on Wednesday shot 66.2 percent while forcing 38 turnovers in a home victory over Mt. Marty, an NAIA school out of Yankton, S.D.

* Duffy leads South Dakota in scoring at 15.8 points per game and with 58 has more than twice as many assists as any of her teammates.

* The Coyotes are shooting 48.2 percent on the season, which ranks eighth nationally, and making 9.6 3-pointers per game, which ranks 12th.

* Of the nine players to appear in all 11 games this season, four are shooting 50 percent or better on the season, eight are shooting 42.5 percent or better.

* Duffy and Lamb are both 22 for 44 from 3-point range on the season. Both are tied for 12th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage.

Montana-South Dakota history:

* The Lady Griz and Coyotes met for the first time last season, with South Dakota winning 64-41 in Missoula. The USD lead was 36-15 at the half.

* Duffy led both teams with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting.

* South Dakota went just 6 for 24 from the arc and shot 38.5 percent overall, but the Coyotes only committed six turnovers. Montana shot 32.6 percent and had 20 turnovers.

Lady Griz insider:

If South Dakota was a bit of an unknown last season when the Coyotes came to Missoula and picked apart Montana in a 23-point win, everyone knows what to expect this season, especially with four starters and 11 letterwinners back.

"They have basically everybody back and are a year better playing together," said Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen, who used South Dakota as an example for her team as last year progressed.

"Of all the teams we played last year, they impressed me the most, with the style they played, the execution they had and the way they played together."

Now Montana gets another shot at South Dakota, a team with an early-season RPI of 15 due to its strength of schedule and its 10 wins and one loss while playing that schedule.

The Lady Griz have an RPI of 226.

"They are balanced and shooting an unbelievable percentage from both three and the field," said Schweyen, noting a team that went 17 for 29 from the arc in its 91-48 win over Northern Illinois.

Four times this season South Dakota has made 11 or more triples.

"They've played some really good teams, and they've still been putting up numbers like crazy," added Schweyen. "So obviously it's tough to shut them down.

"You've got to limit their easy ones and hope they don't have a great night shooting it from three."

South Dakota takes more than 38 percent of its shots from 3-point range, compared to 25.1 percent for Montana. The Coyotes are shooting 51.9 percent on shots inside the arc.

"They are really good at getting easy ones," said Schweyen, "because they run you through stuff over and over and wait for you to break down. We've got to be at our best as far as communicating.

"The girls are fired up about playing in front of some people and against a good, quality opponent. It's what you hope for in the nonconference. To get two top-25 teams is great for us in the preseason."

Montana takes a two-game winning streak to South Dakota, each win earned a different way.

At Cal State Fullerton, the Lady Griz built a 17-point first-half lead and led by 16 in the third quarter before the Titans rallied.

A 16-3 run gave Fullerton a 3-point, and the Titans still led by two, 69-67, with less than 90 seconds to play, but a big 3-pointer by Taylor Goligoski and some key defensive stops gave Montana the win.

Last Saturday at Utah Valley, Montana was tied 30-30 at the half, but the Wolverines used a good start to the third quarter to build a 43-34 lead.

An 8-0 run, with six points coming from Jamie Pickens, got Montana back into the game, and the Lady Griz used a big finish to steadily pull away.

"This group is just grinding and getting it done. They are coming together and playing hard for each other, and you have to do that to pull some of these tough ones out," said Schweyen.

"Hopefully we can build on those and take something away and go into this one with some confidence. Both of those experiences should help us in this one."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* As the calendar reaches mid-December, more than half of the teams in the Big Sky (6 of 11) have winning records.

* Surprising Southern Utah leads the way at 5-2. One of the Thunderbirds' losses was by four, 69-65, at Grand Canyon. The other was at Oregon State.

* Portland State has won four straight to improve to 5-3, with Idaho, Idaho State, Montana and Montana State all 4-3. MSU's losses have come against South Dakota State, Minnesota and Gonzaga.

* Idaho is coming off a 65-32 win at San Diego, a team that is 6-4, Idaho State a solid showing in a 74-69 overtime loss at now 7-2 Arizona State, behind Dora Goles' 26 points.

* In addition to Montana playing at South Dakota, Sunday will be a day full of intriguing matchups for the Big Sky.

* Idaho plays at South Florida, a team that held a national ranking last month after knocking off No. 15 Texas.

* Northern Colorado (3-5) plays at 6-3 Wyoming, Eastern Washington (1-5) hosts Mountain West preseason favorite Boise State and Portland State plays at 6-3 Portland.

Upcoming: Montana will host MSU Billings next Friday, then take a few days off for Christmas before opening Big Sky play at Northern Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 28.

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Players Mentioned

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Taylor Goligoski

Gabi Harrington

McKenzie Johnston

Jamie Pickens

Madi Schoening

Jordyn Schweyen

Shelby Schweyen

Emma Stockholm

University of Montana Athletics