Lady Griz off to Portland for Monday game

The Montana women's basketball team, coming off one of its most complete victories of the Shannon Schweyen era, will face Portland State on the road on Monday night.

The Lady Griz (9-5, 4-1 BSC) and Vikings (8-7, 2-3 BSC) will tip off at 8 p.m. (MT) at PSU's Viking Pavilion.

Montana is coming off a 92-54 home victory over Eastern Washington on Thursday night. Portland State lost 73-62 at home to Big Sky leader Montana State on Saturday afternoon.

Matchup notes:

* Montana and Portland State will be meeting for the first of two times this season on Monday. The teams will square off in Missoula on Thursday, Jan. 30.

* Montana leads the all-time series 48-20 and has gone 19-13 against the Vikings on their home court.

* The Lady Griz have lost their last three games at Portland State, all handily, falling 68-45 in 2016-17, 70-53 in 2017-18 and 78-60 last winter. Montana shot 32.2 percent in the three losses.

* Montana bounced back from last year's road loss at PSU to win 73-70 in overtime in Missoula, eight days before the Vikings would win the Big Sky tournament title in Boise.

* Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen is 2-4 in head-to-head matchups against fifth-year Portland State coach Lynn Kennedy.

* After moving into a tie for first place with Montana State on Thursday night, idle Montana dropped to second on Saturday after the Bobcats (9-6, 5-1 BSC) regained the lead with their win at PSU.

* The Vikings lost for the fourth time in six games on Saturday after winning five straight between late November and mid-December.

* Portland State is 5-2 at home this season, with losses to Tennessee and Montana State. The Vikings were coming off a sweep of Idaho, 74-53, and Eastern Washington, 75-58, before falling to the Bobcats.

Most recently (Montana): It's not often a team trails by nine in a game and leads by 41, but that was the case on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena, as Montana ran past Eastern Washington 92-54.

The Eagles went 5 for 6 from 3-point range in the first quarter and led 21-12 with two minutes left in the opening period, but it was all Lady Griz after that.

Montana closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run, led 51-36 at the half and outscored Eastern Washington 41-18 in the second half.

It was the team's largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since winning 72-31 at home against Portland State in 2014-15.

Montana went 12 of 22 (.545) from 3-point range, 22 of 25 (.880) from the free throw line and committed a season-low seven turnovers.

Taylor Goligoski connected on four 3-pointers and scored a team-high 21 points, part of Montana's 47 off the bench. McKenzie Johnston had her fourth career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.

Most recently (Portland State): The Vikings got off to a slow start at home against Montana State on Saturday afternoon and never recovered.

Portland State opened the game hitting just two of its first 18 shots and trailed 15-6 after the first quarter, 37-18 at the half.

Montana State led by 21 points in the third quarter and limited the Vikings, who put up 29 points in the fourth quarter, to 32.8 percent shooting, its third-lowest performance of the season.

Six-foot-four senior center Jordan Stotler, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week, had 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 11 rebounds and five blocks.

Montana notes:

* McKenzie Johnston had 10 assists and no turnovers on Thursday. It was the first time since Feb. 8, 2007, that a Lady Griz player had 10 or more assists and no turnovers.

* The previous time it happened: Mandy Morales had 13 assists and no turnovers in Montana's 78-50 win at Sacramento State in the Lady Griz' 27-win season of 2006-07.

* Montana's 92 points on Thursday was its highest output against a Division I opponent since a 94-86 home win over Sacramento State on Jan. 31, 2015.

* The 92 points were the most scored against the Eagles since a 92-55 home win on Jan. 6, 2007, and it was the largest margin of victory ever for Montana against Eastern Washington.

* Montana had a season-low seven turnovers against the Eagles. The last time the Lady Griz had fewer were the six they committed in an 82-65 road loss at Northern Arizona last March.

* Montana had made just 59 3-pointers this season through 13 games before netting 12 on 22 attempts on Thursday night.

* It was the most Montana has made in a game under Schweyen and the most since hitting 12 in an 86-70 home win over Utah State at the Lady Griz Classic in December 2015. The program record is 16.

* Thursday's win, which followed last Saturday's 67-58 home loss to Northern Colorado, made Montana 5-1 this season coming off a loss.

* Montana went 22 for 25 from the line on Thursday to up its season percentage to 76.3 percent. The program record is 77.6 percent, set in 2007-08.

* Montana ranks in the top 25 nationally in fouls (17th, 13.9/g), assist-to-turnover ratio (18th, 1.26), free throw percentage (22nd, .763) and turnovers (24th, 13.0/g).

* McKenzie Johnston ranks 19th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.52 and 30th in assists (5.2/g). She leads the Big Sky in the former, ranks second to NAU's Caitlin Malvar (5.4/g) in the latter.

* Johnston, with 1,175, moved past Linda Cummings (1996-2000) and into 18th on the Montana career scoring list on Thursday. The next three names she'll pass: Cheri Bratt, Kayleigh Valley and Skyla Sisco.

* Johnston moved past Torry Hill and into seventh on the career assists list with 438. She is 50 from matching Bratt and moving into the top five.

* Eastern Washington went 10 for 22 from the 3-point line on Thursday. It marked the sixth time a team has made 10 or more against Montana, which is allowing opponents to shoot 39.6 percent from the arc.

(Note: Portland State went 3 for 22 [.136] from the 3-point line in Saturday's loss to Montana State. Before that, the Vikings were leading the Big Sky in shooting from distance at 39.7 percent.)

* Gabi Harrington was held scoreless against Northern Colorado. She scored all 14 of her points on Thursday in the first half, going 5 for 6 and hitting both of her 3-point attempts.

* Jamie Pickens had 14 points, one off her season high, against the Eagles. Madi Schoening was Montana's fifth player in double figures. She had 10 points and three steals in 16 minutes off the bench.

Portland State notes:

* The Vikings went 25-8 last season and finished fourth in the Big Sky standings at 14-6.

* Portland State defeated No. 5 Montana State, No. 1 Idaho and No. 6 Eastern Washington in Boise to win the Big Sky tournament title, its first since 2010.

* The only two returning starters from that team were Stotler and junior guard Kylie Jimenez. The Vikings added six true freshmen to their roster this season.

* Portland State opened the season dropping its first three games against Division I opponents, then won five straight before hosting and losing to Tennessee 88-61 on Dec. 21.

* The Vikings opened league losing two road games, 77-58 at Northern Colorado and 71-58 at Southern Utah. They bounced back last weekend with home wins over Idaho and Eastern Washington.

* Sophomore guard Desirae Hansen, who hit the game-winning shot in the Big Sky tournament championship game last season, is averaging a team-leading 13.5 points per game.

* Junior Tatiana Streun is averaging 13.3 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds, Jimenez 11.9 points and Stotler 10.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and a Big Sky-leading 3.1 blocks.

* Despite Saturday's effort, Portland State still leads the Big Sky by a considerable margin in 3-point shooting percentage at 37.7.

Upcoming: Montana will play at Idaho next Saturday, then return to Missoula for a four-game home stand against Idaho State, Weber State, Portland State and Montana State.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Goligoski

Gabi Harrington

McKenzie Johnston

Jamie Pickens

Madi Schoening

Kayleigh Valley

University of Montana Athletics