Lady Griz Rewind :: 1985-86

To sift through the Lady Griz historical archives is to mine for little gems that might pop up now and again, hoped-for specks of gold that have become more valuable over time, as decades have done their thing and made them, so ordinary in the moment, so much more precious in review.

One of those came in mid-December 1985, when Montana was hosting La Salle in the championship game of the Lady Griz Insurance Classic.

The box score reveals that the Explorers' Allison Hudson picked up a technical foul. Then one was given to the La Salle bench. Then another one was handed out and the coach (Morris) was ejected.

"He was a real interesting guy. He got kicked out three minutes into the game or something. He got run," says former Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig, who remembers the coach just as well from the pre-tournament banquet two nights before.

"He was funny at the banquet. He got me pretty good with a couple of good jokes."

And that's how this project has gone. A jotting on a box score turns into a question, which turns into a memory, which turns into a search for more.

We wanted to know: Who was that guy? Because the name Morris and La Salle have a strong connection, but Speedy Morris was the coach of the men's team for many years and this was La Salle's women's team.

But it was indeed Speedy Morris, in his second year coaching the La Salle women's team, who was sent to the locker room that day.

After 16 years coaching high school boys' basketball in his native Philadelphia, Morris took over the La Salle women's program in 1984. He would coach the women for two years before moving over to the men's team, becoming the first Division I coach to have led both programs at the same school.

His second season coaching the La Salle women was the winter the Explorers were in Missoula. The Lady Griz, with five players in double figures, would win 69-61 to claim the Lady Griz Insurance Classic. Three months later, both teams would play in the NCAA tournament.

After the season, Morris, who had a two-year record of 43-17 coaching the La Salle women, was announced as the school's new men's coach. He would coach the Explorers the next 15 seasons, taking them to four NCAA tournaments and a pair of NITs.

It was after the same 1985-86 season that Mike Montgomery departed Montana for Stanford, after leading the Grizzlies to an eight-year record of 155-79, allowing for the same in-house move La Salle had made.

Whether then-AD Harley Lewis ever had a formal conversation with Selvig about the opening, you know Lewis would have at least thought about it: Would Robin Selvig ever consider doing what Speedy Morris had done and go from the women's team to the men's at the same school?

After all, Selvig had been a Grizzly.

Lewis would have had as much luck as Selvig's former college coach, Jud Heathcote, then at Michigan State, who on multiple occasions tried to convince Selvig to give the men's game a try.

"There were some men's (coaching) changes (at Montana), and my name would always kind of come up, but I never seriously thought about it," Selvig said years ago, when he was approaching 800 wins with the Lady Griz.

"To me, that would have been telling the women that I was moving up, like I was getting some kind of promotion, and I never could have said that. I was engrossed in this program. I wanted to see if we could get it better."

A key to Montana's victory that day over La Salle was the play of the team's lone senior, Sharla Muralt, who was coming off a junior season that resulted in her being named to the Kodak All-District VII squad.

Muralt had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, nine rebounds and four blocked shots against the Explorers.

"I would say Rob was born to coach, and he chose to coach women," Muralt said this week from Seattle, where she has lived since 1988. She has spent the last 19 years working as a financial advisor.

"I don't see it as less than because he coached women. He built a legacy where he was, and that may or may not have happened had he ever moved on."

None of which is meant to belittle the decision made back in 1986 by Morris, who had his own reasons and had a career that was just as impactful as Selvig, all within the Philadelphia city limits, which further ties the coaches together, loyal as they were to what they considered home.

After being let go at La Salle following the 2000-01 season, Morris, who lost his dad when he was 13 and turned that into a reason to coach for more than five decades, took over the boys' team at St. Joseph's Prep and coached them until three months ago.

He finally retired at the age of 77, after 52 years spent coaching and 1,035 career wins. He has been inducted into 11 different halls of fame.

"It's going to be tough after 52 years. I can't think about not coaching again," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer last winter, sounding a lot like Selvig when he announced his retirement in 2016. "I don't want to do it. I have to do it."

Back in 1985-86, Selvig was only beginning season No. 8 with the Lady Griz, and he and the team had work to do.

After winning the first two Mountain West Athletic Conference titles, in 1982-83 and 1983-84, going 27-1 in league in the process, Montana had given up the crown to Idaho in 1984-85.

The Vandals went 28-2 that season and defeated the Lady Griz three times, including an 80-57 thumping in the tournament championship game.

Idaho had four starters back in 1985-86, including its two 6-foot-4 starters, and the Vandals were the preseason pick to repeat, but Montana had gained something valuable in its 22-10 season the year before.

"Coming into my junior year, we had me, Barb (Kavanagh) and Anita (Novak) and a bunch of new players who had to adapt," says Muralt. That group had to bring Cheryl Brandell, Marti Leibenguth and Dawn Silliker, all of whom started games as freshmen, along and show them the ways of the Lady Griz.

"My first two years there was a feeling that we would do whatever it would take to win. It didn't matter if we were down 20 points or six points with 30 seconds to go. One way or another, we'd find a way to make that happen.

"That was not necessarily the feeling on that (1984-85) team with so many new players. But it's something we tried to instill."

Kavanagh and Novak, first- and second-team all-league, respectively, were gone in 1985-86 but those freshmen were back as experienced sophomores, and Margaret Williams, the team's point guard who had missed the 1984-85 season from injuries sustained in a bike accident, was back to full strength.

Muralt, Williams, Brandell, Leibenguth and Silliker would all start at least 28 of the team's 31 games in 1985-86, with Williams and Leibenguth starting all 31.

After getting off to a 2-0 start, Montana faced its first big test of the season when it welcomed Washington to Missoula. The Huskies were coming off a 26-2 season that had led to them getting a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Lady Griz trailed by five at the break but shot 17 for 28 in the second half to rally for a 63-51 victory. Montana limited Washington to 7-of-26 shooting in the second half and 21 points over the final 20 minutes.

Muralt had 17 points and nine rebounds, Leibenguth added 15 on 6-of-10 shooting. The sophomore would end up leading Montana in scoring at 11.8 points per game that season on 57.2 percent shooting, still the program record.

The rare postseason double she pulled off reveals the leap she made from her freshman to sophomore campaigns: She was voted both team MVP and most improved player after the 1985-86 season.

"She had a great touch. She gained some confidence from the NIT the year before, when she played well as a freshman," says Selvig.

"She just came on (as a sophomore). She could shoot from the perimeter and she could get to the hole. She just made shots. She was a tough matchup for people."

Another tough matchup: BYU's 6-foot-7 center Tresa Spaulding, whom Montana had to face a week later at Washington State's tournament.

It was something Montana had some experience with. The Lady Griz had faced West Virginia and 6-foot-7 Georgeann Wells in the NWIT the season before in Amarillo, Texas.

In addition to her size, she is famous for becoming the first player to dunk in an NCAA women's basketball game, which she did in December 1984.

"My fear going in was that she was going to dunk on us," Selvig says. She didn't.

Spaulding didn't either but dominated in every other way, totaling 30 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocks in BYU's 71-67 win.

"I remember having a tough time matching up with her. We weren't all that big, so that was a tough matchup for us. She was a real load that night," said Selvig.

Montana would use notable balance -- the Lady Griz had 10 players who scored between six and eight points, none in double figures, while shooting 55.4 percent -- in a 75-47 win over Seattle in the consolation game.

Five players on the 1985-86 team would end their career as 1,000-point scorers. "We had a lot of kids who could score. We were tough to figure out how to guard," says Selvig.

Montana would defeat Pepperdine and La Salle to win the Lady Griz Insurance Classic, with Silliker earning MVP honors, then close out its pre-Christmas schedule with road wins at Colorado State and Wyoming.

Selvig had scheduled a four-game road trip for after break to the Bay Area, a trip that started with a 61-52 win at Saint Mary's.

On New Year's Day, 9-1 Montana played at 1-7 San Jose State, a team that would win six games that season and see its coach get let go.

Not unexpectedly, the Lady Griz led 31-22 at the half. Then the unexpected: the Spartans put up 45 second-half points and rallied for a 67-60 win.

Montana went 27-4 that season, so the losses tend to stand out, particularly that one.

"I remember that game. That was a nightmare," says Selvig. "They just started lighting it up. They got things going and got away from us.

"That's why you don't take any opponent for granted, ever. That's why you're nervous about every game if you're a smart coach."

Trailing Division II Chapman 24-20 at the half on the opening day of San Francisco's tournament, Montana held the Panthers to 5-of-27 shooting in the second half to rally for a 50-40 win, then blew out the host Dons 74-57 in the title game.

Brandell averaged 14.5 points on 14-of-18 shooting and totaled 13 assists in the two wins to earn MVP honors.

The top three teams in the league those days were Montana, Idaho and Eastern Washington, and the Lady Griz opened their Mountain West schedule with a home game against the Eagles.

It was declared the first W.A.R. Game, short for women's attendance record.

Montana was hoping to set a new record for a women's game west of the Rockies, which at the time was 5,160, when USC hosted Long Beach State two years earlier.

Montana's program record of 4,030, from the Oregon State NCAA tournament game in 1984, would not stand, nor would USC's. The Lady Griz drew 6,112 as they opened 1-0 in league with a 65-52 win over the Eagles.

Muralt scored 12 points in the win to reach 1,000 for her career, becoming the fifth player in program history to do so, joining Doris Deden, Cheri Bratt, Novak and Kavanagh.

"She was just a really good low-post player," said Selvig. "She developed a jump-hook that was basically unstoppable. She was so strong, if we got it to her down there, it was either a bucket or free throws.

"She was just a classic back-to-the-basket, low-post player. If she got it, you were in trouble."

Before the season, Selvig said, "With a team this young, you have to wonder how things are going to come together. We'll have to wait and see how we gel."

When late January rolled around, Montana was 15-2 and set to host 14-1 Idaho, which owned a No. 20 national ranking after getting pre-league wins over Utah, Oregon, Washington State, Oregon State and Missouri.

The team's lone loss came to Temple by seven points in a neutral-site game in San Diego.

Idaho entered Dahlberg Arena, where it had won the season before to snap Montana's 46-game unbeaten streak at home, with a 3-0 mark in league and an average margin of victory of more than 26 points.

"They don't have any weaknesses," Selvig said the week of the game. "In order to beat Idaho, we have to keep them from having a big night offensively. We can't really shut them down. And we have to shoot very well."

It was tied 27-27 at the half. Then Selvig's team shot it very well. The Lady Griz went 16 for 29 in the second half to pull away for a 70-53 victory, their first win over a ranked team in program history.

The sophomores had come of age: Brandell had 15 points, Silliker 14 and Leibenguth nine on 4-of-5 shooting.

"I think we had a chip on our shoulder. That Idaho loss was my only loss at home in four years," said Muralt, a member of teams that went 57-1 in Missoula in her four years. "I took that hard."

Muralt had eight points, Williams added seven assists.

"We had Margaret back at the point and we had a year more experience. And we were a deeper team," says Selvig when asked how he and Montana retook control of the Mountain West Athletic Conference from Idaho.

"We had gotten better because of our experience. A year more experience was the difference."

Montana was 6-0 in league when it had its first matchup against Montana State, on a Friday night in Missoula.

The Lady Griz would have to face the Bobcats with Muralt sidelined. At practice the day before she had hurt her back.

"You know how you lay down and twist your legs back and forth to kind of crack your lower back? I was sitting on the sideline at practice and did that and something happened," she says.

"I went back in and there was a rebound right in front of me. I tried to jump and I couldn't. By the end of practice I couldn't touch my toes."

With freshman Lisa McLeod starting in Muralt's place and in the first women's basketball game to be broadcast on statewide television, Montana won 69-55.

The team's first league loss would come a week later. With Muralt still out, Montana shot 33.3 percent and lost 58-51 at Eastern Washington, behind Brenda Souther's 18 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.

Muralt would miss three games with her back injury.

When Montana played at Idaho on Feb. 22, the Lady Griz were 22-3 and atop the Mountain West at 11-1. Idaho was 20-3, 9-2 in league after losing by two in overtime at Montana State a day after losing in Missoula in January.

With a home game against Montana and a road game at Eastern Washington, Idaho controlled the race for tournament hosting rights. It just had to win out.

Montana opened the road trip with a 49-36 win at Boise State on a Friday night. The Lady Griz were scheduled to play at Idaho the next night.

"We didn't have a day between games in those days, so we flew from Boise and had all kinds of trouble. We didn't get there until something like 2:30, so there was no shoot-around and we had a late pregame (meal)," says Selvig.

The coach may have been 173-57 by that time and in his eighth year, but he was still learning. Even with a disruption to its schedule, his team went 30 for 52 (.577) and quieted a crowd of 3,200 with a 72-64 win to take control of the league race.

"We just lit it up, which taught me not to get overly worried about every little thing," he says. "We grabbed something light to eat, went to the game and had our best shooting game of the year against a really good team.

"That stands out in my mind. After that, I never worried too much about things you can't control. Coaches can go crazy on that kind of stuff, with pregame at this time, shoot-around at that time. That game taught me not to be too concerned about every little thing."

Brandell, who at 5-11 could play any number of positions, including the point, had 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added 10 assists. She was in her second year back after missing her senior year of high school with a knee injury.

"She was really good. She could pass, she could score. She had instincts. She was a really nice player," said Selvig. "She was just a smooth, complete player."

Idaho would go 26-5 that season and win the NWIT with victories over Fresno State, Notre Dame and Northwest Louisiana in Amarillo, Texas.

After going 13-1 in league, Montana hosted the Mountain West tournament and got a scare in the semifinals from Montana State, a team it had defeated in Bozeman 72-46 seven days earlier by holding the Bobcats to 15-of-71 shooting (.211).

In the tournament semifinals, Montana State shot 12 for 22 in the first half and trailed just 30-27 at the break. Montana would be forced to hit a number of big free throws down the stretch to hold on for a 63-59 victory.

The championship game held no such drama. Montana raced out to a 38-16 halftime lead on Eastern Washington, which had defeated Idaho by two in the other semifinal, and went on to win 65-39, holding the Eagles to 16-of-59 (.271) shooting.

That sent Montana to its third NCAA tournament and gave the Lady Griz their second NCAA home game, this time against Utah, champion of the High Country Athletic Conference, which should still be a thing, at least the name.

The tournament in 1986 had expanded from 32 teams to 40. Regular-season opponents Washington and La Salle made the field as well as No. 7 and 10 seeds, respectively.

Montana earned the West Regional's No. 8 seed and hosted the No. 9 Utes on a Wednesday night in what was Elaine Elliott's third year at Utah. It was the first of what would be 15 NCAA tournament teams she coached in 27 seasons.

Brandell had 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists as Montana won 58-46, holding Utah to 32.7 percent shooting.

For the third straight year, the Mountain West champion would go up against USC, which was at the peak of its program's history, with national championships in 1983 and '84, and what would be a runner-up finish in 1986.

The Trojans would top Montana, then defeat North Carolina and Louisiana Tech to win the region. They got past Tennessee in the Final Four before losing 97-81 to Texas as the Longhorns completed a perfect 34-0 record, the first in NCAA women's basketball history.

It was Cheryl Miller's final season at USC, but she was held out of the Montana game. The Trojans had enough firepower without her. Cynthia Cooper had 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

"I think we thought we had a little bit of a chance, but we didn't," says Muralt.

Montana trailed just 31-27 at the half, but USC exploded for 50 second-half points and won 81-50.

"We hung for a half, then they put it on us in the second half. They were real quick that year, and Cynthia Cooper was a load," says Selvig.

"You go as far as you can go, and my sophomore and senior years we lost to the national champion and a team that played for the national championship," says Muralt, who was voted first-team All-Mountain West as a senior.

Leibenguth and Silliker were named second team, Brandell and Williams honorable mention.

Muralt's daughter, Jadyn, just completed her freshman year at Arizona, a school she chose because it has one of the top theater programs in the country.

"She is a musical theater person. That's what she loves, and she happens to be very good at it," says Muralt, who is asked if her daughter got that from her mom. All she can do is laugh. "That's all her, that's all her."

Muralt took one path in life, her daughter will take another, each following their passions, just as Speedy Morris did, as did Selvig, who never saw any grass greener than he had in the Lady Griz program that he had been coaching for eight years by the end of the 1985-86 season and would for 30 more.

There are flecks of gold to discover along the way while digging through the archives, then there are the veins that run throughout the history.

"To me, Rob was an amazing coach in that he could take a bunch of mostly Montana girls and compete on a national level. He got the best out of you," says Muralt.

University of Montana Athletics

Related News

Related Videos