Lady Griz return to road, travel to Flagstaff

The Montana women's basketball team, which is coming off a 61-33 home win over College of Idaho on Sunday, returns to Big Sky Conference play this week with a pair of games at Northern Arizona.

The Lady Griz (4-3, 1-1 BSC) and Lumberjacks (5-5, 3-3 BSC) will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday and 10 a.m. on Saturday inside NAU's Rolle Activity Center in Flagstaff.

Montana will then get five of its next six games at home, with two-game series at Dahlberg Arena against Sacramento State and Portland State and a split series against Montana State.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz opened league with a road split at Northern Colorado on Jan. 1 and 3. They came back from 19 down in the third quarter to win the opener 60-56 and nearly erased a 24-point first-half deficit in the finale, falling 77-76 in overtime.

Montana scheduled an off-week game against Whitworth for Saturday, Jan. 9, only to see that game get canceled two days prior, the team's fourth canceled game of the season. College of Idaho was added on Friday, and the Lady Griz and Yotes met Sunday afternoon inside Dahlberg Arena.

Montana led 33-12 at the half and never trailed in the 61-33 win. Thirteen players saw the court, each for at least 11 minutes. A dozen of them scored.

If things go according to plan, which they probably won't, Montana will play two-game Big Sky series the remainder of the regular season, concluding with games at Idaho on March 3 and 5. The 11-team Big Sky tournament is scheduled to open in Boise on Monday, March 8.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): With four starters back, including preseason Big Sky Player of the Year Khiarica Rasheed, the Lumberjacks were a popular pick to win the regular-season title. They were picked third in the preseason coaches' poll with three first-place votes, just one less than favorite Idaho.

They opened league back in early December with an expected road sweep of Eastern Washington, a sweep that looks better and better now that the Eagles have won four straight in league since the Christmas break.

Since Christmas, Northern Arizona has faced the two teams picked ahead of it in the preseason, hosting Idaho and getting a split and falling twice last week at Idaho State. NAU played its last two games without Rasheed, who has been on the court just three games this season.

To an already experienced team, Northern Arizona added a pair of senior guards who joined the program after transferring from Nevada. JJ Nakai leads the Big Sky in scoring at 17.6 per game, while Miki'ala Maio is averaging 11.3 points.

The matchup:

* Northern Arizona and Montana are two of the top three teams from the Big Sky in this week's NCAA NET rankings (NCAA Evaluation Tool), which are used as a guide when it comes time to filling and then seeding the NCAA tournament bracket. Consider them the new RPI.

Idaho State tops the league at No. 85. The Bengals, who are 6-0 in league, 7-1 overall with only a loss at Nebraska, a game ISU led at the half, are followed by Northern Arizona (106) and Montana (149).

The rest: Montana State (171), Idaho (201), Southern Utah (202), Northern Colorado (206), Eastern Washington (264), Portland State (297), Weber State (309) and Sacramento State (326). There are 341 Division I teams playing this season.

* Montana leads the all-time series 59-13 and has gone 24-8 against Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, winning six of the last seven on NAU's home floor.

* The Lady Griz had won 14 of 15 against the Lumberjacks going into last March's Big Sky tournament quarterfinal game in Boise. That game would be won by NAU 68-65 when a last-second 3-pointer by Montana's Emma Stockholm rattled out.

* If you're looking for a revenge angle, it's probably not there. More than half of the players on Montana's roster (8 of 15) have never played a game against Northern Arizona. Only four -- Anderson, Frohlich, Schoening and Stiles -- played in the game last March.

* In the teams' previous meeting last season, Montana won 79-71 in Flagstaff behind McKenzie Johnston's 26 points and 70-57 in Missoula after coming back from an 11-point deficit in the second quarter. Johnston had 14 points, Taylor Goligoski and Jamie Pickens both added 13 off the bench.

Summary: If Montana's games at Northern Colorado earlier this month, the first league games of the season for the Lady Griz, were a good test, this week should be an even more challenging exam as they go on the road to take on one of the Big Sky's three heavyweights.

The Lumberjacks are experienced, talented, veteran and coached well by Loree Payne, who is in her fourth year. And that applies whether Rasheed is in the lineup or not.

"With or without her, they are really good," said Lady Griz coach Mike Petrino. "They brought back a majority of their starters, including the preseason MVP. To that great group they added the transfers from Nevada, so they are a very good team.

"They look impressive on film. It will be a challenging game and a great opportunity for us to play against a very good team."

NAU opened the season 5-2, including an 84-62 home thumping of Idaho on Dec. 31 but has lost three straight. The Vandals rebounded two days later with a 66-59 win, then Idaho State swept the Lumberjacks last week in Pocatello, 70-66 and 78-65.

Northern Arizona travels to Bozeman next week, then, in theory, gets a soft(er) finish to the season, closing with Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, Portland State, Weber State and Southern Utah, teams that are currently 4-16 in league.

The Lumberjacks lead the Big Sky in scoring (71.5/g), shooting (.425) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.0), and play lock-down defense on the perimeter. Teams are shooting 22.0 percent from 3-point range, which has NAU ranked ninth nationally in that category.

"They play well in transition and have an up-tempo, explosive offense and are very aggressive off the dribble," said Petrino. "They don't have a big lineup but they are explosive. They have it all, especially when they have Rasheed playing."

In more normal times, the result from March in Boise, when Northern Arizona ended Montana's season, the No. 5 seed defeating the No. 4 seed, might be a talking point leading into this week's games.

Not this year. Montana has a new head coach and has eight players (of 15) who were not even playing for the Lady Griz last season. Just four players on this year's team played in that game, which feels like it took place about 18 months ago on a different planet.

"Over half our team wasn't even at that game, so it's not a storyline," said Petrino. "Only four players out of 15 on this team played in that game."

Of those that did, Schoening and Frohlich didn't score. Anderson had a nice game, with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Stiles had eight points.

As was so often the case for Montana over the last few years, the difference was at the 3-point line. Northern Arizona hit eight 3-pointers. The Lady Griz went 2 for 14 and lost despite making more baskets than the Lumberjacks overall and turning the ball over a season-low six times.

Montana notes:

* After losing the Whitworth game on Thursday, two days before it was going to be played, Montana was able to add College of Idaho on Friday and play the Yotes on Sunday, which kept the Lady Griz from having to go 11 days between games.

* Montana won 61-33 but left probably 20 points off the scoreboard. The Lady Griz shot just 34.1 percent inside the arc against a physically overmatched team, 31.3 percent inside the paint.

* Carmen Gfeller went 5 for 9 to lead both teams with 10 points. The other four starters shot 5 for 20.

* More than half of Montana's points -- 32 of 61 -- came from the bench, with Joelnell Momberg scoring nine in 11 minutes, Karsen Murphy seven in 11 minutes.

* Montana went 15 for 18 (.833) from the line, which followed games of 18 for 18 and 18 for 22 at Northern Colorado.

* Going back to the fourth quarter of Montana's win at Seattle, the Lady Griz have hit 54 of their last 61 attempts at the line. That's upped their season percentage to .794, the ninth-best mark in the nation.

* The best single-season mark in program history is 77.6 percent, set by the 2007-08 NCAA tournament team.

* Speaking of jinxes, Sophia Stiles has made her last 20 free throw attempts. The program record is believed to be 39, set by Mandy Morales in 2006-07. (The 39 is accurate. Whether it's the program record will require more digging at another time but let's go with it for now.)

* In its most recent road games, at Northern Colorado, Montana fell behind by 19 and 24 points and still came away with a split and nearly a sweep.

* Through seven games, Montana has had five players -- Gfeller, Stiles, Keller, Anderson, Thurmon -- lead the team in scoring.

* Montana's 18 steals against College of Idaho were the most for the Lady Griz since they had 21 while forcing 40 Montana-Western turnovers in a 91-45 home win in 2010-11. The program record for steals in a game is 22. The 18 on Sunday tied for 15th in program history.

* Montana is 2-3 in road games this season, with wins at Seattle and Northern Colorado, losses at Utah State, Gonzaga and Northern Colorado. The largest margin of defeat in those three losses was just seven points.

* The last time Montana held an opponent to 33 or fewer points: an 80-32 home win over MSU Northern in 2015-16, in coach Robin Selvig's final season.

* Montana and its opponents have both made 45 3-pointers this season. The Lady Griz, who are shooting 32.8 percent from the arc, have done it on 26 fewer attempts than those opponents, who are shooting 27.6 percent.

* In the first three quarters of its seven games this season, Montana has outscored its opponents by an aggregate total of eight points. In the fourth quarter the Lady Griz are +30.

* After shooting 43.2 percent through the season's first four games, Montana has shot 32.6 percent the last three (but has won two of those games).

* After allowing its first two opponents to shoot 48.5 (Utah State) and 38.8 percent (North Dakota), Montana's last five opponents have been limited to 31.1 (Gonzaga), 34.9 (Seattle), 27.4 and 33.3 (Northern Colorado) and 22.2 (College of Idaho).

* Montana leads the Big Sky in field goal percentage defense (.342) and is second in scoring defense (61.7/g) behind Idaho State (59.6/g). The former ranks 25th nationally.

* Sophia Stiles had four steals against College of Idaho, giving her four or more in five of seven games played this season. Her per-game average of 3.3 leads the Big Sky and ranks 15th nationally.

* Abby Anderson was back in the starting lineup against College of Idaho after missing the second game against Northern Colorado with an injury.

* Montana has shot a better percentage than its opponent the last six games. ... In the Lady Griz' four wins, they have limited their opponents to 31.3 percent shooting.

* Montana has scored 21 or more points off the bench in each of the last four games.

Northern Arizona notes:

* The Lumberjacks went 16-15 a year ago and tied for fourth with Montana in the Big Sky at 12-8. After defeating the Lady Griz in the Big Sky tournament quarterfinals, NAU lost 76-71 in the semifinals to top-seed Montana State.

* Rasheed was voted first-team All-Big Sky last season, Jacey Bailey second team, Nina Radford the Newcomer of the Year. Radford, a redshirt junior, has not played this season. Rasheed is averaging 12.7 points on 63.6 percent shooting in three games played. Bailey is averaging 11.5 points.

* Counting Rasheed, who has appeared in only three games, Northern Arizona has six players averaging between 9.9 and 17.6 points per game.

* Junior guard Regan Schenck is averaging 9.9 points and leads the team in both assists (39) and rebounds (7.8/g).

* Northern Arizona's nonconference losses came against Arizona, which is 8-2 and ranked No. 11, and Grand Canyon, which is 8-1 under Molly Miller, the best coach you've never heard of.

Talking points:

* Montana hasn't shot better than 37 percent in a game since returning from a short Christmas break, but the Lady Griz are on fire from the free throw line.

Against Northern Colorado and College of Idaho, Montana has gone 18 for 18, a program record for most makes without a miss, 18 for 22 and 15 for 18.

The Lady Griz rank ninth nationally at 79.4 percent.

"I hope we don't jinx that," said coach Mike Petrino, who points not to shooting dozens and dozens of free throws every day in practice as the key to success but the situation within practice when those shots are taken.

"Shooting free throws to shoot free throws, I don't know if that works as well as shooting quality free throws. We do a lot of situational free throw shooting in practice, when there is some pressure. That's what we try to simulate. I'm all about quality over quantity."

* It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise that Montana allowed Utah State to shoot 48.5 percent and put up 81 points in the season opener.

With eight newcomers plus three players coming off redshirt seasons, creating a cohesive team defensive unit was going to take time.

It's come faster than expected. Montana's six opponents since? None has shot even 39 percent.

Gonzaga, playing on its home floor, shot 31.1 percent. Northern Colorado, playing on its home floor, shot 27.4 and 33.3 percent. On Sunday, College of Idaho shot 22.2 percent.

"Our defense is a daily constant emphasis. We knew we had to get a lot better at it, and I think we're getting better at it," said Petrino. "We're having more consistent moments when we're playing better individual and team defense.

"Part of it was getting more comfortable with each other and playing. I go back to the beginning of the year, when we were having the same breakdowns over and over. We're still having some of those moments but not consecutively. Being consistent is our big thing."

It helps having excellent defenders at the top and bottom of the team's defense. Abby Anderson has 13 blocks and probably three times as many shots altered, changed or passed on completely. Sophia Stiles has 23 steals and is one of the nation's leaders at 3.3 per game.

(Sherri Brooks, set in 1994-95 when the Lady Griz played 33 games, holds the Montana single-season record for steals with 115, what has felt like an untouchable standard, considering the second- and third-ranked seasons are 94 and 79. Stiles won't approach the record, mostly due to a limited number of games this season. But consider: Brooks averaged 3.5 steals per game during her record-break season. Stiles is not far off that. Maybe next year.)

"It helps having an Abby Anderson around the basket. Her presence helps a lot," said Petrino. "And then there is Sophie's on-ball pressure. If you have good on-ball pressure and a rim protector, those are two key areas. Sophie disrupts an offense at the beginning, and Abby is there at the end."

* Perhaps it's a tradeoff with a team this new. Focus more on offense and watch the defense take a step back. Spend more time on the defense and the offense suffers.

The numbers make a strong case. Montana shot 43.2 percent through its first four games but also opened the season allowing 81 points to Utah State, 72 to North Dakota.

That's changed dramatically, both in points allowed and field-goal percentage defense.

After opening the season with 74 and 86 points scored in its first two games, Montana has exceeded 61 just once in the last five games and that was an overtime game.

There are different things at play. Opponents have now been able to scout Montana, now that the Lady Griz have played some games. And then there is Petrino's challenge, of finding just the right balance, to keep the defense salty while getting the offense humming.

"When you have a new team, consistency is going to be a big thing," he said. "We were emphasizing consistency on defense after the first weekend. Now we're trying to be more consistent on offense.

"The goal is to have a consistent game on offense and defense at the same time. I don't know if we've had that yet, though we've showed moments. One has always favored the other in our first seven games."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Idaho State swept Northern Arizona in Pocatello last week to improve to 6-0 in league. The Bengals will be favored to win their next six, which come against Sacramento State, Portland State and Southern Utah. Then comes a trip to Moscow to face preseason favorite Idaho next month.

* Idaho swept Southern Utah in Moscow last week to move to 5-1. The Vandals play their next five on the road, with two at Northern Colorado, two at Weber State, then one at Eastern Washington before getting the Eagles at home prior to hosting Idaho State.

* This week's scheduled games between Eastern Washington and Southern Utah in Cedar City won't be played because of COVID issues within EWU's program. That's tough timing for the Eagles, who have won four straight league games to move to 4-2 in the Big Sky.

The most important change for Eastern Washington? The Eagles' ball security. In opening 1-6, EWU averaged more than 22 turnovers per game. On its four-game winning streak, just 14. The result: The Eagles have scored 71 or more points in four straight after doing that just once in their first seven.

* Portland State picked up its first league wins of the season, sweeping a home-and-home from Sacramento State, which, along with Weber State, is still seeking its first win of the year. The Hornets and Wildcats are a combined 0-14.

* Montana State defeated Northern Colorado in Bozeman last week in the teams' opener, 54-46. The Bears rebounded with a 57-49 win in the second game, on Jan. 9, notable in that it was the Bobcats' first loss to a Big Sky opponent since Jan. 9 of the year before, when Idaho won in Bozeman.

Thursday's games: UM at NAU, UI at UNC, MSU at PSU, ISU at SAC

Saturday's games: Same

Upcoming: After returning from Northern Arizona, Montana will get five of its next six at home, beginning next week with a series against Sacramento State.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Carmen Gfeller

Taylor Goligoski

McKenzie Johnston

Joelnell Momberg

Karsen Murphy

Jamie Pickens

Sophia Stiles

Emma Stockholm

University of Montana Athletics