Lady Griz to face Bobcats twice this week

The Montana women's basketball team, coming off a home sweep of Sacramento State, will play a pair of games this week against Montana State, a team coming off an impressive home sweep of its own.

The Lady Griz (7-4, 4-2 BSC) and Bobcats (7-5, 4-2 BSC), tied for third in the Big Sky Conference, will square off at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, at noon on Saturday inside Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

Coverage: Both games will be carried on SWX and Pluto TV. Radio coverage will be on KMPT (99.7 FM/930 AM), with online streaming at 930kmpt.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz improved to 4-0 at home this season with a pair of wins over Sacramento State last week at Dahlberg Arena.

Montana shot 50.8 percent on Thursday to outscore the Hornets 90-77, the most points scored by the Lady Griz since defeating Sacramento State in Missoula last season 90-45.

Carmen Gfeller had her first career double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, Abby Anderson added a career-high 21 points and five blocks.

On Saturday Montana overcame a 1-for-13 effort from the 3-point line and 34.3 percent shooting overall to pull out a 66-63 victory.

Trailing 56-53 early in the fourth quarter, Montana held the Hornets scoreless for more than five minutes, which allowed the Lady Griz to go on a 10-0 run.

Anderson hit the game-winning shot with 32 seconds left, and Montana survived a last-second 3-point shot by Sacramento State that could have sent the game into overtime.

Gfeller, whose 40 points on the weekend came on 15-of-25 shooting, led four players in double figures with 18 points.

She ranks first in the Big Sky in shooting percentage, 22nd nationally, at 56.6 percent and is working on a streak of five consecutive games shooting better than 55 percent.

Gfeller ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring (16.5/g) behind Southern Utah's Liz Graves (19.0/g) and Northern Arizona's Jacqulynn Nakai (16.7/g).

At a glance (Montana State): The Bobcats bounced back from a 72-70 loss at Portland State with a one-sided sweep of Northern Arizona in Bozeman last week.

The Bobcats, facing a full-strength Lumberjack team picked third in the preseason polls, won 79-56 on Thursday, 90-65 on Saturday. MSU shot 51.2 percent and went 21 for 49 (.429) from 3-point range in the series.

Montana State lost four starters from last year's team that went 25-6 and ended the season on a 17-game winning streak.

The Bobcats, who went 19-1 in league, played their way to the Big Sky tournament championship game in Boise in March before the tournament was shut down.

The team's lone returning starter was last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year, Darian White, the point guard who is doing it all for Montana State.

White leads the team in scoring (14.5/g), rebounding (5.6/g), assists (4.6/g) and steals (2.8/g). She leads the Big Sky in both assists and steals, ranks eighth in scoring.

Senior guard Tori Martell joins White to give the Bobcats one of the Big Sky's top backcourts. She leads the league with 35 3-pointers (2.9/g) on 44.3 percent shooting from the arc.

The matchup:

* Montana State has a NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ranking of 134, the second-highest in the Big Sky behind Idaho State's 105. Northern Arizona checks in at 149, Montana at 169.

* Montana leads the all-time series 79-31 and has gone 28-19 in games played in Bozeman, but it's been tilted in Montana State's favor recently.

* The Bobcats have won four straight over the Lady Griz, seven of the last eight overall.

* Montana has lost its last six games in Bozeman, the last four by 70 points (17.5/g). Its last win at Worthington Arena was a 72-65 victory in the 2013-14 season.

* For perspective, Montana's last win in Bozeman came when fourth-year assistant coach Jordan Sullivan was a senior.

* Montana is 47-9 against Montana State in games played in Missoula. Six of those nine losses have come since the 2009-10 season.

* The Bobcats have won two straight at Dahlberg Arena, including last year's heartbreaker, when the Lady Griz gave up a 14-point, third-quarter lead in a 66-61 overtime loss. Montana went 0 for 15 in the fourth quarter.

* Thursday will be Montana first-year coach Mike Petrino's first as head coach in the rivalry, though he spent the last four years on the bench as one of former coach Shannon Schweyen's assistants.

* Thursday will be Montana State coach Tricia Binford's 34th rivalry game. She is 14-19 against the Lady Griz, 9-2 in the teams' last 11 meetings.

* Madi Schoening is the only Lady Griz on Montana's 15-player roster who has defeated Montana State in a game. She had 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in Montana's 87-63 victory in Missoula during the 2017-18 season.

* On the Montana State side, Tori Martell and Ashley Van Sickle are the only two current Bobcats who played in that game and have suffered a loss to the Lady Griz.

Summary:

First-year coach Mike Petrino may be in his first year as head coach of the Lady Griz, but he knows plenty about the Montana-Montana State rivalry.

He was born and raised in the state, and he faced both teams when he was an assistant on Joe Legerski's staff at Wyoming from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

He joined Montana's staff as an assistant to Shannon Schweyen prior to the 2016-17 season. That gave him a front-row seat to witness the Bobcats getting the upper-hand in the rivalry.

Schweyen's teams went 1-7 against Montana State in her four seasons.

And now Petrino takes his team into this week's games with Montana State playing its best basketball of the season.

"As far as the in-state rivalry goes, they have the momentum. And they have some momentum coming off a really good weekend as well," he said.

"They looked really good. They kind of dominated NAU. It's a good team that is playing really well."

Petrino was hired on an interim basis in April and tasked with solidifying a roster that was in turmoil. His first team has more newcomers (8) than returners (7). Three of those returners redshirted last season.

His counterpart this week, Tricia Binford, can somewhat relate. She went from having a veteran team last season to one in 2020-21 that has 12 underclassmen among the 15 on the roster.

Montana State's Tori Martell and Montana's Madi Schoening will be the only two seniors on the court this week.

Yet both teams have seven wins and are off to 4-2 starts in their Big Sky schedules. Both lost series against Southern Utah.

"They are a team that had a lot of experience to fill, and they are playing well right now," said Petrino.

Darian White (14.5/g) and Tori Martell (12.8/g) lead Montana State in scoring.

Katelynn Limardo, Gabby Mocchi and Lexi Deden have led the Bobcats in scoring in a game, with Deden, a true freshman from Missoula, going for 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting off the bench in Saturday's win over NAU.

True freshman Leia Beattie added 14 off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting in that game. But there, always, was White, putting up 12 points, six assists, nine rebounds and two steals.

"She is a very good player and a significant part of what they do on offense and defense," said Petrino.

"They have a great 3-point threat in Martell, then they have kids stepping up in new roles and playing really well right now."

What we're excited to see:

* Darian White vs. Sophia Stiles: It will be quick-on-quick when White and Stiles go head-to-head this week, disrupters who rank first and second, respectively, in the Big Sky in steals.

It's not only about those two, but it's a fun subplot.

"It's fun going against a player who is leading their team in every statistical category. It brings something extra to the game," said Stiles. "She is a very good player."

Neither player is defined by any weakness, but if there is a shared Achilles heel, it's perimeter shooting.

White shot 31.7 percent from the arc last season and is just 6 for 21 (.286) this year. Stiles is 2 for 19 from distance this year, 22.2 percent for her career, but shooting better than 50 percent inside the arc.

Both can be trouble when they get through the first line of defense.

"For the most part it's just playing solid defense and trying to stay in front of her the whole game," said Stiles. "That would be my biggest point of emphasis, not going for her fakes or her moves. She is very shifty with the ball."

* Carmen Gfeller vs. Montana State: Gfeller played just 12 minutes and scored four points in two games against Montana State as a true freshman in 2018-19 before redshirting last winter.

But Binford and her staff know who Gfeller is going into this week's games.

She leads Montana at 16.5 points per game and has done it without being a high-volume shooter. She is averaging fewer than 12 attempts per game.

She has scored 20 or more points in five of 11 games and recently had three straight outings in the 20s, something not done by a Lady Griz since Kayleigh Valley in 2015-16.

Gfeller put up 21 and 26, against Utah State and North Dakota, to open the season, but something was missing. Through the season's first three games, she had one steal, one blocked shot, two assists.

She is transforming into an all-around player as the season progresses.

Gfeller has totaled 10 assists the last four games, had 11 and eight rebounds in two games against Sacramento State after entering the series with a career high of seven.

She had four blocks in Montana's win at Seattle, four steals in a win at Northern Colorado.

And she's kept on scoring and shooting at a high percentage. So, is it a conscious effort on Gfeller's part or just an extension of minutes and experience?

"I think it's a little bit of both. Rebounding has been a conscious effort. At the same time, with more minutes comes confidence. I think those two things just go hand-in-hand," she said.

* Family ties vs. program ties: Montana State has two true freshmen with deep ties to the Lady Griz program.

The mother of six-foot-one forward Lexi Deden is the former Dawn Silliker, who balled her way to 1,088 career points and 667 rebounds as a Lady Griz from 1984-85 to 1987-88.

Silliker was on teams that went 103-21 and was a senior on the fabled 1987-88 squad that finished 28-2, with a two-point loss at Montana State and a two-point overtime home loss to Stanford in the second round of the NCAA tournament its only setbacks.

Deden's aunt, Doris, totaled 1,248 points and 856 rebounds while playing for the Lady Griz from 1980-81 to 1983-84. She ranks 15th in program history in scoring, fourth in rebounding.

The mother of five-foot-nine guard Leia Beattie is the former Kelly Pilcher, who ranks seventh in Lady Griz history in career assists with 475 while playing from 1990-91 to 1993-94. She twice had 15-assist games as a senior, the most in program history.

Her aunt is the former Carla Beattie, who played for the Lady Griz from 1991-92 to 1995-96. She three times led Montana in 3-point shooting and was voted the Big Sky's co-Outstanding Sixth Player as a senior.

Montana notes:

* Since allowing Utah State to shoot 48.5 percent in the season opener, Montana has held its opponent to sub-40-percent shooting in nine of the last 10 games. Six of those games it's been below 35 percent.

The outlier in that stretch was the second game at Northern Arizona, when the Lumberjacks shot 56.9 percent.

* In three of its four losses, Montana held a lead or was within one possession in the fourth quarter. In the other, the Lady Griz trailed Northern Arizona by four in the fourth quarter.

* Montana went 38 for 49 (.776) from the line against Sacramento State and that actually dropped the team's season percentage to .807. The Lady Griz rank sixth nationally.

* Montana blocked 16 shots against Sacramento State, including a season-high nine in Thursday's win. The Lady Griz lead the Big Sky at 5.2 per game and rank 25th nationally.

* Abby Anderson had eight blocks against the Hornets and now leads the Big Sky at 2.3/game. She ranks 29th nationally.

* Montana ranks second in the Big Sky in free throw percentage, field goal percentage defense (.369), rebounding margin (+4.3/g) and assists (14.0/g).

* Sophia Stiles (.872), Madi Schoening (.862) and Carmen Gfeller (.833) all rank in the top six in the Big Sky in free throw shooting.

* Montana is on a modest seven-game winning streak at home, modest for a program that has home winning streaks of 45, 35, 33 and 29 games in its history.

* Montana has shot a better percentage than its opponent in nine of 11 games this season.

* The Lady Griz shot 55.4 and 50.0 percent in its two games at Northern Arizona, 50.8 percent in the first of two last week against Sacramento State. That marked the first time since the 1990-91 season Montana has shot 50 percent or better in three straight games.

* Sandwiching those three games: 31.7 percent against College of Idaho, 34.3 percent on Saturday against Sacramento State.

* Montana is surprisingly 3-0 this season when shooting worse than 35 percent. Those two games above, plus 29.2 percent in a 60-56 win at Northern Colorado.

* The Lady Griz averaged 1.15 points per possession in Thursday's win over Sacramento State, the second-highest of the season behind the 1.23 against North Dakota.

* Montana has twice this season had two players score 20 or more points in a game: Gfeller (26) and Stiles (22) against North Dakota, Gfeller (22) and Anderson (21) on Thursday against the Hornets.

* Madi Schoening is 10 for 16 (.625) the last three games. Prior to that she was shooting 23.5 percent through eight games.

* Saturday's game against Sacramento State was just the third this season that Hannah Thurmon did not connect on a 3-pointer.

* Carmen Gfeller has scored 10 or more points in 10 of 11 games this season. The outlier: six in Montana's road win at Seattle.

* Freshman Kyndall Keller has opened her Lady Griz career by making 17 of her first 18 free throw attempts.

* Montana is shooting better in road games (.419) this season than home games (.410).

* The Lady Griz have outrebounded their last five opponents by 58.

* In four games against Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, Montana scored 36, 46, 44 and 44 points in the paint.

This week in the Big Sky Conference:

Thursday's games: UM at MSU, NAU at UNC, UI at WSU, EWU at SAC (ISU at SUU, canceled)

Saturday's games: MSU at UM, UNC at NAU, UI at WSU, EWU at SAC (ISU at SUU, canceled)

* Southern Utah has now had series against Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Idaho State canceled.

* Idaho State sits atop the Big Sky standings at 10-0. The Bengals are 12-1 overall and on an 11-game winning streak.

* ISU's next Big Sky series is a big one: at Idaho on Feb. 11 and 13. The Bengals follow that with a split series against Montana State, then two at Montana.

Upcoming: Montana will host Portland State (4-6, 3-5 BSC) next week, with games on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (noon).

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Carmen Gfeller

Kyndall Keller

Madi Schoening

Sophia Stiles

Hannah Thurmon

Kayleigh Valley

University of Montana Athletics