Lady Griz to host Redhawks Thursday night

The Montana women's basketball team will host Seattle on Thursday night as its pre-Christmas schedule nears its conclusion.

The Lady Griz (7-2) and Redhawks (4-4) will tip off at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

Montana will host Utah State (5-4) on Monday at 6 p.m. in the team's final game before taking a break for Christmas.

The Lady Griz' Big Sky Conference schedule will resume with games at Idaho State on Dec. 30 and Weber State on Jan. 1.

Coverage: Thursday's game will stream on ESPN+ with Paul Yarbrough calling the action. The game will be available on KMPT 99.7 FM/930 AM in Missoula or 930kmpt.com.

At a glance (Montana): After opening 7-1 and building a six-game winning streak, the Lady Griz lost at home to Utah Valley on Thursday night, 63-50.

Montana's point total and shooting percentage (.302) were both season lows for a team averaging 69.0 points on 45.4 percent shooting entering the game.

The Lady Griz led 28-27 at the half but went just 9 for 32 (.281) in the second half as the Wolverines, who lost 67-58 at Montana State on Saturday, rallied for the victory.

It was Montana's first loss this season (5-1) when leading at the half, the second loss at home (3-2) for a team that is 4-0 away from Missoula.

Abby Anderson had her sixth career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four blocks to move past Katie Baker and into sixth on the Lady Griz career list with 159 career rejections.

Next up is Jodi Hinrichs, fifth on the list, who had 167 blocks while playing from 1990-95.

Carmen Gfeller had 15 points and eight rebounds, Sophia Stiles played all 40 minutes and finished with six points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. It was Stiles' seventh career game with 10 or more rebounds.

Over the last five games, Stiles has 34 assists and just nine turnovers. Her season assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5 (47 assists, 19 turnovers) leads the Big Sky and ranks 45th nationally.

Stiles ranks second in the Big Sky in assists (5.2), 35th nationally.

Montana got just six points from its bench, five of those coming from freshman Haley Huard, who is shooting 52.8 percent through nine games. She is 10 for 22 (.455) from 3-point range.

Utah Valley shot 43.3 percent against Montana, the highest percentage allowed by the Lady Griz this season, topping the 41.0 percent Gonzaga shot.

Montana still leads the Big Sky in field goal percentage defense (.329) and ranks 13th nationally.

The Lady Griz out-rebounded the Wolverines 45-37, one of just three teams to do so this season. Utah Valley would go on to out-board Montana State 38-26 in its loss in Bozeman on Saturday.

At a glance (Seattle): The Redhawks went 11-14 last season and finished fifth out of nine teams in the Western Athletic Conference.

Seattle was picked ninth in the preseason coaches' poll out of 13 teams after the league in the offseason added Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian, Sam Houston State and Lamar.

Senior guards Bree Calhoun and McKenzie Williams both earned second-team preseason All-WAC honors. Calhoun was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year last season, Williams second-team All-WAC.

Seattle has three Division I wins this season, all coming on the road, all coming in tightly contested games.

The Redhawks won 71-67 at Sacramento State and 63-61 at Boise State, and defeated SMU 70-66 in Las Vegas.

In its most recent game, Seattle lost 77-59 at home to Washington on Friday. The Huskies raced out to a 17-4 lead and never looked back.

Calhoun leads Seattle in scoring (11.4/g) and is averaging more than five assists and nearly three steals per game. Williams is averaging 10.3 points and is 14 for 30 (.467) from 3-point range.

Seattle, which is averaging more than 10 steals per game and is forcing its opponents into 17.5 turnovers, has 16 players on its roster and all 16 have played this season.

Seattle coach Suzy Barcomb is in her sixth year. Her lead assistant is Cheryl Sorenson, who was the head coach at Portland for five seasons.

Series history:

* Montana and Seattle have played to a 5-5 record since meeting for the first time in the 1978-79 season.

* The Redhawks are one of just six Division I teams that the Lady Griz have played at least 10 times and don't have a winning record against. The others: Colorado State, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Wyoming.

* The teams have met three times previously in Missoula. Seattle has won two of those three games.

* Montana won 75-61 in a Northwest Women's Basketball League game in 1979-80. Seattle won 58-44 in the season opener in 2015-16, 78-64 in 2017-18.

* The latter is notable in that is was played in front of a crowd of 7,018 in the first Lady Griz School Day game. Montana led by two early in the fourth quarter, but Seattle outscored Montana 27-12 the rest of the way.

* Subsequent Lady Griz School Day games have been played against non-Division I opponents.

* The teams' most recent game came last December in Seattle. Montana got out to a 22-7 lead in the first quarter and hung on for a 61-55 win behind 17 points from Kyndall Keller off the bench. Playing in just her fourth career game, Keller went 4 for 5 from 3-point range.

Summary:

In the evolution of coach Brian Holsinger's first Lady Griz team, this is a new one.

Montana has lost to Gonzaga, a team probably favored to win. The Lady Griz have won on the road as both a favorite and as an underdog. And Montana opened league with two home victories, games it was probably expected to win.

On Thursday Montana faced Utah Valley. On paper it's probably a 50-50 matchup, the team picked fifth in the Big Sky against the team picked fourth in the WAC. But the Lady Griz were at home, giving them the edge.

But it was the Wolverines, down one at the break, getting it done in the second half, outscoring the Lady Griz 36-22 over the final 20 minutes to win 63-50.

"Nothing teaches you lessons like getting beat," said Holsinger. "There is just no way around it.

"We'll see how we respond. How does this impact us mentally? How do we recover from playing maybe our worst offensive game of the season? This week will be a good test for us."

One line of thinking would be that it would have been beneficial for Montana to have a game sooner, to clear the bad mojo from the locker room and the fieldhouse. Holsinger likes the way it worked out, with a week between games.

"I want the sour taste to remain until we can fix it," he said. "You don't fix it by going and playing another game. You fix it by going to practice and working on doing things the right way.

"That's what we're doing this week, getting back to focusing on how we play. It's a great time for us to improve. We'll learn from the loss and be much improved on Thursday."

Montana got off to another slow start against the Wolverines, falling behind by five early and trailing 16-13 at the end of the first quarter.

With Utah Valley's two leading scorers sitting out for most of the second quarter with foul trouble, Montana could only build a 28-27 lead by halftime.

Utah Valley led 42-40 going into the fourth, then opened the final period on an 11-2 run to take control. The Wolverines hit three 3-pointers in less than 90 seconds to provide the knockout blow.

The looks came from Montana's response to Josie Williams inside. UVU's 6-foot-5 center would finish the game with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

"The big kid had made three straight shots, so I made the choice to go into zone and double her. They were prepared for it and we didn't execute it as well as I would have liked," said Holsinger.

"It's something we had just put in, so I can understand that we didn't execute it perfectly. And they made the plays. Credit to them for that.

"But we shouldn't have been in that position based on how we played before that, so it was a bigger issue over the whole game than just that stretch of time."

Montana's 50 points were a season low, as was its 30.2 percent shooting.

"They make you beat them, and when you don't execute offensively, you beat yourself," said Holsinger. "That's kind of what happened to us. We didn't execute nearly to the level we need to on offense.

"The positives are we've learned from it. It's a great opportunity to learn and get better."

Next up are Seattle and Utah State, two teams that are .500 or better and seeking their own springboard into the Christmas break.

Seattle will continue on to Bozeman and face Montana State on Saturday, then host Western Oregon on Monday back in Seattle.

The Aggies, who won't have played since Dec. 11 by the time next Monday's game rolls around, will close out their pre-Christmas schedule with their trip to Missoula.

"It's perfect. Both teams are pretty good, so we're going to have to execute," Holsinger said. "We're going to have to be more like us, on offense and defense, to win these games."

Montana notes:

* Thursday's loss was the first for Montana this season when leading at the half. The Lady Griz, who led 28-27 at the break, are now 5-1 in those games.

* Thursday was the first time this season Montana has not shot a better percentage than its opponent, and it was a significant difference. The Lady Griz shot 30.2 percent, the Wolverines 43.3 percent.

* Thursday was Montana's first loss this season when outrebounding its opponent. The Lady Griz, now 7-1 in those games, grabbed a season-high 17 offensive rebounds and turned those extra possessions into 18 second-chance points.

* Montana continues to lead the Big Sky in scoring defense (54.9/g).

* Carmen Gfeller went 6 for 14 to score her 15 points on Thursday. That's fine for most players but it was out of character for Gfeller. That dropped her to 59.5 percent shooting for the season, which ranks 19th nationally.

* Abby Anderson has had games of 4, 1, 4 and 4 blocks the last four outings. She now leads the Big Sky at 1.7 per game.

* Sophia Stiles has led Montana in rebounding four times this season, more than any other player.

* Montana has attempted more free throws than its opponent in seven of nine games this season.

* With 159 blocks and most of the season still to be played, Abby Anderson will catch Jodi Hinrichs (167) and Angella Bieber (175) and move up to fourth on the Lady Griz career list. Then it's a big jump up to No. 3. Lisa McLeod had 237. Ahead of her are Carly Selvig (258) and Hollie Tyler (297).

* Carmen Gfeller has scored in double figures in six straight games and in eight of nine games this season. The outlier: eight points against North Dakota when she took just six shots.

* Montana went 14 for 22 (.636) from 3-point range against Nicholls State in Phoenix. The other eight games: 27 for 116 (.233).

* Utah Valley's 36 second-half points on Thursday equaled the most Montana has allowed this season, tying Gonzaga's first-half output the second game of the season.

* Utah Valley's 21 fourth-quarter points were the most allowed in a period this season by Montana.

* Utah Valley outscored Montana 38-24 in the paint on Thursday. It was the first time this season the Lady Griz have been outscored in the lane.

* Montana has allowed a mere 19 second-chance points the last four games.

* Montana's 13-point deficit at the final horn on Thursday was the team's largest deficit of the season. Gonzaga and North Dakota State both built 12-point leads on the Lady Griz.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana State, which won at home last week over MSU Billings and Utah Valley, has the Big Sky's longest active winning streak of five games. The Bobcats host Seattle on Saturday, then get a shot at No. 20/22 BYU next Tuesday in Bozeman.

* Idaho has the longest active losing streak at seven games. Since defeating Lewis-Clark State back on Nov. 9 to open the season, the Vandals haven't won since, losing by an average of more than 17 points per game. Idaho gets Oregon State and Northern Iowa this week in Hawaii.

* Northern Arizona knocked off instate rival Grand Canyon -- and WAC preseason No. 3 -- 108-77 in Flagstaff on Thursday. On Saturday, NAU lost at home to WAC preseason favorite Cal Baptist 89-73.

* On Friday, Northern Arizona gets a shot in Flagstaff against No. 4/8 Arizona, which is 9-0.

* There are six league games next Tuesday, the last scheduled games before Christmas. Eastern Washington hosts Gonzaga, Montana State hosts BYU and Idaho State hosts Utah Valley.

Upcoming: Montana will close out its pre-Christmas schedule with a home game against Utah State on Monday at 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Carmen Gfeller

Haley Huard

Kyndall Keller

Sophia Stiles

University of Montana Athletics