Lady Griz host Aggies to close nonconference

The Montana women's basketball team will wrap up its pre-Christmas and nonconference schedule when it hosts Utah State on Monday.

The Lady Griz (8-2) and Aggies (5-4) will tip off at 6 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

Montana will resume its Big Sky Conference schedule when the Lady Griz return to league play with games at Idaho State and Weber State on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1.

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

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz improved to 8-2 with an 83-57 home-court victory over Seattle on Thursday. Montana is off to its best 10-game start since 2008-09.

Montana, which trailed 19-18 midway through the second quarter, built a 29-22 at the half, then exploded for 54 points in the second half on 56.3 percent shooting.

Montana scored more points in the second half on Monday than it did in its previous game, a 63-50 home loss to Utah Valley.

The Lady Griz put up 31 third-quarter points when they hit 11 of 14 shots and went a perfect 7 for 7 from the 3-point line.

Carmen Gfeller led both teams with 21 points. Katerina Tsineke, in her first game coming off the bench this season, went 7 for 11 and scored a season-high 18 points.

Haley Huard went 4 for 6 from 3-point range to score 12 points in her first collegiate start.

Abby Anderson had nine points, nine rebounds, four assists, a career-high four steals and three blocks as Montana limited Seattle to 29.4 percent shooting.

It was the fifth time this season Montana has held its opponent to 30 percent shooting or less.

Sophia Stiles totaled nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists, the third time in the last five games she has had at least six points, six rebounds and six assists.

At a glance (Utah State): The Aggies went 4-20 last season and finished last in the Mountain West Conference with a 2-16 league record.

Utah State opened the 2020-21 season 4-4, including an 81-74 home win over Montana, but after a 61-55 home win over Air Force on Jan. 2, the Aggies ended the season with 16 straight losses.

Shortly after the season's conclusion, now second-year coach Kayla Ard dove deep into the pool of the transfer portal and added six new players between March 16 and 29.

The new players arrived from East Tennessee State, Murray State, Northern Colorado, Pacific and Texas-San Antonio.

Utah State's four leading scorers this season and six of its top eight are first-year transfers, with Kaylin Randhawa (15.8 ppg) and Adryana Quezada (10.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg) leading the way.

Utah State is 1-3 on the road this season, its three losses all coming by 26 points or more.

The Aggies saw their three-game winning streak come to an end last Saturday with an 81-55 loss at Ball State in their most recent game.

Utah State's game at Montana on Monday will be the Aggies' only contest between Dec. 11 and Dec. 31, when they open Mountain West play hosting Air Force.

Series history:

* Montana leads the series with Utah State 8-4 dating back to the teams' first meeting in December 1978. That 70-49 Utah State win is noteworthy because it was the first game coached by Robin Selvig. Despite that early setback, his teams would still manage to win 865 games.

* The Lady Griz are 5-1 against the Aggies in Missoula, though Utah State won on its most recent trip to town, 65-47 in 2016-17 in the championship game of the Lady Griz Classic.

* Utah State made it two straight wins over Montana when the teams opened last season in Logan. Carmen Gfeller had 21 points, Willa Albrecht 14 off the bench, but the Aggies shot 53.1 percent in the second half to rally for an 81-74 win.

Montana storylines:

* Catch them while you can: After hosting Utah State on Monday, the Lady Griz will have just one home game before Jan. 20, a home contest against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 6. Four of Montana's first five league games after Christmas will be on the road.

* It's not yet Christmas, so the sample size is still a bit small, but Montana is defending at a historic rate. The Lady Griz rank ninth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at .326.

Montana, under former coach Robin Selvig, became synonymous with suffocating defense. Still, only six teams in program history have finished the season holding their opponents to 35 percent shooting or lower.

The program record is 31.7 percent, set by the 1992-93 Montana team that went 23-5. Oddly enough, that was the one Lady Griz team in the 11 seasons between 1987-88 and 1997-98 that did not win the Big Sky tournament and advance to the NCAAs.

* Not only is Montana defending well, it is giving up a limited number of offensive rebounds. The Lady Griz' last three opponents have combined to grab just 21 offensive boards. None of Montana's last six opponents has scored more than six second-chance points.

Montana has outrebounded its last eight opponents and has been outrebounded only once this season, in its home loss to Gonzaga. The Lady Griz outrebounded the Redhawks by 17 on Thursday and are now +7.5 for the season, which ranks 47th nationally.

* Montana's third quarter against Seattle was a record-matcher and a record-setter. The Lady Griz' 31 points equaled the most points in a period since NCAA women's basketball started using quarters instead of halves in 2015-16.

Montana scored 31 second-quarter points in its 86-51 home win over Cal State Fullerton in 2015-16. The Lady Griz went 11 for 17 in the quarter, 3 for 3 from 3-point range.

Montana's seven 3-pointers in the third quarter against Seattle, on seven attempts, were the most in a period since the move to quarters in 2015-16. The previous record was five, set by the 2015-16 team in home wins over Cal State Fullerton and Utah State.

Montana notes:

* Montana's 54 second-half points on Thursday were the most in a game since putting up 54 in the second half in a 90-78 home win over Washington State in 2013-14 in the first round of the WNIT. Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger was on the Montana bench on Thursday, on the Cougar bench as an assistant coach under June Daugherty on the previous occasion.

* Montana put up 83 points on Thursday with no player taking more than 11 shots. Seven players took between five and 11 shots.

* Montana's 31 3-point attempts on Thursday were the third-most in program history behind the 33 the Lady Griz took against Massachusetts in 2016-17 in Iowa City and 32 at Cal State Northridge in 1999-2000. It was the most 3-point attempts ever by Montana at Dahlberg Arena.

* Montana went 18 for 26 from the free throw line against Seattle on Thursday. Both were season highs. … Montana's 10 steals against the Redhawks also were a season high.

* If Montana wins on Monday and improves to 9-2, it would be the best start for the Lady Griz since 2006-07.

* Montana has shot a better percentage than its opponent in nine of 10 games this season. Only Utah Valley shot better than the Lady Griz.

* Montana is 6-0 this season when its bench outscores the opponent's reserves, 2-2 when it doesn't.

* Sophia Stiles has 37 assists and 11 turnovers the last five games. She ranks first in the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5), second in assists (5.4/g). Nationally she ranks 32nd in assists, 48th in assist-to-turnover ratio.

* Carmen Gfeller went 6 for 10 against to Seattle to bump her season field goal percentage to .596. She ranks 18th nationally. … Gfeller has scored in double figures in nine of 10 games this season.

* Katerina Tsineke was 2 for 17 from 3-point range going into the Seattle game. She hit three of her first five triples against the Redhawks.

* Haley Huard's four 3-pointers on Thursday were the most in a game for Montana since Madi Schoening hit five at Idaho in last year's regular-season finale.

* Lisa Kiefer scored her first point as a Lady Griz when she connected on a free throw in the fourth quarter against Seattle.

* Abby Anderson has 16 of her 18 blocks this season in the last five games. She leads the Big Sky at 1.8 per game.

Upcoming: Montana will break for Christmas and return to Missoula for practice on Sunday evening, Dec. 26.

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Players Mentioned

Willa Albrecht

Abby Anderson

Carmen Gfeller

Haley Huard

Lisa Kiefer

Madi Schoening

Sophia Stiles

Katerina Tsineke

University of Montana Athletics