Lady Griz return to league with two road games

The Montana women's basketball team, which opened Big Sky Conference play earlier this month with home wins over Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, will return to league play this week when it visits Idaho State and Weber State.

The Lady Griz (9-2, 2-0 BSC) will play the Bengals (5-6, 1-1 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Reed Gym in Pocatello, the Wildcats (5-6, 1-1 BSC) at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Ogden at the Dee Events Center.

This week's games mark the start of a league-only, 18-game stretch that will close the regular season and take Montana into the Big Sky tournament in Boise in March.

Coverage: This week's games will stream on ESPN+ and be available locally on KMPT 99.7 FM/930 AM, with Paul Yarbrough calling the action. The games can be heard anywhere on 930kmpt.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz ended their nonconference and pre-Christmas schedule with a bang with a 103-80 home victory over Utah State on Monday, Dec. 20.

It was just the fifth time in program history Montana has surpassed 100 points and just two points off the program record of 105, set by the 2005-06 and 1989-90 teams in wins over Idaho State (home) and Weber State (road), respectively.

The Lady Griz hit 14 3-pointers and went 38 for 65 (.585) overall, with Abby Anderson totaling 21 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, Sammy Fatkin going for 20 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Sophia Stiles putting up 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and nine assists.

The win gave Montana a 9-2 record, the best 11-game start for the program since the 2006-07 team opened 10-1 on its way to a 27-2 regular season.

At a glance (Idaho State): The Bengals were picked to repeat as Big Sky champions this season and for good reason. They went 22-4 last winter, won the regular-season title with a 15-2 league mark, then rolled through the conference tournament, winning three games by an average of more than 20 points per game.

ISU lost 71-63 to Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

Four of the five starters in Idaho State's 84-49 victory over Idaho in the Big Sky championship game last March returned this season, making the Bengals an understandably popular pick atop the preseason polls.

Idaho State had a rocky start to the season, opening 1-5, with a home victory over Park University. The Bengals' five losses all came away from home, all by 17 points or more.

Being without point guard Diaba Konate, second-team All-Big Sky last season, didn't help, nor did going 20 for 111 (.180) from 3-point range in those losses or shooting 33.9 percent overall, a low percentage for what is typically one of the Big Sky's top shooting teams.

Idaho State righted things with an 83-40 win at Portland State to open league but couldn't make it a 2-0 start when the Bengals were unable to hold a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter at Northern Arizona two days later. ISU lost 81-74 in overtime after shooting 7 for 26 in the second half.

Idaho State won 69-66 in overtime at home over Carroll on Dec. 8, a game the Bengals probably should have lost as much as they should have won at NAU, then made it two straight with a 67-57 win at St. Thomas of St. Paul, Minn., a team transitioning to Division I and playing in the Summit League.

In its last game before Christmas, ISU won 53-36 at home over Utah Valley, a team playing without its top two scorers. That made Idaho State 3-0 at home this season and extended the Bengals' home-court winning streak to 17.

Idaho State is led in scoring (10.3/g) by Estefania Ors, who is in her sixth year in the program and will be playing in her 137th career game on Thursday. To put her timeline in perspective, she arrived in Pocatello the summer Robin Selvig retired from coaching the Lady Griz.

She will be going up against her third Montana coach in her career on Thursday, having outlasted both Shannon Schweyen and Mike Petrino.

Callie Bourne is the team's best all-around player, averaging 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds while dishing out a team-high 32 assists.

Dora Goles, first-team All-Big Sky last season, is averaging 8.3 points, mainly because she's just 12 for 54 (.222) from the arc through 11 games.

Konate, after missing the season's first nine games, has finally made her return. She played four minutes off the bench at St. Thomas, 18 against Utah Valley.

Series history:

* Montana leads the all-time series 72-16 but that's a deceptive number. Idaho State has won eight of the teams' last 10 matchups.

* Fourteenth-year ISU coach Seton Sobolewski has 10 of those 16 all-time wins. After losing his first eight games to Montana, Sobolewski has worked his record against the Lady Griz to 10-18.

* The Lady Griz are 29-10 against the Bengals in Pocatello, though ISU has won the last four at Reed Gym, each by 12 points or more. Montana's last win in Pocatello came during the 2014-15 season.

* Idaho State has won four straight over Montana overall, its longest winning streak in the series. That includes a one-sided, two-game sweep in Missoula last winter with wins by scores of 79-49 and 72-56.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats are 5-6, which means something. The last three seasons Weber State went 2-20 (2020-21), 4-26 (2019-20) and 6-25 (2018-19).

Even some of the losses have been noteworthy in their competitiveness. WSU lost by eight at UC Davis, on the same court on which the Aggies defeated Gonzaga before Christmas, and fell by 13 at Colorado State, which is now 10-1.

Like Idaho State, Weber State could very well be 2-0 in league. The Wildcats led by as much as 13 at Northern Arizona earlier this month and by five in the fourth quarter before losing 83-79.

They bounced back with an impressive 85-57 win at Portland State, outrebounding the home team 43-21.

That will be something to watch on Saturday when Montana, which is +8.3 on the boards this season, goes up against a team that is +8.2.

The Wildcats still turn it over with abandon – the team has 218 on the season in 11 games – but have tightened up their defense one year after allowing 76.7 points per game on 41.9 percent shooting.

A pair of junior forwards lead the team in both scoring and rebounding: Jadyn Matthews (13.3/8.9) and Daryn Hickok (12.9/7.7). Both shoot better than 45 percent.

What's made a big difference this season is the team's balanced scoring. The Wildcats are the only team in the Big Sky – and probably one of the few teams in the nation – that have four players averaging at least 11 points per game.

Senior guard Kori Pentzer has upped her scoring average to 11.2 per game, while junior forward Emma Torbert, who began her career at Nevada, is averaging 11.1 points.

Series history:

* Montana leads the series with Weber State 73-14 and has won the teams' last six matchups.

* The Lady Griz are 32-9 against the Wildcats in Ogden and have won four straight on WSU's home floor.

* Montana swept a two-game series in Ogden last season, winning 61-46 and 58-57, the latter coming when Pentzer missed a short baseline jumper in the closing seconds in a game the Lady Griz led by 16 early in the third quarter.

An open letter to the voice of Idaho State women's basketball, Mark Liptak:

Mark,

It's been a while since you've seen the Lady Griz in person. It was the 2019-20 season or two Montana coaches ago, I believe. A lot has happened since that mid-February day in Pocatello, when you sat courtside and the Bengals won 72-59 behind Dora Goles's 36 points.

Let me fill you in on everything Lady Griz so that your broadcast on Thursday night is as good as it can be. After all, you're going to be on ESPN+. We need to do this right.

* Montana made a coaching change after that 2019-20 season and had an interim coach in 2020-21. After the season a national search was conducted and the Lady Griz asked then Oregon State associate head coach Brian Holsinger to move his family to Missoula and return Montana to the Montana you knew through most of your years in Pocatello. You know, the kind of team that competes for championships and is playing its best basketball in March. That hasn't been the case for a while now. But this feels different. I think you'll agree after watching the Lady Griz on Thursday.

* There was a lot of personnel turnover between April and mid-summer. Just seven players who saw minutes for the Lady Griz last season are on the roster now. The program added four freshmen, two of them from overseas, which as you know is unusual for a Montana team. Plus a transfer and the welcoming back of a former Lady Griz who you'll learn about a few notes down the page.

* When you look at Montana's bench, you'll recognize assistant coach Jordan Sullivan, both from her previous years on the bench and her time as a player for the Lady Griz. She was a no-brainer for Holsinger to keep on his staff.

* Nate Harris might look familiar. He was on Tricia Binford's staff at Montana State for four seasons, from 2014-15 to 2017-18. He was on the MSU bench that early afternoon in March 2016 in Reno when Juliet Jones broke the No. 1-seed Bobcats' hearts when she hit that deep 3-pointer at the buzzer that sent Idaho State running off the court in delight and on to the semifinals. Her only points of the game! Still can't believe that game, how ISU came back from nine points down in the final 1:32. Don't ask him about it.

* The other assistant is Joslyn Tinkle. She's new to the Big Sky but not a new name or face. Her mom, the former Lisa McLeod, was the league's first MVP in 1988-89 for Montana, the year the Big Sky first sponsored women's basketball. Her dad is Wayne Tinkle, who played and later coached at Montana and is now the head coach at Oregon State. She played at Stanford under a pretty good coach who you may have heard of and is in her first year coaching collegiately.

* Holsinger said from Day 1 that his teams would be known for their defense and the importance they place on rebounding. Those priorities are readily apparent even through just 11 games. Montana leads the Big Sky in both scoring defense (57.4/g) and field goal percentage defense (.331). Those are Robin Selvig teams-type numbers! The Lady Griz rank 12th nationally in field goal percentage defense.

* As for rebounding, Montana is attacking the boards more and more efficiently and effectively every game. The team's margin is +8.3 and the Lady Griz have outrebounded every opponent this season except Gonzaga back in the second game of the year. In its two most recent games, Montana finished +17 against Seattle, +16 against Utah State. Over one six-game stretch, the Lady Griz allowed a total of 30 second-chance points, an average of just five per game. That's doing the dirty work. Montana didn't allow Northern Colorado a single second-chance point in their game earlier this month. Have you ever seen that before? Not one!

* In other words, Montana has built its 9-2 record by being stingy defensively, then not allowing, more often than not, its opponents more than a single shot before the possession ends with a defensive rebound. It's not unlike the formula Seton has used to build Idaho State into a salty team year after year. It's not glamorous but it's winning basketball.

* That 9-2 record? It's the best for Montana since the 2006-07 Lady Griz team opened 10-1 on its way to a 27-2 regular season. You were in Missoula that week, at the 2007 Big Sky tournament, when that seemingly unbeatable team lost to Northern Arizona 64-59 in the semifinals, which opened the door for Idaho State, under Jon Newlee and powered by Natalie Doma and Andrea Lightfoot, to defeat Weber State in the semifinals and NAU in the title game.

* Montana has lost just twice this season, 67-60 to Gonzaga in the second game of the season, the same opponent Idaho State lost to 69-39 four days later, though your game was in Spokane and you weren't at full strength. Montana then went on a six-game winning streak before losing at home to Utah Valley, 63-50. The Lady Griz rank second in the Big Sky in shooting at 45.0 percent and have shot 40 percent or better in nine of 11 games, but they went 19 of 63 (.302) that game.

* That led to a change in the starting lineup, with freshman Haley Huard joining the starting five, and Montana has been explosive ever since. The Lady Griz put up 54 second-half points in their 83-57 win over Seattle the next game out, then topped that with 55 second-half points against Utah State on their way to 103. Only two Montana teams have ever scored more. You were courtside for one, when Montana defeated Idaho State in Missoula in 2005-06, when Mandy Morales, Katie Edwards and Dana Conway combined to go 14 for 19 from 3-point range and the Lady Griz led 54-25 at the half. And that was against an ISU team that would win the league at 11-3 and host the tournament.

* As someone who has seen Montana teams up close for a long time, you know the Lady Griz have never used the 3-point shot as a weapon, and that they've done just fine over the years without it being a priority. It was used for the first time in Division I women's basketball as an experimental rule in 1986-87, then applied for good starting in 1987-88. The Lady Griz made 15 3-pointers that entire season. Even by Year 8 of the 3-point line, in 1994-95, Montana didn't even make 100 as a team for the entire season, or fewer than individual sharpshooters are making in a season these days.

* So it was really something to see Montana go 14 for 22 from the arc in a win over Nicholls State down in Phoenix last month, just two makes off the program record. Then they hit 11 against Seattle, then went 14 for 22 again last Monday against Utah State. To put that in perspective: Prior to this season, Montana had only hit 11 or more 3-pointers in a game 21 times in the history of the 3-point line. Just 21 times! Now they've done it three times in the last six games. It's a new era indeed.

* Let's get to the personnel you'll need to be familiar with going into Thursday's game. Start with the point guard, Sophia Stiles, who is playing like a first-team All-Big Sky performer in now her fifth year. She is doing it all, averaging 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists, and doing it efficiently. She is shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and has become a dependable 3-point shooter. She went 4 for 4 from the arc against Utah State. She ranks 21st nationally in assists, 24th in assist-to-turnover ratio, so she's distributing it and also taking care of it. And she is one of the league's top perimeter defenders. She is the straw that stirs the drink.

* You'll certainly remember Carmen Gfeller and Abby Anderson, who were both third-team All-Big Sky last season. Gfeller, effective from the post to the arc, is averaging a team-high 14.7 points, and the Big Sky leader in field goal percentage last season is doing it again. She is at 58.3 percent through 11 games, which ranks 21st in the nation. She just doesn't force anything and has been in double figures in 10 of 11 games this season while only once taking more than 12 shots in a game and that was 14.

* Anderson has been a paint-based defensive terror the last few weeks, piling up 21 blocks the last six games. She leads the Big Sky in blocks, ranks 35th nationally, and is coming off her best offensive game of the season, when she matched her career high with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting against Utah State. I swear she's had more good shots roll just off the rim this season than anything I've seen before. Maybe her luck is changing.

* You've called two games that included Montana's No. 2 scorer behind Gfeller. Sammy Fatkin, in her first season as a Lady Griz in 2018-19, scored 10 points in Pocatello, eight in Missoula as Montana and Idaho State split their games that season. So maybe you remember her. She played the first part of the 2019-20 season before stepping away from the game. She accepted another chance to finish out her career the right way when Holsinger was hired, and she's been with the team since the summer. She's been a difference-maker. She put up 20 on Utah State, hitting all three of her 3-pointers and going 8 for 12 overall. When she's feeling it offensively, she's as fun a Lady Griz player as there is to watch.

* Though she's started only the last two games, Haley Huard has been really good all season. She gives Montana something it hasn't had since probably McCalle Feller graduated: a really good 3-point threat. She has hit a 3-pointer in six straight games and has gone 7 for 10 from the arc in two games as a starter. She is 17 for 32 (.531) for the season from distance, 54.2 percent overall.

* Off the bench you'll see Katerina Tsineke (you'll need to work on this one beforehand so it sounds natural coming off your tongue by game-time: chee-NECK-ay), the junior guard who transferred in from East Carolina. Nyah Morris-Nelson is a 3-point sniper. She is 10 for 19 from the arc the last five games she's played.

* And then there is freshman Dani Bartsch, who, if I know you, and I think I do, is someone you're really going to like. Everything she does is positive when she gets her 15 or so minutes every game. She rebounds it, she distributes it and she scores it when the opportunity is there, typically off an offensive rebound that will have you saying, with some exasperation on Thursday night, "And there is Bartsch AGAIN with an offensive rebound." She has the type of game you'll appreciate.

* If Montana has any other trend, it's that the Lady Griz have been really good coming out of halftime, which is usually attributable to coaching adjustments and a team's ability to apply those changes. Plus conditioning. Montana has outscored its opponents in the third quarter 215-154 and by 87 in the second half overall this season.

* Other notes you might find interesting: Anderson, Fatkin, Gfeller, Huard and Stiles have all led Montana in scoring this season. … Montana has shot better than its opponent in 10 of 11 games this season. … The Lady Griz are 6-0 this season when their bench outscores the other team's bench, just 3-2 when that's flipped. … Abby Anderson is tied for fifth in Lady Griz history with 167 career blocks. She is eight shy of moving into the top four. … Sophia Stiles shot 22.8 percent from 3-point range the last two seasons. She is at 38.5 percent this season after going 4 for 4 against Utah State. … Montana is shooting 44.9 percent at home this season, 45.3 percent on the road. … Montana's 26 assists against Utah State were four off the program record. The Lady Griz recorded 43 assists in their final two games before the Christmas break. … Montana's last three scoring halves: 54, 48 and 55 points. Those three halves broken down by quarter: 31, 23, 23, 25, 26, 29. … Only one opponent, Utah Valley, has scored more points in the paint than Montana this season. … The Lady Griz have held leads of 22 points or more in six of their nine wins.

So there you have it, Mark. Thursday night is going to be really fun, the team that is off to a 9-2 start against the team picked by almost everyone to win the Big Sky. The team that has yet to lose away from Missoula this season against the team that hasn't lost at Reed Gym since the final game of the 2019-20 season. Buckle up! (You're free to use that in your intro.)

Hope all this helps and that you have a great broadcast. A lot of us will be tuning in. Enjoy the game!

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana, Montana State, Southern Utah and Northern Arizona all came out of the opening weekend of league games earlier this month with 2-0 records.

* Eastern Washington was scheduled to host Portland State and Northern Arizona this week, but those games won't be played, at least as scheduled, because of COVID issues within the Eagles program.

* Thursday games: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, NAU at UI, SUU at SAC

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Northern Arizona at Idaho. The Vandals were a top-three pick in the preseason polls, along with Idaho State and Montana State, but Idaho is 1-9 and hasn't won since its opener, a 95-46 win over Lewis-Clark State. The Vandals are 0-9 against Division I opponents. Idaho's lone Big Sky game was an 87-65 loss at Southern Utah, when the Vandals got outscored 24-5 in the fourth quarter.

* Saturday games: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, SUU at UNC, PSU at UI

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Southern Utah at Northern Colorado. After starting 0-4, the Thunderbirds have won six of seven, but that's against a strength of schedule that ranks in the bottom five percent nationally.

Upcoming: Montana will host Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 6, then travel to Bozeman to face Montana State on Sunday, Jan. 9.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Dani Bartsch

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Haley Huard

Nyah Morris-Nelson

Sophia Stiles

Katerina Tsineke

University of Montana Athletics