Lady Griz host Wolverines, try to make it seven straight

The Montana women's basketball team, after opening its Big Sky Conference schedule with two wins last week, returns to nonconference play this week with a home game against Utah Valley.

The Lady Griz (7-1), off to their best start since the 2006-07 season, will host the Wolverines (4-3) on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena.

It is just the fourth all-time meeting between the two teams, the most recent a 63-52 Montana win in Orem, Utah, in December 2019.

The Lady Griz, who opened their league schedule last week with home wins over Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, will close out their pre-Christmas schedule with home games against Seattle and Utah State.

Montana will host the Redhawks on Thursday, Dec. 16, the Aggies on Monday, Dec. 20 (please note the 6 p.m. tip time), then resume Big Sky play at Idaho State on Thursday, Dec. 30.

Coverage: Thursday's game will be available on ESPN+ with Paul Yarbrough calling the action. The game will air locally on KMPT (99.7 FM/930 AM) and also can be heard at 930kmpt.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz extended their winning streak to six games last week, their longest winning streak since posting seven straight wins late in the 2015-16 season.

Montana opened league on Thursday with a 75-59 win over Sacramento State. After falling behind 12-2, the Lady Griz outscored the Hornets 48-27 through the end of the third quarter.

Sophia Stiles had her fourth career double-double with 11 points and 11 assists (with no turnovers), and Haley Huard led five players in double figures with 13 points off the bench.

Two days later Montana made it six straight wins with a 57-44 victory over Northern Colorado. After falling behind 20-13 in the first quarter, the Lady Griz outscored the Bears 44-24 the rest of the way.

UNC put up 20 first-quarter points, then scored nine in the second, eight in the third, seven in the fourth. Northern Colorado shot just 7 for 35 over the game's final 31 minutes, or one basket every four and a half minutes.

Carmen Gfeller led both teams with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, her seventh time in double figures in eight games this season.

Montana ranks eighth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.317). The Lady Griz also rank third nationally in fouls per game (12.1) and fifth in defensive rebounds per game (31.8).

Gfeller, who has shot better than 50 percent in seven of eight games this season, ranks ninth nationally in field goal percentage (.629).

At a glance (Utah Valley): The Wolverines will go up against Montana's standout defense with an offense that has four players averaging 9.0 points or more and is averaging more than 66 points per game.

Fourth-year guard Maria Carvalho, first-team All-WAC last season and twice voted to the WAC All-Defensive Team, is averaging 15.9 points.

Her scoring is nearly matched by fourth-year, 6-foot-5 center Josie Williams, who averages 15.1 points on 54.2 percent shooting and ranks fourth nationally at 12.7 rebounds per game.

Both made the eight-player preseason All-WAC team that was announced in October.

Utah Valley is +4.9 on the boards through seven games, an area of pride for Montana (+6.3/g) as well, and has a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.

Defensively, the Wolverines are holding their opponents to 35.5 percent shooting and 58.3 points.

Utah Valley went 13-7 last season and made the NCAA tournament despite losing in the semifinals of the WAC tournament.

That tournament was won by California Baptist, which was ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament as the school transitions to Division I, so the spot dropped to the second-place team in the regular-season standings, which was Utah Valley at 10-4.

After going 25-23 in his first two seasons, third-year coach Dan Nielson was given a five-year contract in September.

Of Utah Valley's four wins, two came against NAIA Park University and NCAA Division II Colorado Mesa. The other two came against Big Sky opponents.

The Wolverines won 60-54 at Southern Utah, the Thunderbirds' only home loss this season, and hosted and defeated Portland State 62-43.

UVU's losses all came against Mountain West opponents: 71-62 at home against Fresno State, 70-64 at Nevada and 73-63 at home against UNLV, the team's most recent game on Dec. 1.

Utah Valley was picked fourth in the 13-team WAC, behind California Baptist, which won the league with a 14-0 record last season, newcomer Stephen F. Austin, which last season won the Southland Conference at 14-0, and Grand Canyon.

Series history:

* Montana and Utah Valley, which didn't become a full NCAA Division I member until 2009, have met just three times.

* Montana defeated Utah Valley at home in December 2010, 75-53, and in December 2014, 68-44, both as part of the Lady Griz Classic.

* Thursday night's home game is a return trip for the teams' matchup in Orem in early December 2019.

* Montana won that game 63-52, rallying back from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter with a 25-point final period.

* The Lady Griz had five players in double figures and held the Wolverines to 32.8 percent shooting. Carvalho and Williams, this year's leading scorers, were held to five points on 2-of-14 shooting.

Summary:

First-year Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger has been saying since he was hired in April that his teams will be rock-solid defensively and that that is nonnegotiable.

It hasn't taken long for his first team to embrace it.

Montana ranks eighth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.317) and is getting it done cleanly. The Lady Griz rank third nationally in personal fouls per game, just 12.1, and fifth in defensive rebounds per game at 31.8.

All of which means Montana is challenging shooters without fouling, then doing a good job of collecting the misses.

"The bottom line is shooting and offense are fickle things. If you're relying on that every game, you're gambling, and I don't like to gamble. I like better odds," said Holsinger.

"You can always defend and always be tough on that end of the ball. And the girls have bought in. We can get better, but they're playing their butts off and getting better and better. We just want to be great on that end."

Montana was on Saturday, at least after finding itself down 20-13 late in the first quarter. At that rate, Northern Colorado was on pace to score more than 80 points. That the Bears finished with 44 highlights the in-game turnaround.

"Defense won us the game the other night when we were just okay offensively," said Holsinger. "They scored 20 in the first quarter, then we were able to make some adjustments and get refocused, and they had a hard time scoring the rest of the game."

This week brings Utah Valley to Dahlberg Arena and maybe the best opponent the Lady Griz have faced this season not named Gonzaga.

It will be two teams that largely mirror one another. They are efficient offensively, terrors on the defensive end and strong on the boards. It's a matchup of strengths on strengths.

(Head coach Dan Nielson) does a good job. They are well-coached. Very tough, hard-nosed, will make everything really tough on defense and execute on offense," said Holsinger.

"This will be one of the top teams we've faced to this point, so it will be a good challenge."

Lady Griz notes:

* Montana's 7-1 start is its best since opening the 2006-07 season 16-1. The Lady Griz' lone loss was a 67-60 home setback to Gonzaga, which also is 7-1.

* Montana's six-game winning streak is its best since winning seven consecutive games in February 2016 in what would be Robin Selvig's final season as coach of the Lady Griz.

* Montana has opened league with a 2-0 record for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

* Montana's five-game home stand is its longest since playing six straight at home early in the 2012-13 season.

* Sophia Stiles' 11 assists in Thursday's win over Sacramento State were the most for a Lady Griz since McKenzie Johnston's 11 in a 99-69 road loss at Sacramento State in 2016-17.

* Stiles' 11 assists are tied for 11th in program history and four off the program record of 15, set by Kelly Pilcher against Boise State in 1993-94, then matched by Brooklynn Lorenzen against Portland State in 2003-04.

* A Lady Griz point guard has had 11 or more assists 31 times in program history.

* Montana had just four turnovers in Thursday's win over Sacramento State. That was one off the program record of three set by the 2003-04 team in a 65-62 home win over Weber State.

* It was the third time in program history Montana has had just four turnovers in a game. Montana had four in a 71-57 loss at Idaho State in 2005-06 and four in a 66-51 home win over North Dakota in 2014-15.

* Montana's 44 points allowed in Saturday's win over Northern Colorado were the fewest allowed to a Division I opponent since a 54-43 win at North Dakota in 2017-18.

* Montana has outscored its eight opponents by 74 points in the second half this season. Houston Baptist has been the only team to outscore Montana in the second half, which it did by five.

* Montana allowed Northern Colorado four offensive rebounds on Saturday and zero second-chance points. The last time an opponent had four or fewer offensive rebounds? Grand Canyon had three in Montana's 72-67 home win in 2019-20.

* Montana's 57-44 win on Saturday produced season lows for both points scored and points allowed.

* Haley Huard led Montana with 13 points on Thursday. It was the first time a freshman has led the Lady Griz in scoring since Kyndall Keller scored 17 in Montana's 61-55 road win at Seattle last season.

* Montana trailed Northern Colorado at the half on Saturday and rallied to win. It was the second time this season the Lady Griz have won after being down at the half. The first was at North Dakota State.

* Montana has shot a better percentage than its opponent all eight games this season and has outrebounded its opponent in seven of eight games.

* Abby Anderson has had nine blocks the last three games to up her career total to 155. She is two behind Katie Baker (2009-13) for sixth in program history.

* Sophia Stiles has totaled 25 assists and just seven turnovers the last four games. She leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover (2.2). … Stiles has taken just four free throws this season. She took 80 last year.

* Nyah Morris-Nelson has gone 6 for 10 from 3-point range the last three games. … Haley Huard has gone 5 for 10.

* Montana is shooting 45.5 percent in four home games this season. The Lady Griz have shot 45.3 percent in four games away from Missoula.

* Montana held its first seven opponents to single-digit scoring in a quarter four times. The Lady Griz did it three times on Saturday against Northern Colorado.

* Montana has not been outscored in the paint by an opponent this season. … Montana's bench has outscored the opponents' bench 75-21 the last three games.

* Montana is sitting 94th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings, the first of which were released this week. Northern Arizona is 112th, Weber State 139th. No other Big Sky school is higher than 200th.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana was one of four teams to open league 2-0. Montana State also defeated Northern Colorado and Sacramento State. Southern Utah swept Eastern Washington and Idaho by a combined 36 points, Northern Arizona defeated Weber State 83-79 and Idaho State 81-74 in overtime.

* Sacramento State and Northern Colorado opened 0-2, as did Portland State, which lost twice at home, 83-40 to Idaho State and 85-57 to Weber State.

* Games of note this week: Southern Utah, winner of four straight, hosts No. 25 and 8-0 Colorado on Tuesday. CU coach JR Payne previously coached at Southern Utah. … On Saturday Northern Arizona hosts WAC preseason favorite California Baptist.

Upcoming: Montana will host Seattle (4-3) on Thursday, Dec. 16. The Redhawks, who won 63-61 at Boise State in their most recent game, host Washington on Friday in their final game before traveling to Missoula.

Lady Griz host Wolverines, try to make it seven straight

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Carmen Gfeller

Haley Huard

McKenzie Johnston

Kyndall Keller

Nyah Morris-Nelson

Sophia Stiles

University of Montana Athletics