Bengals pull away, win by 30

Thursday, February 25

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

12-8, 9-6BSC

Idaho State

17-3, 13-2BSC

Idaho State

Montana

2/25/2021 10:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The best team in the Big Sky Conference looked like it Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. And that was even before the fourth quarter began.

Leading by 10 after three periods, Idaho State closed on a shooting spree, hitting 11 of 12 shots over the final 10 minutes to pull away for a 79-49 victory over Montana.

And all of it was done with the Bengals' leading scorer, Dora Goles, spending the night cheering on her teammates from the ISU bench area.

"We got schooled by the best team in the league," said coach Mike Petrino. "The first three quarters I'm proud of the effort, but we just didn't defend in the fourth quarter. It's disappointing."

The close put a different twist on the game story than the way it was trending after 30 minutes.

Montana (12-8, 9-6 BSC) trailed by one after the first quarter and closed the third on an 8-0 run to make it 50-40 entering the fourth. But the lead ballooned over the final minutes and kept expanding.

It burst Montana's five-game winning streak and gave Idaho State (17-3, 13-2 BSC) just its fourth-ever win over the Lady Griz in Missoula in 45 games between the two programs.

"We didn't get competitive enough to stop them. We let them get rolling in the fourth quarter. It's disappointing," said Petrino.

"We can learn a lot from that team, the way they defend, the way they play on offense and defense together. They share the ball extremely well."

It was billed as a battle between the Big Sky's top two defensive teams, and Montana had a hard time on the offensive end throughout, finishing at 31.5 percent shooting.

A team that typically owns the paint got outscored by 20 in the lane on Thursday, 44-24. Every time a Lady Griz got the ball inside, ISU had an additional defender there before she could go to work.

Carmen Gfeller scored 15 points and Abby Anderson and Sophia Stiles each added 14, but the rest of the team contributed just two baskets and six points.

It didn't help that Madi Schoening went down in the first half with an injury and never returned.

"We struggled to score and that's a credit to them. They are a great defensive team. When we did get good looks, we couldn't finish them," said Petrino.

"We need someone to step up and be a fourth scorer. We need to have the same depth and balance that the team we played tonight does. It's too much pressure to put on those other three."

Even without Goles, who averages 13.4 points, the Bengals had four in double figures, led by Callie Bourne's 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

She was particularly destructive in the fourth quarter and almost singlehandedly crushed Montana's hopes of a comeback.

After the Lady Griz opened the final period with a costly turnover on an interior pass, Bourne went to work, scoring her team's first seven points of the quarter.

She had 14 in the fourth quarter on 5-of-5 shooting. "Bourne killed us tonight," said Petrino. "We just couldn't slow her down."

Just as good was Diaba Konate, who went 7 for 11 for 17 points and added five assists and three steals.

Everyone else seems to be interchangeable parts, which is as good a compliment as a team can get.

"(Konate) plays with her teammates really well. They all play off each other really well," said Petrino. "They are a well-coached group, experienced and efficient.

"We can all learn something from them, myself included."

Montana played well early and had a pair of first-quarter leads. But it only got more difficult after that. Of the team's 17 made field goals, seven came in the first quarter.

Over the final three quarters Montana shot 10 for 36 (.278).

Idaho State outscored Montana 20-10 in the second quarter to lead 36-25 at the half and upped its lead to 50-32 midway through the third.

The Lady Griz would hold the Bengals scoreless over the final five minutes of the third quarter to work their way back to within 10, 50-40.

"Even though we struggled on offense, we were still in position, but we couldn't turn stops into scores," said Petrino. "We did briefly but not enough.

"We let them get rolling in the fourth quarter. We let it get out of hand. I know we're better than we showed, but we've got to prove it out there."

Aided by its big fourth quarter, Idaho State finished the game shooting 55.9 percent, the second-highest allowed this season by Montana and just the second time a team has been over 49 percent.

The Lady Griz had held 18 of their previous 19 opponents to a shooting percentage below 40.

The two teams will play at noon on Saturday.