Lady Griz leave no doubt

Saturday, February 6

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

8-7, 5-5BSC

Portland State

6-7, 4-6BSC

Portland State

Montana

2/6/2021 4:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Two days after allowing Portland State to steal a victory that the Lady Griz had within reach, the Montana women's basketball team made sure there would be no last-minute dramatics.

Led by Carmen Gfeller, the comeback player of the day, Montana put up 20 first-quarter points and never trailed, defeating the Vikings 76-63 at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula on Saturday afternoon.

Gfeller, who was saddled with foul trouble on Thursday and played limited minutes, put an emphatic stamp on the rematch, going for 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

She had eight in the opening period, 12 by half, most coming on strong, aggressive takes to the basket. She needed to make up for lost time.

"It helps when one of the best shooters in the Big Sky is on the floor," joked first-year coach Mike Petrino. "We're a much better team when we have her out there.

"She is such a great competitor and so committed to this team. I had no doubt in my mind she was going to play well today. None."

On this day, Gfeller was just a microcosm of the team's overall performance, maybe its best since winning at Northern Arizona last month.

Montana shot 51.6 percent and, more beautifully, shared the ball to a season-high 23 assists. Things just clicked.

It came less than 48 hours after Thursday's stomach-punch game that left the Lady Griz wondering how they had done 90 percent right but still ended up on the losing end.

Montana led throughout but never could put Portland State away. That proved costly when Kylie Jimenez scored the game-winning basket with 2.3 seconds left.

On the list of painful ways to lose, of playing well enough to win but not finishing, that would be near the top.

"I'm really proud of how resilient this group is," said Petrino. "Like every team that goes through the year, you have your challenges and adversity, and Thursday was really hard."

What Montana had going for it coming out of Thursday's game was that the Lady Griz had put themselves in position to win.

They held the Vikings to 30.9 percent shooting and created 38 shots in the paint for themselves, which nine out of 10 times means a victory will follow.

The bounce-back would require more emotional work on the part of the coaches than schematic, convincing the players to stick to the script and good things would come their way, even if that hadn't been the case in the opener.

"It wasn't about reinventing the wheel. It was just finishing the plays we were getting. We got good shots on Thursday. We just didn't finish them," said Petrino.

"I just love how much these players care. We want to be our best and play our best. I'm proud of how we bounced back from the heartbreak of that one. When we stay focused and have that energy and competitive spirit, this team shows great upside."

Gfeller gave Montana a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, but it was a play early in the second that may have had not just an effect on Saturday's game but on the team's fortunes going forward.

Hannah Thurmon hit a 3-pointer. That in itself isn't news. That's her gift. But she had been just 2 for 17 from the arc the last four games and missed her first 3-pointer on Saturday.

She was slumping, and Montana, as most teams are, is at its best when it has balance. That balance has been out of whack recently, with inside play working, the perimeter struggling.

When Thurmon connected in the second quarter to give her team an 11-point lead, the shackles just fell off. She would close the game hitting 5 of 8 from distance and matching her season high with 15 points.

"I knew I wasn't having that confidence, and I needed that back. When I hit that first one, I thought, you can shoot," she said. "You've been in this slump for a while. You need to get out of it."

She hit three triples in the third quarter, as Montana was outscoring Portland State 24-11, another in the fourth.

"(My shots) just felt better than past games," she said. "I felt like if I just kept it up, it would finally fall and I would get that confidence back up."

She sparked a big day for the Lady Griz from the arc. They went 9 for 23, the most makes this season in a non-overtime game.

"It helps when you have an inside-out game," said Petrino, whose team was 17 for 30 in the paint. "We shared the ball and finished the plays."

If Thurmon arrived in Missoula after two seasons at Three Rivers College as a 3-point specialist, she has only burnished her overall game in the meantime.

She assisted on Madi Schoening's game-opening 3-pointer, assisted on Gfeller's jumper that made it 7-3 and had two rebounds less than five minutes in on her way to a season-high seven.

Her three assists were a season high, her blocked shot gave her seven for the year.

"People will point to Hannah and her 3-point shooting, and she shot the ball really well today, but I'm also really proud of the way she has improved as a player," Petrino said.

"She has made strides on defense and in rebounding. She's improving as a player, and that benefits our team."

Montana was better offensively on Saturday than Thursday. But there were other elements that came into play as well.

After getting to the line 28 times on Thursday, the Vikings attempted just eight free throws on Saturday, which highlighted Montana's between-game improvements at defending Portland State.

Most notable was the work they did on Desirae Hansen, who scorched Montana for 22 points on Thursday, 18 in the second half to spark PSU's comeback that was more of a lingering around and making a big play at the end than a huge rally from a big deficit.

She had just eight on Saturday on 3-of-11 shooting in 36 relatively quiet minutes.

"It takes multiple people to guard a great player like that. Rotating Madi and Nyah (Morris-Nelson) on her was valuable to slowing her down. We just wanted to make it hard for her, and we did that," said Petrino.

"We locked in on things we wanted to get better at from Thursday. We guarded the dribble better. We didn't give up as many offensive rebounds, at least hurtful ones."

After Kylie Jimenez, who was 5 for 29 in the two games, scored for Portland State to even the game at 11-11, Abby Anderson hit a pair of free throws, Gfeller scored and Morris-Nelson connected on a 3-pointer to make it 18-11.

Montana built an 11-point lead in the second quarter and led 62-41 entering the fourth. The final 13-point margin was hardly indicative of the control the Lady Griz had of the game for most of the second half.

"I'm proud of the depth we showed today," said Petrino, who must have been thrilled to see Kylie Frohlich continue her strong play off the bench. She went 6 for 7 for 12 points.

In two games against PSU she poured in 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting.

In addition to Gfeller's 19, Thurmon's 15 and Frohlich's dozen, Anderson had a full line of 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.

Montana has proved it can win without all the pieces connecting in a given game. On Saturday the Lady Griz showed what they can be when everything is in sync.

"When you have four players in double figures, 23 assists on 32 baskets, I'm really proud of the way we shared the ball against a very good zone," said Petrino.

Montana (8-7, 5-5 BSC) will play two games next week at Weber State (0-13, 0-10 BSC) before closing the regular season with series against Eastern Washington, Idaho State and Idaho.