Lady Griz seeking first win at School Day game

The Montana women's basketball team will try to pick up its first win of the season on Tuesday when it hosts the fourth Lady Griz School Day game at Dahlberg Arena.

Montana (0-2) will host Providence (4-1) at 11 a.m. More than 5,000 local youth will bus to campus and energize the arena with a vibe that is unique to School Day.

The Lady Griz dropped a pair of games last week as the 2022-23 season commenced.

Montana lost 65-63 at home to North Dakota State last Monday. In their first road game of the season, the Lady Griz lost 82-58 at Colorado State on Friday evening.

Montana will host North Dakota on Sunday at 2 p.m., the team's last home game until welcoming Grand Canyon to Missoula on Dec. 8.

The Lady Griz will face Wichita State and California at Loyola Marymount's tournament next week, then go on the road to face Washington State on Friday, Dec. 2.

Providence, which is counting Tuesday's game as an exhibition, enters the game with a 4-1 record.

Coverage: Tuesday's game can be watched on ESPN+ or heard locally on KMPT 930 AM/99.7 FM or at 930kmpt.com. Riley "Ace" Sauerwein will call the action.

School Day history: Montana hosted its first Lady Griz School Day game in 2017-18 against Seattle. The Lady Griz led 53-51 early in the fourth quarter before a 14-0 run by the Redhawks decided the outcome.

Seattle won 78-64 in front of a crowd of 7,018, a bulk of which cheered for baskets made by both teams. It was the final School Day Game against a Division I opponent.

Montana defeated Providence 90-45 in 2018-19, holding the Argos to 15-of-68 shooting (.221).

The game was notable in that it was the collegiate debut of Carmen Gfeller. She led the Lady Griz in scoring with 15 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting.

Montana opened the 2019-20 season with a 98-45 win over MSU Northern in front of a crowd of 7,205.

Taylor Goligoski came off the bench to hit 6 of 8 from 3-point range and score 20 points for the Lady Griz, who went 11 for 19 from the arc, shot 59.4 percent overall and forced 25 turnovers.

Montana played without fans in 2020-21 and didn't host a School Day Game last season.

At a glance (Montana): After opening the season with a 65-63 loss at home to North Dakota State last Monday, the Lady Griz played their first road game of the season on Friday at Colorado State.

The Rams used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to take the lead for good, then went 21 for 34 (.618) without a turnover over the second and third quarters to take control.

Colorado State scored the opening 12 points of the fourth quarter to build its lead to 35 points, 78-43, before Montana scored 15 of the next 17 to cut into what would be the final score of 82-58.

"They are going to be one of the better teams in the Mountain West, without a doubt," said second-year coach Brian Holsinger. "It was a great opportunity for us to learn what it takes to be really good.

"It was really good for our young team to learn that if you don't play the right way, you'll get beat soundly, especially on the road against a good team.

"I hope we take a giant leap forward from the lessons we learned in that game. If not, then it's wasted, but I think our team will respond."

Freshman Libby Stump scored 15 points and added four assists off the bench to lead Montana, which shot 34.5 percent and turned the ball over 19 times.

Colorado State, which shot 49.3 percent, went 10 for 20 from the 3-point line and committed seven turnovers, just two through the game's first 34 minutes.

"The positive is that it's experience. There is no better teacher than a game. None. It's the best thing possible for learning. It moves you forward faster than anything," said Holsinger.

"Every game, especially those on the road, is crucial to these young kids' development. We'll see how we respond."

Next up for Montana will be Providence, which is 4-1. The Argos' lone loss on the season came at home against the NAIA's top-ranked team, Thomas More, 75-49.

Providence traveled to Bozeman last week for an exhibition game, falling 78-31 to the Big Sky Conference favorites on the Bobcats' School Day game.

Montana averaged more than 6,900 fans for its first three School Day games. Tuesday is expected to be a few hundred over 5,000.

"I love the opportunity this gives young kids to experience a game on our campus," said Holsinger. "It's an opportunity to show them, both boys and girls, what this is all about, what we're all about.

"We want to impact and inspire others with our play and how we are. What better opportunity to do that than with a bunch of youth? To have a bunch of kids here to experience what we do is awesome."

Marxen nearing milestone: Redshirt junior Gina Marxen is 13 points away from reaching 1,000 for her collegiate career.

She scored 293 as a freshman at Idaho, 412 as a sophomore and 249 as a junior. Her 33 this season through two games has her at 987 for her career.

At a glance (Providence): The Argos enter Tuesday's game with a record of 4-1, which does not include Tuesday's loss at Montana State, which Providence counted as an exhibition.

The Argos were chosen to represent the U.S. at the FISU Americas Games last month and picked up wins over teams from Argentina and Brazil to being the season 3-0.

After falling at home to No. 1 Thomas More, Providence bounced back with a 67-54 home win over Campbellsville-Harrodsburg on Saturday behind 19 points from Brooklyn Harn.

Maddy Dixon (18 points, 10 rebounds) and McKenna Reggear (12 points, 12 rebounds) both had double-doubles.

Harn, a senior from Olympia, Wash., leads Providence at 13.8 points per game. Reggear, a freshman from Colville, Wash., is averaging a double-double, 10.0 points, 10.5 rebounds.

Series history:

* Montana is 10-0 all-time against Providence in a series that dates back to 1979. The last nine of those matchups have come in Missoula. The average margin of victory in those games has been 29.3 points.

* The teams' last meeting came two games into the 2018-19 season, a 90-45 Lady Griz win on School Day.

* The meeting before that came in the opener of the 2016-17 season, a 66-55 Montana win in what was then head coach Shannon Schweyen's debut after more than two decades as an assistant coach.

* The teams' very first meeting was a 56-46 Montana win at Great Falls in what was win No. 12 in what would become 865 victories for then first-year coach Robin Selvig.

Montana notes:

* North Dakota State (.406) and Colorado State (.493) shot better than 40 percent against Montana. The Lady Griz ranked 13th nationally in field goal percentage defense at .355 last season.

* Montana allowed its opponent to shoot 40 percent or better eight times last season in 30 games. Only one of those games was a win.

* The Bison and Rams combined to go 17 for 41 (.415) from the 3-point line.

* Montana has taken 38 free throws this season. Its first two opponents combined to attempt 15.

* Gina Marxen leads Montana in scoring through two games at 16.5. Sammy Fatkin is averaging 12.0 points.

* Freshman Alex Pirog has yet to score through two games but she leads Montana in rebounding at 7.5.

* Libby Stump and Dani Bartsch both hit three 3-pointers at Colorado State. Bartsch hit four her entire freshman season.

* Montana went 10 for 13 (.769) from the line at Colorado State after going a costly 13 for 25 (.520) in its two-point loss to North Dakota State.

* Colorado State shot well on Friday, but the Rams did miss 34 shots, and Montana only allowed four offensive rebounds.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Eastern Washington, Montana State and Northern Colorado are off to 2-0 starts.

* All three are coming off Division I road wins. Eastern Washington won at Boise State, Montana State won at BYU, Northern Colorado won at Denver.

* After nearly pulling off a road win at Arizona State, losing 69-68, with three shots to win in the closing seconds, Northern Arizona (1-2) got more than doubled up three days later at Arizona, falling 113-56.

* Weber State did not play its first game of the season until Sunday, losing 63-52 at Boise State.

* Idaho, which opened with an 88-63 loss at Utah last week, plays a total of one nonconference home game, 10 away from home. The team's first home game is Dec. 15 when it is home for Denver.

* Idaho State has just three home games before Jan. 7, against Westminster (Nov. 7), Montana Tech (Nov. 22) and St. Thomas (Dec. 3.).

* The Big Sky's three early scoring leaders – Idaho's Beyonce Bea (25.0/g), Northern Colorado's Hannah Simental (19.0/g) and Sacramento State's Isnelle Natabou (19.0/g) – all were preseason All-Big Sky.

Upcoming: Montana will host North Dakota on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena. The Fighting Hawks, who play at Montana State on Friday night, are 2-0, with home wins over Detroit Mercy and Wyoming.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Gina Marxen

Alex Pirog

Libby Stump

University of Montana Athletics