Lady Griz pick up first win

Tuesday, November 15

Missoula, Mont.

11 AM

Montana

1-2

Providence (MT)

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/UM Athletics

11/15/2022 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The kids? The more than 5,200 who squeezed into Dahlberg Arena for a Tuesday matinee, for the fourth Lady Griz School Day game? They wanted just three things. To see Monte, to sing along to YMCA and to see a Montana victory, no matter the score or how it came about.

The Lady Griz delivered on all three, defeating Providence 71-43 – with Monte doing his thing and YMCA playing at a second-half timeout to an impressively unified and strong singalong – to send everyone home happy.

"This was awesome," said second-year Montana coach Brian Holsinger, who experienced his first Lady Griz School Day game. "I love this for the kids. I love that they get to come and cheer and just get excited.

"This might be the only opportunity some of these kids get to come to anything Griz. The fact we had them here and were able to give them a little bit of fun today, that's what this is all about."

It's the one game of the year where the play on the court almost becomes secondary to the larger event, except for Holsinger and his staff, who picked up their first victory of the season after opening with losses to North Dakota State and Colorado State.

Those teams shot 45.0 percent against the Lady Griz. The Argos, who will never be confused with the Bison or Rams but still are a quality NAIA program, shot 28.8 percent.

After building an early 8-0 lead on a pair of 3-pointers, Providence was mostly held in check the rest of the game by a team that is still establishing its defensive identity, something Holsinger's first team, in 2021-22, had almost from the start.

"I'm trying to change the mentality of our team right now," he said. "I thought we came out pretty aggressive. We came out and defended with a sense of urgency, and that was different than we've done.

"Defensively we continue to be a work in progress. It's what this program is going to be built on. Right now, we're getting better at that, but we do have a ways to go."

The offensive stars, outside of an effective bench that put up 25 points, were Sammy Fatkin and Keeli Burton-Oliver, the latter making her first collegiate start.

Fatkin shot just 32.4 percent against North Dakota State and Colorado State, which is an un-Fatkin-like number. She was much more efficient, much more economical on Tuesday, finishing with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

She hit a pair of 3-pointers, matched a career high with seven rebounds, four coming on the offensive end, and had two steals in 28 productive minutes.

It was the Fatkin of last winter, prior to missing nearly all of February with an ankle injury.

"You have to remember, she missed the last 10 games last year. All the improvements she made last year, she's trying to get back into a rhythm," said Holsinger. "I'm proud of her. She got aggressive."

If Fatkin was the breakthrough performer, Burton-Oliver was the breakout.

She took just two shots in Montana's first two games. On Tuesday, she went 5 for 8 to score 12 points and added six rebounds, five on the offensive end, and three blocks.

She hit a pair of pretty jumpers from the short corner and showed off her skillset around the basket. And when she went to the line, she hit both of her free throws.

And all of this in just 14 minutes of court time.

"Keeli came out today with a different level of intensity, a different effort that we haven't seen yet," said Holsinger. "That was a big-time encouragement for us."

Libby Stump had eight points and four assists off the bench, and Dani Bartsch continues to be an emerging 3-point threat. She went 2 for 4 from the arc and is now 5 for 10 for the season, one more than she made all of last season.

If Tuesday led to any concerns, it was Montana's 3-point shooting as a team. Hovering around 30 percent through two games, the Lady Griz went just 6 for 33 (.182) on Tuesday.

Almost all of them were shots Holsinger was fine with, good looks by good shooters. It won't be every opponent that gets the reprieve of Stump, Gina Marxen, Haley Huard and Mack Konig making just two of their 22 combined attempts.

"Six for 33 from the 3-point line when a team is just sagging in and giving you stuff and doubling in the post, we have to be able to make a shot," said Holsinger.

"Shooting is an up-and-down thing, a mental thing. Maybe we need some kind of hypnotism, maybe we need to burn some sage. We've got to figure out a way to open up the basket from three. At some point we have to be confident enough to knock them down. We will."

Montana missed its first five shots on Tuesday, while Providence was opening 3 for 4 with a pair of 3-pointers. Thus, the early 8-0 lead for the visitors.

The Argos held the lead through nearly seven minutes before Fatkin tied the score at 10-10 on a driving layup and put Montana up 13-10 with a 3-pointer.

The Lady Griz led 17-14 after one quarter, 41-25 at the break and 55-39 after three. Montana held the Argos to four points in the fourth quarter, just two over the game's final nine minutes.

Marxen led Montana with six assists, Bartsch finished with nine points and eight rebounds off the bench, Alex Pirog scored her first collegiate points while adding seven rebounds and three blocks, and Lisa Kiefer hit two late-game baskets to score a career-high six points.

Montana will host currently undefeated North Dakota on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Fighting Hawks (2-0) play at Montana State on Friday night.