Lady Griz open league on the road

The Montana women's basketball team will open its 18-game Big Sky Conference schedule this week when it plays games at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

The Lady Griz (4-7) will face the Eagles (7-3) at 7 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at Reese Court in Cheney, the Vandals (4-7) at 3 p.m. (MT) on Saturday at ICCU Arena in Moscow.

Montana, picked second in the Big Sky in the preseason polls, goes into league with a record of 4-7 after losing its final nonconference game at Gonzaga 82-67 last Wednesday.

Pre-Big Sky storylines:

* Montana was sitting 9-2 at this time last season under then first-year coach Brian Holsinger. His second team is 4-7 but probably better prepared to face the challenges of league play.

"It's very different," said Holsinger, whose team last season had a feel-good, seven-point loss to Gonzaga and a setback against Utah Valley. Otherwise, it was all wins and smooth sailing.

"Last year's team went into the break feeling so good about themselves with what we had accomplished and how we'd played that I don't know that we were totally prepared."

Montana went into break last season with a 103-80 win over Utah State to get to 9-2, then opened league with frustrating losses at Idaho State and Weber State as the Lady Griz shot 34.3 percent.

This season Montana led at home in the final minute against North Dakota State and lost in regulation, lost to Wichita State at Loyola Marymount despite holding an 11-point fourth-quarter lead and lost at home to Grand Canyon after holding a four-point fourth-quarter lead.

And there was a 24-point loss at Colorado State, a 21-point loss to California, a 20-point loss at Washington State and a 15-point loss at Gonzaga.

Montana's Division I wins came at home against North Dakota, 82-77, and on the road at South Dakota, 76-60.

"This team has been forced into some adverse situations that we weren't last year," Holsinger said. "We've faced some adversity, so we've had to build confidence more than anything.

"This year I feel like we're way more prepared for the ins and outs of the league because we've lost, and there is no greater teacher than when you lose.

"We get to see over the next 18 games how good we are and what the preseason did for us. I think it prepared us well. I feel good about where we're at. We'll find out shortly."

* Last season Montana got to 19 wins and went 12-8 in league on the strength of its defense and rebounding.

That team held its opponents to 35.5 percent shooting for the season to rank 13th nationally and got outrebounded just five times in 30 games.

Last year's team allowed just seven opponents to shoot better than 40 percent across 30 games. Seven of Montana's nine Division I opponents this season have shot better than 40 percent. Four of them have outrebounded the Lady Griz.

"Defense and rebounding win. They just do on a consistent basis," said Holsinger, who was then asked what it would take for his team to be the last one standing in March.

"Stay injury-free. And then if we begin to identify as a defensive, rebounding team and that becomes our identity.

"It hasn't become our identity yet and it needs to. When it does, I think that becomes the biggest factor in us winning the conference title."

* On Saturday, Gina Marxen and her Montana teammates will play at Idaho, where she had success as a Vandal for three seasons, from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

She was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2018-19, first-team All-Big Sky as a sophomore, second-team as a junior while totaling 954 points and 199 made 3-pointers. Those teams went 61-28.

She stepped away from the team after three seasons and sat out 2021-22 while still a student at Idaho but avoiding anything having to do with basketball.

She chose to continue her collegiate career at Montana.

"I'll address it with her," said Holsinger, as he did with Keeli Burton-Oliver when Montana played at Washington State earlier this month.

Burton-Oliver enrolled at Washington State for the 2021-22 school year and joined the Cougars, but her time on the team was measured in days as the program opted to go in a different direction.

"I'll handle it the way I handled it with Keeli when we went to Washington State," said Holsinger. "It's the Lady Griz against the Vandals, not Gina against the Vandals.

"All she has to be is what she can do for our team. There is no pressure to do anything differently because you used to play there.

"It will be a different feeling for her, and that's okay. But if you focus on the fact it's our team against their team, it makes it much easier. It's our team against their team, and you're on our team now."

* Montana has three true freshmen making a big impact thus far. Libby Stump is the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 10.9 points in 21 minutes off the bench.

Mack Konig is playing 22 minutes per game and ranks second on the team in assists while holding a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2).

"Both of them have been exceptional additions for us as far as their ability to come in and be confident at this level right away," said Holsinger, "on the offensive end especially.

"They are both top-150 kids in the country and they get ranked like that based on their ability to score. That's what they're good at. They are learning how to play defense."

Stump has been remarkably consistent for a first-year player. The last seven games she is leading the team in scoring (12.9/g) on 54.5 percent shooting. In those seven games she has gone 12 for 27 (.444) from the arc.

Konig's assist numbers the last four games: 6, 3, 5, 4.

Another freshman, Alex Pirog is averaging 2.4 points on 54.5 percent shooting and 4.5 rebounds, and ranks second on the team in blocked shots.

Pirog's transition to the college game was always going to lag behind her perimeter teammates.

"It's way harder in the post to jump in," said Holsinger. "You just don't get as many reps in the post as you would at the guard spot. You never do, so it just takes time."

* Preseason All-Big Sky selection Carmen Gfeller, has played in six of 11 games. She put up 17 points at Washington State, going 5 for 6 from the 3-point line. Last week at Gonzaga, she had 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting and eight rebounds.

Gina Marxen had 21 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the arc in her Lady Griz debut against North Dakota State.

Sammy Fatkin has three times reached 20 points and leads Montana with eight double-digit scoring games.

They are an upperclassman trio that will make the Lady Griz tough to beat when they all start clicking at the same time.

Fatkin went through senior day ceremonies last season, then was granted a one-year extension by the NCAA last May, meaning her disruption was the least of the three, and her consistency is the result.

Marxen went a full calendar year without touching a basketball. She joined the Lady Griz in June. Gfeller addressed a long-time injury in the offseason, which kept her from practicing for months.

"They all have their own stories," said Holsinger. "Sammy found out in May that she was going to come back. Carmen sat out five months and it always takes time to get back into a rhythm. And then you have Gina, who sat out for a year.

"We figured that it would take until January until they all found their way. We hope that's true and that they all get clicking on the same page when we go into conference."

* In the current NCAA NET rankings, the Big Sky has four teams in the top 150, five in the top 156: Sacramento State (99), Montana State (117), Northern Colorado (143), Eastern Washington (144) and Northern Arizona (156).

Montana, at 192, is in the top 200. Sitting in the 200s are Idaho State (225) and Idaho (244), two of the league's top three teams over the last half decade.

It reflects the growth of the league that Sacramento State, Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington, a combined 23-9, are all under second-year coaches.

"That's a good sign that the league is strong. It's better for all of us and our postseason aspirations," said Holsinger.

"It would be great to someday get this as a two-bid NCAA league. Last spring at our coaches' meeting, we talked about how we get there. I think it's being accomplished."

At a glance (Eastern Washington): The Eagles, under second-year coach Joddie Gleason, are off to a 7-3 start, with their scheduled game at Gonzaga in late November postponed due to health and safety protocols.

Eastern Washington has non-Division I wins over Corban and Evergreen State. Its Division I wins have come against teams that are a combined 18-38, including 0-10 Seattle and 3-8 Utah State in its final game before Christmas.

The Eagles lost a competitive game at Oregon State, 73-66, lost 67-65 at home to now 8-3 UC Irvine and got blitzed at Oregon, falling 88-38.

EWU is led in scoring by Jaydia Martin (13.8/g), last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year. Jamie Loera, in her first year after transferring from Arizona State last spring, is averaging 11.1 points.

Junior Jacinta Buckley, third-team All-Big Sky last year in her first season after transferring from UNLV, is averaging 10.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

The Eagles, who lead the Big Sky in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio, have used the same starting lineup in all 10 of its games.

Eastern Washington was picked sixth in the preseason coaches' poll, eighth in the media poll.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Eastern Washington 76-25 and has gone 28-16 against the Eagles in Cheney.

The teams split their series last season, with each team winning on its home court.

In Missoula, the Lady Griz raced out to a 22-4 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 68-50 victory behind 15 points from Carmen Gfeller, 12 from Sammy Fatkin, Montana's fifth straight win over Eastern Washington.

In the rematch in Cheney, the Eagles scored the game's opening seven points and never looked back, building a 32-18 halftime lead on their way to a 63-57 win.

Montana would get within four in the game's final minute but no closer.

Gfeller had 16 points, seven rebounds for Montana, Buckley a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double for Eastern Washington.

At a glance (Idaho): The Vandals share Montana's 4-7 record, but Idaho's wins have all come against Division I opponents and the Vandals have played only one home game this season.

The teams played two common opponents, Cal and Grand Canyon.

Both Montana and Idaho lost to the Bears. The Vandals fell 84-71 in Berkeley in what was a four-point game in the third quarter before Cal pulled away. The Lady Griz lost to the Bears 65-44 at Loyola Marymount's Thanksgiving tournament.

Montana lost at home to Grand Canyon 71-63, with the Lopes outscoring the Lady Griz 23-11 over the game's final eight minutes. Idaho won 81-78 at Grand Canyon in overtime against the now 8-3 Lopes.

The Vandals were down eight with 90 seconds left in regulation, still down six with 40 seconds to go but used a pair of 3-pointers to rally to force overtime.

Idaho's other wins came at Navy, 90-84, against New Mexico State in San Diego and at home against Denver, 91-83, in what has been the Vandals' lone game at ICCU Arena this season.

Idaho followed up its back-to-back wins over Denver and Grand Canyon with a 59-57 head-scratching loss at Utah Valley right before Christmas. It was the Wolverines' first Division I win of the season.

The headliner is senior forward Beyonce Bea, who blazed a path from Washougal, Wash., to Moscow that her younger sister Skylar, a sophomore, and her cousin, Jaiden, a freshman, followed.

Bea is a three-time All-Big Sky selection, earning third-team honors as a freshman, first-team honors the last two seasons and enters league with 1,498 points (15.4/g) and 736 rebounds (7.6/g) for her career.

This season she is averaging 22.3 points on 48 percent shooting and 9.4 rebounds and had back-to-back 34-point scoring games against Navy and Nevada while shooting 25 for 37.

Junior guard Sydney Gandy averages 11.5 points, while 6-foot-2 forward Tiana Johnson averages 10.2. Johnson is in her sixth year as a collegiate athlete. She spent four years at Sacramento State, redshirting one and playing three. Last year was her first with the Vandals.

Idaho is coached by Jon Newlee, who has been in the Big Sky since 2002-03. He spent six seasons at Idaho State before moving upstate prior to the 2008-09 season. Idaho, previously of the WAC, rejoined the Big Sky in 2014-15.

Long on the losing side against Montana, Newlee's teams have won eight of 11 against the Lady Griz.

Series history: Montana leads the series with Idaho 44-16 and has gone 16-12 against the Vandals in Moscow.

The Lady Griz went 36-3 against Idaho from 1986 to 2015. The Vandals have gone 8-3 against Montana since.

The teams split their games last season with the outcomes decided by just four total points.

In Missoula, Montana won 76-73 in a tight game in which neither team held a lead of more than five points. Sophia Stiles scored 27 points, Kyndall Keller came off the bench to add 16. It was enough to overcome Louise Forsyth's 29 points off the bench for Idaho.

Just four days later, on a Monday afternoon in Moscow, Idaho won 70-69 when the Lady Griz couldn't hold a 10-point fourth-quarter lead. The Vandals made nine of their final 12 shots to rally for the victory.

Bea had 24 points after scoring 13 on 5-of-13 shooting in the first meeting.

Thursday in the Big Sky Conference: UM at EWU, MSU at UI, WSU at UNC, ISU at NAU … Idaho State came out of nonconference with a record of 5-6, with one-point and two-point losses, despite losing a bulk of its production from last year's regular-season championship team.

Saturday in the Big Sky Conference: UM at UI, MSU at EWU, ISU at UNC, WSU at NAU, SAC at PSU … The Hornets have a NET ranking of 99, best in the league after going 9-2 in the nonconference.

Upcoming: Montana will host Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado next week in Missoula.

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Players Mentioned

Keeli Burton-Oliver

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Kyndall Keller

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Alex Pirog

Sophia Stiles

Libby Stump

University of Montana Athletics