Lady Griz take care of business on the road

Saturday, February 19

Portland, Ore.

3 PM (MT)

Montana

16-8, 9-6BSC

Portland State

5-17, 0-14BSC

Montana

Portland State

Photos: Scott Larson (Portland State Athletics)

2/19/2022 7:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team shot 53.6 percent and kept Portland State winless in league with a 76-55 victory at Viking Pavilion on Saturday afternoon in Portland.

It was Montana's first win at Portland State since the 2015-16 season.

The Lady Griz (16-8, 9-6 BSC) won their second straight game and kept the Vikings (5-17, 0-14 BSC) without a victory against a Division I opponent since early December.

Playing near her hometown of Hillsboro, Abby Anderson had a huge game with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and added eight assists, six blocks, three rebounds and two steals.

"She played really well," said coach Brian Holsinger. "She passed the ball right and tried to put her teammates in position to be successful. Making the right plays against the zone is what it's all about."

Montana finished with 22 assists on 30 made baskets, its second-highest total of the season.

The Lady Griz went 8 for 11 in the first quarter and had their best shooting performance on the road in more than a year.

"Move the ball, move the ball, find the open player and good things happen," said Holsinger. "It's always nice to shoot a good percentage like that and hold a team down.

"On the road, you come out and take care of business, and I thought we did."

Carmen Gfeller, who had had five straight games when she didn't shoot 50 percent from the field, which isn't at all like her, had a that's-more-like-it 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Sophia Stiles added 12 points, Nyah Morris-Nelson rediscovered her shooting stroke and had nine on 3-of-4 shooting from the arc, and Katerina Tsineke and Dani Bartsch both scored eight off the bench.

It was a group effort that covered for the absence of Sammy Fatkin, who missed her fifth straight game.

"I'm excited for our kids. We're getting better and better at figuring out ways to score without Sammy," said Holsinger.

"All around, we just did a really good job. I'm proud of our kids. Every win is important. Every game is tough. We came in here and handled our business."

Montana shot 72.7 percent in the opening quarter but still trailed 20-19 after the first period as Portland State grabbed five offensive rebounds and went 4 for 7 from the arc.

Tsineke entered the game late in the first quarter and gave Montana a lift on both ends.

She set a new tone on the defensive end and hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter, part of a 13-0 run to start the period that had the Lady Griz on their way to a season sweep of the Vikings.

"In the first quarter, we were not as urgent as we needed to be. Katerina came out and gave us a spark on defense and kind of got our defense going," said Holsinger. "That was huge. We needed that."

Up 36-30 at the half, Montana went 16 for 32 in the second half to pull away.

"We got it going in the second half. We made some adjustments and it made it hard to guard us. We got some really easy baskets in the third quarter executing just right," said Holsinger.

Montana scored the first 11 points of the second half and led by 20 before the end of the third quarter.

Up by 22, 72-50, with just over two minutes left in the game, Lisa Kiefer entered the game, her first appearance since Montana's 93-57 win over PSU in Missoula on Jan. 20.

She immediately scored off a baseline out-of-bounds play, giving Kiefer her first basket as a Lady Griz.

"That was special," said Holsinger. "More special was her defense on the other end. She was locked in. Really proud of her."

Montana will face Idaho (7-16, 6-8 BSC) at 3 p.m. (MT) on Monday in Moscow, just days after the Lady Griz defeated the Vandals 76-73 in Missoula.

Idaho, playing at home, defeated Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon, 79-72.