Lady Griz to face Lumberjacks, Eagles on the road

The Montana women's basketball team, which knocked off then Big Sky Conference co-leader Southern Utah on the road on Monday, will play its next two games on the road as well, at Northern Arizona on Thursday and at Eastern Washington on Monday.

The Lady Griz (14-6, 7-4 BSC) and Lumberjacks (10-10, 7-5 BSC) will tip off at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Flagstaff at NAU's Walkup Skydome. Monday's game against the Eagles (4-16, 2-9 BSC) will start at 7 p.m. (MT) at EWU's Reese Court in Cheney.

Montana was scheduled to play at Portland State on Saturday afternoon but that game got postponed until the following Saturday (Feb. 19) due to COVID-19 issues within PSU's program.

Montana defeated both Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington when those teams visited Missoula in January.

Most recently (Montana): After dropping a 65-58 decision at home on Saturday to preseason favorite Idaho State, the Lady Griz went on the road and knocked off Southern Utah on Monday night, 69-64. Despite getting just 21 points from its top four season scorers, Montana led for more than 35 minutes.

Sammy Fatkin was not available and Abby Anderson, Sophia Stiles and Carmen Gfeller all played limited minutes because of foul trouble. Katerina Tsineke, back in the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 30, scored 14 points, and Montana's bench added 28, the most since the Seattle game in December.

Most recently (Northern Arizona): After losing at home to Northern Colorado and Sacramento State by 12 and 14 points, the Lumberjacks bounced back and picked up a 77-71 road win at Northern Colorado on Saturday against a UNC team that is having some late-season success.

NAU won that game on the boards. Northern Arizona, which got 22 points from Khiarica Rasheed, out-rebounded Northern Colorado 40-21 and turned 13 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points. The Bears had just three offensive rebounds and three second-chance points.

Most recently (Eastern Washington): The Eagles play games at Weber State and Idaho State this week before hosting Montana on Monday. Eastern Washington has collected all four of its wins this season on its home court.

Since picking up their first two Division I wins of the season in mid-January, at home against Weber State and Portland State, the Eagles have dropped five straight. During that losing streak, Eastern Washington is averaging 50 points on 30.2 percent shooting.

Where they stand: Montana's win on Monday allowed it to remain in fourth place, half a game ahead of Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, which has won seven of its last eight to surge into the top half of the Big Sky standings.

That puts some added weight on Thursday night's game at Northern Arizona, as the Lady Griz and Lumberjacks try to position themselves for a top-five finish and a bye through the opening round at next month's Big Sky tournament in Boise.

Montana has had to play a first-round game five of the last six years at the tournament.

Eastern Washington is sitting in 10th place in the Big Sky standings, ahead of only Portland State, which is on a 10-game losing streak and lost 93-45 at Northern Colorado on Monday.

The first meeting: Montana 66, Northern Arizona 60 – The Lady Griz led most of the way but never by more than nine points. Montana led 27-25 at the half, 46-41 after three quarters and by at least two possessions the entirety of the fourth.

Carmen Gfeller had an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double to lead Montana, with 12 of her points coming at the line.

Northern Arizona had just seven turnovers and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, but Montana limited the Lumberjacks to 30.3 percent shooting, still NAU's second-lowest percentage of the season. Khiarica Rasheed had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Regan Schenck 13 points.

Series history:

* Montana leads the series with Northern Arizona 61-14 and has gone 25-9 against the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff.

* Montana is 16-3 against Northern Arizona in the teams' last 19 meetings.

* The teams played a two-game series in Flagstaff last season. Montana won the opener 83-74. Northern Arizona won two days later 89-76.

The first meeting: Montana 68, Eastern Washington 50 – The Lady Griz raced out to a 22-4 lead after one quarter in a game that had the makings of a blowout, but the Eagles matched Montana the rest of the way, falling by the same 18 points.

EWU scored four points in the first quarter, eight in the second, 16 in the third and 22 in the fourth. After shooting 14.3 percent (4 for 28) in the first half, the Eagles shot 42.9 percent in the second.

Carmen Gfeller led Montana with 15 points. Sammy Fatkin added 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range.

Jaydia Martin, who had two points at the half, finished with 21 but on 23 shot attempts. She also added 11 rebounds. Jacinta Buckley added 15 points off the bench.

Series history:

* Montana leads the all-time series with Eastern Washington 76-24 and has gone 28-15 against the Eagles in Cheney.

* Montana has won five straight over Eastern Washington, which followed the Eagles' six-game winning streak, its longest of the series that dates back to the 1974-75 season.

* Montana has won two straight at Reese Court, handily in 2019-20 (77-56) and by a closer margin last season (65-62).

* Of the teams' last 11 matchups in Cheney, 10 of them have been decided by 10 points or fewer, six by three points or fewer.

Montana notes:

* The Lady Griz continue to lead the Big Sky in field goal percentage defense (.350). That percentage ranks 15th nationally.

* Sophia Stiles ranks 11th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.60), Abby Anderson ranks 29th in blocks (2.1/g).

* In Thursday's 61-59 win over Weber State, Montana came back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter and won on an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer by Sophia Stiles.

* Saturday's 65-58 win by Idaho State was the Bengals' fifth straight over Montana and their ninth in the last 11 games. It was also their fourth straight win in Missoula after previously going 2-41.

* Weber State (.407) and Idaho State (.413) both shot better than 40 percent against the Lady Griz. A team shooting 40 percent had only happened four times through Montana's first 17 games this season.

* Montana won 69-64 at Southern Utah on Monday night, holding the Big Sky's highest-scoring team to 34.9 percent shooting and to more than eight points below its season average.

* Montana won despite Sammy Fatkin sitting out and Abby Anderson and Carmen Gfeller both going scoreless through the first three quarters.

* Montana, which hit three early 3-pointers, led 21-13 after one quarter, 35-34 at the half and 50-47 through three quarters.

* The game had four ties and six lead changes in the fourth quarter before Gfeller hit a 3-pointer at the 3:08 mark to break a 60-60 deadlock.

* Montana outrebounded Southern Utah 46-36 to become just the second team since November to outrebound the Thunderbirds.

* Montana, at +10, matched Utah Valley with the best rebounding margin against Southern Utah this season.

* Gfeller scored all 10 of her points in the fourth quarter. Tsineke had 14, Kylie Frohlich a season-high 13 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Dani Bartsch matched a season high with nine points.

* Montana had nine turnovers at Southern Utah, the fourth time in seven games the Lady Griz have had fewer than 10 giveaways.

* Montana shot 40 percent or better in nine of 11 games prior to Christmas. The Lady Griz have shot less than 40 percent in eight of nine games since the holiday break.

* Monday's win was Montana's first on the road since November. The Lady Griz dropped their first three league road games before winning on Monday.

* Monday's bounce-back win made Montana 7-1 this season when coming off a loss (counting last year's season-ending loss and this year's season-opening win as one of those victories).

* Montana is 4-0 this season in games decided by five or fewer points, 12-0 when leading with five minutes remaining, 14-0 when leading with two minutes to play.

* Montana is 9-1 this season when shooting 40 percent or better, 5-5 when under 40 percent.

* Montana has outrebounded its opponent in 16 of 20 games this season, has attempted more free throws in 15 of 20 games.

* Montana is 11-0 this season when scoring 62 or more points.

* Abby Anderson played in her 100th career game on Saturday against Idaho State.

* Kylie Frohlich's 13 points on Monday off the bench were a season high. Her nine rebounds were one off her career high.

* Carmen Gfeller played a season-low 14 minutes on Monday because of foul trouble. She still recorded her 16th game of the season with 10 or more points.

* Katerina Tsineke's 14 points on Monday was her second-highest scoring game of the season, behind the 18 she scored against Seattle in December.

* Kyndall Keller is 6 for 6 at the free throw line this season, 34 for 36 (.944) for her Lady Griz career.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* With Southern Utah's loss on Monday to Montana and Montana State's comeback win at Idaho, the Bobcats now sit atop the league standings at 10-2.

* Idaho State, which lost at Montana State on Thursday, trails at 10-3.

* Southern Utah dropped to 9-3 on Monday and hosts Montana State on Thursday night in a big matchup from an earlier postponement.

* Montana (7-4), Sacramento State (7-5) and Northern Arizona (7-5) all are sitting on seven wins.

Thursday games: UM at NAU, MSU at SUU, SAC at UNC, UI at ISU, EWU at WSU

Saturday games: EWU at ISU, UI at WSU, SAC at SUU, MSU at NAU

Monday games: UM at EWU, UNC at SUU

Game to monitor: Sacramento State at Northern Colorado on Thursday. Two teams picked in the bottom half of the preseason coaches' poll that are playing well as the season moves into February. The Hornets have won seven of eight, the Bears three of four.

Upcoming: Montana will have three games in five days. The Lady Griz will host Idaho on Thursday, Feb. 17, then play at Portland State on Saturday, Feb. 19, and at Idaho on Monday, Feb. 21.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Dani Bartsch

Sammy Fatkin

Kylie Frohlich

Carmen Gfeller

Kyndall Keller

Sophia Stiles

Katerina Tsineke

University of Montana Athletics