Lady Griz give up late lead, fall to Bears

Wednesday, March 2

Greeley, Colo.

6 PM

Montana

18-10, 11-8BSC

Northern Colorado

12-15, 8-11BSC

OT 1

Montana

Northern Colorado

Photos: Northern Colorado Athletics

3/2/2022 10:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana coach Brian Holsinger has been around college basketball long enough to know what likely was coming after his team's stirring victory over Montana State on Saturday: the rivalry-game letdown.

But even when you know it's coming, it can be difficult to defend against.

"I was worried about coming out flat, and that's what we did," said Holsinger, whose team lost 72-64 in overtime at Northern Colorado at Bank of Colorado Arena on Wednesday night in Greeley.

"I tried every trick in the book to try to get them fired up for this game, and I couldn't do it. We were flat the entire game."

Even so, Montana built a 12-point lead late in the third quarter and still led by seven going into the final minute of regulation.

That's when things fell apart.

Northern Colorado hit a 3-pointer. Montana had an over-and-back violation. The Bears hit a jumper. The Lady Griz had a five-second violation on an inbounds pass.

Still, Montana was in good shape, with its best free throw shooter going to the line with 13 seconds left and the Lady Griz up two.

But Carmen Gfeller hit only one of two, which set up Alexis Chapman's game-tying, banked-in 3-pointer in the closing seconds that tied the game at 60 and sent it to overtime.

From there it was all Bears. Northern Colorado scored the opening five points of overtime and outscored Montana, which went 1 for 9, 12-4 in the extra session.

"You give a team some hope, and you see what happened. We didn't execute, and you have to execute. A lot of mental mistakes. We shouldn't have been in that position," said Holsinger.

Montana fell behind early on Wednesday, which has been its habit. But it was only 5-0 and 8-2, and by the end of the first quarter, the Lady Griz led 18-13.

It was 33-28 at the half, and Montana got a 3-pointer from Nyah Morris-Nelson and a transition lay-in from Kyndall Keller late in the third quarter to stretch the lead to a dozen, 43-31.

Montana led 46-38 entering the fourth quarter.

If Northern Colorado essentially won the game in the final minute of regulation, it was the start of the fourth quarter that gave the Bears hope. They scored the first seven points to make it 46-45.

But Montana held just strong enough to hold onto the lead. Baskets by Gfeller, Abby Anderson and Gfeller again made it 57-50.

Two free throws by Keller with 1:04 to go kept it at seven, 59-52.

Then came Northern Colorado's first 3-pointer of the final minute. Then Montana dribbled across the half-court line after inbounding the ball in front of its own bench.

A UNC basket with 18 seconds left, off an offensive rebound, made it 59-57. Then came the five-second violation, which was whistled before five seconds had elapsed.

Northern Colorado missed a 3-pointer and Gfeller snagged the rebound with 13 seconds left. She hit one of two, which allowed Chapman (and the glass) to play hero.

Montana dropped to 2-7 in league games on the road, a record that includes two one-point losses and Wednesday's defeat.

"We didn't deserve to win. That's about as bad as we've played all season, and that's on me," said Holsinger.

"We've done this on the road a lot this season. It's two steps forward and a couple steps back. It's really disappointing."

And it was costly, as Montana tries to play its way into a top-five finish and a bye at next week's Big Sky Conference tournament in Boise.

Northern Arizona and Idaho both picked up wins on Wednesday, leaving them tied with Montana at 11-8 and in fourth in the Big Sky standings. Sacramento State, at 10-9, is one game back.

Gfeller, one of four Lady Griz starters in double figures, led Montana with 16 points and seven rebounds. Morris-Nelson hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.

Abby Anderson sat most of the first half with two fouls but still managed to impact the game at the defensive end. She finished with four blocks and 10 points before fouling out after just 20 minutes.

Sophia Stiles also fouled out. She finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Montana had 13 turnovers after halftime and got outrebounded for the game by seven, just the fifth time this season the Lady Griz have been out-boarded, only the second time by that large of a margin.

Montana shot 35.6 percent, snapping a streak of five straight games shooting better than 45 percent.

Chapman led Northern Colorado with a game-high 23 points. She went 5 for 8 from 3-point range.

Montana will play its final regular-season game on Friday at Sacramento State at 8 p.m. (MT).