Lady Griz seeking Boise breakthrough

The Montana women's basketball team, the tournament's No. 5 seed, will play this week at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Boise, Idaho.

The 11-team tournament will open on Monday with first-round games at Idaho Central Arena and conclude with the championship game on Friday afternoon.

Montana (19-10, 12-8 BSC), the lowest-seeded team to get a bye, will face No. 4 Northern Arizona (15-13, 12-8 BSC) in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The winner will advance to play in a semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Montana and Northern Arizona split their regular-season series by a total of seven points. The Lady Griz won by six in Missoula, 66-60, the Lumberjacks by a point, 60-59, in Flagstaff.

Fun fact: Northern Arizona was picked fourth in the preseason coaches' poll, Montana was selected fifth.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz enter the postseason on a victory, after winning 59-53 at Sacramento State on Friday night. That followed a 72-64 overtime loss at Northern Colorado on Wednesday, a game Montana led by seven entering the final minute of regulation.

Montana has won three of four and five of seven, the only two losses during that stretch coming at Idaho and Northern Colorado, games the Lady Griz led by 12 or more in the second half.

None of Montana's last 10 opponents has shot better than 40 percent, and the Lady Griz take the Big Sky's best field goal percentage defense of .352 into the postseason. That percentage ranks 17th nationally.

On the other end of the court, Montana has had some of its most consistent offensive output of the season. The Lady Griz are averaging 69.4 points on 45.9 percent shooting the last seven games.

Carmen Gfeller, who averages 13.9 points on 52.1 percent shooting and 6.7 rebounds, leads Montana in both categories. Sophia Stiles averages 11.8 points and 6.0 rebounds, and has 118 assists.

Both players are coming off recent career-best scoring games. Gfeller had 34 points in Montana's 71-57 home-court victory over Montana State. Stiles had 29 points in Friday's victory at Sacramento State.

Abby Anderson averages 9.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and leads the Big Sky in blocked shots with 65, 17 more than any other player. At 2.24 per game, she ranks 23rd in the nation.

Sammy Fatkin, who was averaging 13.4 points at the time of her injury, missed nine games after getting sidelined against Idaho State on Feb. 5. She played 11 minutes on Friday at Sacramento State in her first game back.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): After losing three of four between Feb. 12 and Feb. 24, the Lumberjacks have turned things around and enter the postseason on a roll. NAU has won three straight, all by 12 points or more, while averaging 85.3 points on 48.7 percent shooting.

Northern Arizona leads the Big Sky in both scoring (73.1/g) and shooting (.445), which is its favored end of the floor. The Lumberjacks allow 71.5 points on 42.4 percent shooting.

Northern Arizona has four players averaging between 9.6 and 11.4 points, all of whom shoot better than 44 percent. The leader of the high-scoring unit is point guard Regan Schenck, who averages 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds, and who ranks 12th nationally in assists (5.9/g).

Northern Arizona won 89-77 on Feb. 26 at Weber State, then closed the regular season with home wins over Eastern Washington, 81-67, and Idaho, 86-69, a win that snapped the Vandals' six-game winning streak.

Recent history: Montana and Northern Arizona split their season series, each winning on their home floor.

In January in Missoula, Montana won 66-60. With the game tied 34-34 midway through the third quarter, the Lady Griz scored seven straight points and held the lead the final 15 minutes but never by more than nine points.

In a battle of immovable object against unstoppable force, the defense won out. Montana held Northern Arizona to 30.3 percent shooting, NAU's second-lowest percentage in 28 regular season games.

Khiarica Rasheed had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Schenck added 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. NAU's other three starters combined to go 6 for 29.

Carmen Gfeller had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Montana.

In the rematch in Flagstaff in February, Montana fell behind 12-2 and trailed 14-5 at the first break after shooting 2 of 16 in the first quarter. Trailing by 13 in the second quarter, Montana cut the deficit to five, 27-22, by halftime.

Montana grabbed its first lead of the second half early in the fourth quarter, and the game remained tight to the closing second.

With the game tied 57-57, Sophia Stiles hit a floater from 12 feet out with 0.8 seconds left that gave Montana a 59-57 lead. Northern Arizona advanced the ball and did the only thing it could, threw it toward the rim and hoped for the best.

Nina Radford found Rasheed on the far side of the basket, and Rasheed tipped the ball to the rim while getting fouled. The ball rolled in, and her free throw with 0.3 seconds left gave Northern Arizona a 60-59 win.

Montana limited Northern Arizona to 34.5 percent shooting, but it wasn't quite good enough. Stiles had 18 points. The Lumberjacks limited Gfeller and Anderson, both of whom had foul trouble, to 13 combined points on 5-of-16 shooting.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona 61-15. The Lady Griz are 2-2 against the Lumberjacks at neutral sites and 5-3 against NAU in the postseason.

The teams' most recent postseason meeting came in Boise in the 4-5 game two seasons ago. A 16-0 run by Northern Arizona over the second and third quarters turned a seven-point deficit into a nine-point lead, and the Lumberjacks held the lead the rest of the way.

Emma Stockholm had a clean look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was off the mark and Northern Arizona won 68-65.

It was the final game for the Lady Griz under coach Shannon Schweyen and one of the last sporting events to take place before the pandemic shut down the sports world two days later.

Tournament bona fides: No other Big Sky team can match Montana's postseason success, with a 56-18 record and 21 tournament championships, but that's a body of work that's been getting compiled since the early 80s.

More recently, Montana is zero for Boise, with three straight opening-game losses, all to lower-seeded teams.

No. 7 Montana lost 64-56 to No. 10 Southern Utah in 2019, No. 4 Montana lost 68-65 to No. 5 Northern Arizona in 2020 and the low point, No. 6 Montana lost 65-58 to No. 11 and then 2-21 Sacramento State 65-58 last season.

Montana led by 10 in the second quarter but just 30-27 at the half. The Lady Griz then went 9 for 35 (.257) in the second half, 2 for 17 from the arc, as the Hornets pulled the upset, a final hurrah for former coach Bunky Harkleroad, who was let go just a few days later.

Since the Big Sky Conference went to an all-in format and a neutral site as host – first Reno for three years and now year No. 4 in Boise – Montana is 2-6.

No player on this year's Lady Griz team has played in a Big Sky tournament victory.

Montana is 2-3 all-time as the No. 5 seed, with wins in 1999 over Weber State at Cal State Northridge and 2016 over Northern Arizona in Reno. The Lady Griz are 6-11 all-time as the lower seed.

Montana's last win as a lower-seeded team: No. 3 Montana 73, No. 2 Southern Utah 69 in 2014 in Grand Forks in the semifinals as the Lady Griz came back from a 13-point deficit in the final seven minutes.

Northern Arizona is 11-22 in its Big Sky tournament history and has won at least one postseason game the last two years, the first time the Lumberjacks have done that since 2006 and '07.

Monday schedule:

No. 8 Northern Colorado vs. No. 9 Eastern Washington, 2:30 p.m. – The Bears won by eight in Greeley, 62-54, the Eagles won by six in Cheney, 62-56.

No. 7 Sacramento State vs. No. 10 Weber State, 5:30 p.m. – The Hornets got swept by Weber State, 62-52 at home, 79-76 on the road, losses that proved costly to Sacramento State in the standings.

No. 6 Idaho vs. No. 11 Portland State, 8:00 p.m. – The teams will be playing for the third time in eight days on Monday. The Vandals won last week 64-39 at Moscow and 73-68 in Portland.

Tuesday schedule:

No. 1 Idaho State vs. UNC/EWU, noon – The Bengals swept the Eagles by 21 and 17 points, split with the Bears, winning 68-56 in Pocatello, losing 53-52 in Greeley by going 1 for 12 in the fourth quarter.

No. 4 Northern Arizona vs. No. 5 Montana, 2:30 p.m.

No. 2 Montana State vs. SAC/WSU, 5:30 p.m. – The Bobcats swept the Hornets, split with the Wildcats in games decided by five and three points.

No. 3 Southern Utah vs. UI/PSU, 8 p.m. – The Thunderbirds and Vandals split, SUU winning by 22 at home, UI by 19 at home. Southern Utah swept Portland State.

Summary:

As first-year Montana coach Brian Holsinger looks ahead to the Big Sky tournament, he sees an opportunity. And not just for his team but all of them.

Top seed Idaho State closed the season 3-2, its three wins all coming by 11 points or fewer. And Montana has recent wins over No. 2 Montana State and No. 3 Southern Utah by a combined 39 points.

The Lady Griz also have four losses this season to teams who will be playing first-round games on Monday, seeds 6 through 11.

"I don't know what it's been like in the past, but it definitely feels like it's up for grabs," he said. "It's all about who's playing the best and doing the right things.

"We've proven we can beat the best teams and that we can lose to teams who are lower in the rankings. It's an exciting time for us to grow as a team."

The last two weeks have encapsulated Montana as a team. Dominant home wins over Southern Utah and Montana State.

A loss at Northern Colorado after giving up a big second-half lead. Then Friday's bounce-back win at Sacramento State.

"We've had some really interesting things where we've had wins and really interesting losses, and our team has grown through all of those," he said.

"We understand better now than we have all season what it takes each game to win."

In that way, Wednesday's loss at Northern Colorado may have been more beneficial than had Montana held on to win by a point.

The Lady Griz led by seven with a minute left in regulation, then gave up a 3-pointer before turning the ball over on an over-and-back violation.

Montana, still up four, forced a miss with 22 seconds left but gave up an offensive rebound and a put-back.

Now up two, Montana had a five-second violation on an inbounds pass. The Bears missed a 3-pointer and the Lady Griz got the rebound but hit only one of two free throws with 13 seconds left.

That kept it a 3-point game and allowed Northern Colorado to go down and hit the tying 3-point shot. The Bears rolled in overtime.

The late-game mistakes just snowballed.

"We talked after that loss about thinking about the next right thing. Sometimes we think about what's happened before instead of what's the next right thing," said Holsinger.

"Maybe that's a box out, maybe that's a pass, maybe that's a shot, maybe that's chasing a screen. Whatever that is, do the next right thing you have to do."

Montana played on Friday like a team that had taken it all to heart. The Lady Griz, in a play-in game for a postseason bye, led 10-2 five minutes in.

Sacramento State would tie it at 48-48 early in the fourth quarter, but Sophia Stiles scored eight straight points for Montana to put the Lady Griz up 56-50 and on their way to victory.

Montana limited Sacramento State to 32.8 percent shooting. Wednesday lesson: learned.

"I was really pleased how we responded after the Northern Colorado game," Holsinger said. "I just hope that momentum carries over."

His team got a boost, if not in her usual production then at least in her return, from Sammy Fatkin, who hadn't played since Feb. 5 before getting 11 minutes on Friday.

"She gives us another threat from the perimeter, somebody who's a proven scorer for us," said Holsinger. "She's another player who's really good who can help us win.

"She was one of our better perimeter defenders all season, doing the right things and playing really hard. I think we missed the perimeter defense from her as much as anything."

Montana notes:

* Montana is one win away from No. 20 on the season. What used to be routine for the program would be the first time since 2015-16, the first since Robin Selvig retired following that season.

* Friday's win at Sacramento State made Montana 8-2 this season coming off a loss. The Lady Griz have lost back-to-back games just twice this season and haven't lost more than two in a row.

* Northern Arizona is the only other Big Sky team with a losing streak of no more than two this season.

* Montana will be playing its third neutral-site game of the season on Tuesday. The Lady Griz played Houston Baptist and Nicholls State at Grand Canyon's tournament in November.

* Northern Arizona is playing its first neutral-site game of the season.

* Wednesday's loss at Northern Colorado was Montana's first this season in 20 games when leading with two minutes to go in regulation.

* It also dropped Montana to 15-2 this season when scoring 62 or more points.

* Montana is 7-8 in games decided by 10 points or fewer but 5-2 in games decided by five points or fewer.

* Abby Anderson needs seven rebounds to reach 500 for her career. She'll become the 38th player in program history to reach 500. … Anderson has 23 assists the last six games.

* Sophia Stiles has been in double figures in scoring the last nine games. Her previous career best was five games. She is averaging 16.9 points the last nine games, which mostly mirrors the absence of Sammy Fatkin.

* Her 29 points on Friday on 13-of-25 shooting broke her previous career high of 27 set in Montana's home win over Idaho.

* Kylie Frohlich played in her 100th career game on Wednesday at Northern Colorado. She also made her 100th career basket in that game.

* Nyah Morris-Nelson went 4 for 8 from 3-point range at Northern Colorado and Sacramento State. She hit just seven 3-pointers the previous 12 games on 45 attempts.

* Carmen Gfeller scored in double figures in 23 of 29 games during the regular season. … Gfeller has hit 34 3-pointers this season. She made 14 her first two years as a Lady Griz.

* Kyndall Keller went 2 for 2 from the free throw line at Northern Colorado. She is 19 for 20 this season, 47 for 50 for her career.

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Players Mentioned

Abby Anderson

Sammy Fatkin

Kylie Frohlich

Carmen Gfeller

Kyndall Keller

Nyah Morris-Nelson

Sophia Stiles

Emma Stockholm

University of Montana Athletics