A win is a win

Thursday, January 12

Ogden, Utah

6 PM

Montana

7-9, 3-2BSC

Weber State

4-12, 0-4BSC

OT 1

Montana

Weber St.

Photos: Weber State Athletics

1/12/2023 9:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

On a night when the offense never got rolling, it was the Lady Griz defense that came to the rescue.

Montana held Weber State to 32.0 percent shooting and did just enough on the other end of the court to pull out a 67-64 overtime victory over the Wildcats on Thursday at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.

Carmen Gfeller scored 24 points to pull within eight of 1,000 for her career, and Montana overcame 20 turnovers and 31.1 percent shooting.

"We probably couldn't play worse offensively than we did today. With that being said, good teams find ways to win. We did not play well, but I will say we did defend most of the game fairly well," said coach Brian Holsinger. "We executed the game plan, and we made them miss a lot."

Both teams missed a lot, 93 times to be exact, and combined to shoot 31.6 percent. All those misses kept the game close from start to finish.

Montana led 26-21 at the half, 43-39 after three quarters and had to survive some late-game drama.

After Gfeller hit a pair of pressure free throws with 16.4 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it at 53-53, Weber State had a chance to hold the ball for the final shot.

The Wildcats instead went for the win with seven seconds left off an inbounds play under their basket, and Daryn Hickok missed a point-blank shot she makes nine out of 10 times, if not more.

That gave Montana new life, but the Lady Griz couldn't finish it off in regulation.

They ran the potential game-winning play to perfection, isolating Gfeller on the block with plenty of time for her to create, but her shot from six feet out in the paint came up short.

The 3-point shot was not exempt from Montana's struggles on Thursday. The Lady Griz went 4 for 22 from the arc through the end of regulation.

But Gfeller hit one to open the overtime period, and Mack Konig hit from the corner, right in front of the Lady Griz bench, to put her team up 61-59 with 2:17 to go, and Montana held the lead the rest of the way.

Gina Marxen put Montana up 67-64 with two free throws with 3.8 seconds left, and a Weber State offensive foul on a hip-check of a screen seemed to put the game out of reach.

But Montana airmailed the ensuing inbounds pass from end line to end line without the ball being touched, giving Weber State one final chance from under its own basket.

Laura Taylor had a nice look at a 3-pointer from the left wing that could have sent the game to a second overtime, but her shot bounced off the rim.

"Credit to our kids. We won this with defense and from the free throw line," said Holsinger, whose team was 23 of 27 at the stripe. "We definitely didn't win this with offense.

"Some of that had to do with them. They are physical. We knew they were going to be physical. We have to handle that better. We have to be stronger, we have to be tougher.

"We can learn from it. Last year in this gym we came out and played pretty similarly and found a way to lose. Tonight we found a way to win. It wasn't pretty at all, but a win is a win in conference on the road."

Marxen went 9 for 9 from the line to finish with 11 points and five assists. Konig had 10 points and four assists.

Sammy Fatkin grabbed 12 rebounds, a career high by four, Libby Stump had eight, a career high by three, and Dani Bartsch came off the bench to total eight points and eight rebounds.

Montana actually made three of its first five shots to jump out to a quick 7-2 lead, but the Lady Griz would miss their next 13 shots through the start of the second quarter.

That allowed Weber State, which had lost its previous seven games by mostly wide margins, to score nine straight points.

It was a grind the rest of the way.

"Credit to them. They'd lost seven in a row and came out desperate. Like I told the team, desperation breeds inspiration, and they played inspired basketball tonight. Hats off to them, but I'm happy to get out of here with a win," said Holsinger.

"We played poorly, especially on offense. There are no two ways about it, but we found a way. That's what defensive teams that start to have defensive focus do. We're improving in that area for sure."

Montana will now turn its attention to Idaho State, which lost a close 60-57 game to Montana State on Thursday in Pocatello for its first Big Sky defeat.

The Lady Griz have lost six straight against the Bengals, nine of 10, and haven't won inside Reed Gym since 2015.

Montana is seeking its first road-trip sweep in Big Sky play under Holsinger.

"We've got 40 minutes down, we've got 40 minutes to go on this road trip," he said. "That's what we're going to concentrate on most."