Lady Griz to face WAC favorites on the road

The Montana women's basketball team, after opening the season with a pair of games against 2023 NCAA tournament squads, will be back in action Monday night when it faces Grand Canyon in Phoenix.

The Lady Griz (0-2) and Lopes (2-1), who won 21 games last season and were picked to win the Western Athletic Conference title this year, will tip off at 6 p.m. at GCU Arena.

Montana opened its season with home losses to Gonzaga, 83-70, and Washington State, 61-49. Grand Canyon defeated Saint Mary's and North Dakota before falling by eight to Oregon on Thursday night.

Grand Canyon won its matchup against Montana in Missoula last December 71-63, pulling away from a 56-56 deadlock with four minutes to play.

The Lady Griz will then return for three straight home games, against Dickinson State (Monday, Nov. 27), Loyola Marymount (Wednesday, Dec. 6) and Colorado State (Saturday, Dec. 9).

Coverage: Monday's game will be streamed on ESPN+. The local call with Ace Sauerwein can be heard on KGRZ (92.7 FM/1450 AM), KGRZMissoula.com or on the Varsity Network app.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz played two dissimilar games in opening the season 0-2.

Against Gonzaga, Montana hit 10 3-pointers and shot 41.4 percent overall but allowed 51 second-half points, 30 in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs pulled away for a 13-point win.

On Tuesday night, Montana held Washington State to its lowest point total of the season, 61 points, and outrebounded the Cougars 44-39 but shot just 33.9 percent and turned the ball over 19 times.

Through two games, MJ Bruno, at 10.0 points per game, is Montana's lone player averaging in double figures. Gina Marxen is averaging 9.5 points off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting from the arc.

Dani Bartsch, with rebounding games of 10 and 11 to open the season, leads the Lady Griz at 10.5 boards per game. She has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in nine of her last 12 games dating back to last season.

It's the first time since Hollie Tyler did it in 2002-03 that a Montana player has started the season with consecutive games of 10+ rebounds.

At a glance (Grand Canyon): The Lopes will enter Monday's game with a record of 2-1.

Grand Canyon won its season opener at home, 55-52 over Saint Mary's, closing the game on a 22-0 run after falling behind 52-33 with 7:32 to go in the fourth quarter.

The Lopes then went on the road and posted an impressive wire-to-wire 73-61 win at North Dakota against the team picked fourth in the preseason Summit League poll.

Grand Canyon lost 64-56 at home to Oregon on Thursday night. The Lopes were within two, 42-40, late in the third quarter before the Ducks went on a game-winning 10-0 run.

It was a rare home loss for Grand Canyon, which is now 38-9 at GCU Arena under fourth-year coach Molly Miller, who is 63-28 overall at the school.

Miller made a name for herself at her previous coaching stop, leading Division II Drury to a six-year record of 180-17, including 67-1 her last two years before being hired by Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon went 21-10 last year and finished fourth in the WAC at 12-6. The team's top three scorers returned from that team.

In the offseason, Grand Canyon added junior guard Trinity San Antonio, who was first-team All-WAC last season at California Baptist, where she averaged 14.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

San Antonio was one of five players voted to the Preseason All-WAC Team, as was senior teammate Tiarra Brown, who last season averaged 11.3 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Through three games, Naudia Evans (11.7/g), San Antonio (11.7/g) and Brown (11.0/g) lead Grand Canyon in scoring.

Series history: Montana and Grand Canyon will be meeting for the fourth time on Monday night. The Lady Griz are 2-1 all-time against the Lopes, 1-0 in Phoenix.

Montana won the teams' first two matchups, winning 69-47 at GCU Arena in December 2018 and 72-67 in Missoula in November 2019.

Grand Canyon won last year's matchup 71-63 in Missoula behind Sydney Palma's 22 points and Olivia Lane's 19 points off the bench.

Montana led 48-46 through three quarter but Grand Canyon outscored the Lady Griz 25-15 in the fourth quarter, going 8 for 12 from the field with one turnover.

Gina Marxen tied the score at 56-56 with two free throws with 4:19 remaining. Grand Canyon went on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to pull away.

Quoting coach Brian Holsinger:

On opening the season with Gonzaga and Washington State: "You had two games that were completely different, one where our offense played pretty well and our defense didn't, and one where our defense played pretty well and our offense didn't. We saw a lot of things we can get better at."

On takeaways from the first two games: "When you start to play games, you begin to develop an identity. Our identity needs to be on the defensive end. This team is gifted offensively, even though we didn't play like it the other night. We will have a defensive identity. We're working toward that.

"It we can hold people to 60 points night in and night out and 37 percent shooting, we're going to win a lot of games. We took steps forward defensively from our first game to our second. I want to see us take steps in our next game, then continue to do the right things on offense more and more."

On scoring 49 points against Washington State: "They are a really good defensive team. They make it hard on you. They are savvy, smart. They do a lot of different things so you don't know what you're necessarily going to get."

On facing Grand Canyon, a team with a defensive identity: "They are going to try to create chaos and turn you over and make things really difficult. You have to be simple and fundamental."

On cutting down the 33 turnovers Montana had in its first two games: "If there was one thing from Washington State that cost us the game, it was taking care of the ball. We gave them the ball a number of times for easy baskets.

"It will be the same on Monday. The challenge will be to take care of the ball. Anytime someone wants to trap or gamble, if you're fundamentally sound, you're going to get good shots. But you have to be fundamentally sound, make the right reads and make the easy plays."

Upcoming: Montana won't play again until hosting Dickinson State on Monday, Nov. 27, and then will have another long stretch before its next game against Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

MJ Bruno

Gina Marxen

University of Montana Athletics