Lady Griz pull out two-point win on the road

Saturday, December 16

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

7 PM (MT)

Montana

4-3

Cal Poly

3-6

Montana

Cal Poly

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Mo

12/16/2023 10:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

You can chalk up Montana's slow start at Cal Poly on Saturday evening to the exhilarating win their fellow Grizzlies had on the football field earlier in the day over North Dakota State at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.

Montana's 67-65 comeback win over the Mustangs? That credit goes to the Lady Griz seniors, who scored 16 points over the game's final 5:01 as Montana rallied from a 54-48 deficit to improve to 2-0 on the road this season, 4-3 overall.

"Big day for the Griz. We all were watching it on the way over to the game. Maybe that was the problem," said Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger, whose team allowed Cal Poly to make 10 of its first 13 shots and put up 24 first-quarter points.

"We were all excited from watching the game. Maybe we weren't focused enough on our own game. The first quarter, we weren't ready to go."

But Montana was ready to finish.

After falling behind by six midway through the fourth quarter, Montana closed the game making seven of its final nine shots, four of those from the 3-point line.

Gina Marxen had eight points in the final period, Carmen Gfeller six and Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw two, those coming with 16.7 seconds left when Marxen inbounded the ball to Gfeller, who threaded a bounce pass to Espenmiller-McGraw for what would be the game-winning basket and a 66-65 lead.

Gfeller hit one of two free throws with 4.2 seconds left for the game's final point.

"Credit to those three, they made big plays," said Holsinger. "That's what seniors do in those moments, they step up and make big plays, and they did."

For as out of sorts as Montana looked for large stretches of the game, the Lady Griz executed almost flawlessly over the final minutes.

Down 54-50, Marxen had a five-point possession when she hit a 3-pointer, then scored on a driving layup after Cal Poly was whistled for an off-the-ball foul on Marxen's made triple.

Gfeller and Marxen hit back-to-back 3-pointers before Dani Bartsch hit one of her own, a big one with 37 seconds left and the Lady Griz trailing 63-61.

After the Mustangs retook the lead, 65-64, with 24 seconds left, Espenmiller-McGraw scored off an inbounds play that followed a Montana timeout, everything going according to the whiteboard.

"I thought we executed some offensive things down the stretch that we needed to," said Holsinger. "We called a bunch of stuff down the stretch that got us some good looks.

"From about the four-minute mark on, we executed what we wanted to. We'd been pretty free-flowing. We called some very specific things and we executed really well down the stretch."

Cal Poly put up some big offensive numbers last Saturday in an 84-59 home win over Fresno State, and the Mustangs mirrored that output early against the Lady Griz, opening 10 of 13 and racing out to a 24-18 lead after 10 minutes.

"They were physical with us and we looked a little rusty from the start," said Holsinger. "It was good we shook that off in the second quarter, then we obviously defended better the rest of the way."

After falling behind by eight points early in the second quarter, Montana settled in and came back to take a two-point lead, 32-30.

Cal Poly led 36-34 at the half, 49-48 after three quarters.

Montana missed its first four shots of the fourth quarter and added five turnovers, which allowed Cal Poly to build a 54-48 lead. The Lady Griz outscored the Mustangs 19-11 the final 5:01, making big shot after big shot.

"We did not play our best by any means, but finding a way to win on the road when you don't play your best is always big," said Holsinger, whose team had a season-high 21 turnovers.

"But that's not going to cut it going forward. We have to play better."

Montana's late-game execution extended to the defensive end. After Gfeller put Montana up 67-65 with 4.2 seconds left, Cal Poly was stymied on its own end as the Mustangs looked to create something from the sideline and multiple timeouts. Nothing came of it.

Gfeller finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks, while Marxen, who went 5 for 9 from the 3-point line, added 17 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench.

Mack Konig had nine points, all in the first half, Bartsch grabbed 11 rebounds, her 12th career game with 10 or more boards.

Montana shot 47.4 percent, a season best against a Division I opponent, hit 10 3-pointers for the fourth time in seven games and outrebounded its sixth straight opponent.

Montana will face San Diego and UC San Diego on Wednesday and Thursday at the USD Winter Classic.