Lady Griz close out regular season

The Montana women's basketball team will close out its regular-season schedule with three games in five days, two on the road, one at home.

The Lady Griz (13-13, 9-6 BSC) will play at Portland State (12-13, 7-8 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. (MT), at Sacramento State (19-7, 10-5 BSC) at 2 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.

Montana will turn around and host Idaho (11-15, 7-8 BSC) on Monday at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena on Senior Night.

Prior to facing Montana on Saturday, Sacramento State will host Big Sky Conference leader Montana State on Thursday night.

Idaho has home games against Idaho State and Weber State on Thursday and Saturday before playing at Montana on Monday night.

Monday night's five league games will conclude the regular-season Big Sky schedule. The conference tournament opens in Boise on Saturday, March 4.

Coverage: Catch all three games on ESPN+ or on KMPT 930 AM/99.7 FM or 930kmpt.com with Ace Sauerwein.

Where they stand (Montana): The Lady Griz fell off the pace of the Big Sky leaders with a home loss to Idaho State and Saturday's loss at Montana State. Montana is sitting alone in fourth place behind Montana State, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State.

Where they stand (Portland State): The Vikings, who got swept on the Idaho State-Weber State road trip last week, dropped into a tie for sixth with Idaho. Eastern Washington sits one game ahead, Idaho State one game behind in the chase to avoid a Saturday game in Boise.

Where they stand (Sacramento State): The Hornets are in third place in the Big Sky, two games behind the league-leading Bobcats with a chance to close that gap to one game on Thursday night. Northern Arizona, which will be favored in its final two games, sits between the Bobcats and Hornets.

Where they stand (Idaho): The Vandals had won five of six before Saturday's 87-78 loss at Northern Arizona. Idaho is tied for sixth in the Big Sky with Portland State, one of four teams fighting to avoid a first-round game on Saturday in Boise.

What's at stake: With three games in five days for eight of the Big Sky's 10 teams, there are a lot of could's still hanging out there.

Montana could drop all the way to seventh and face a first-round game on Saturday in Boise or the Lady Griz could win their way all the way up to the No. 2 seed, though that would require some help.

Portland State could be playing in the 7-8 game on Saturday in Boise or get a bye to Monday's second day of quarterfinal games. Same with Idaho.

Sacramento State could win its way to an outright Big Sky regular-season championship and the tournament's No. 1 seed, again with some help, or be playing on quarterfinal Monday.

The big picture will start to clear on Thursday, get further clarified on Saturday, then crystalize with Monday's five games.

Most recently (Montana): The Lady Griz had won five of six going into Saturday's game at Montana State but the Bobcats' inside presence and a third-quarter lull for Montana allowed MSU to come away with a 75-73 win.

Montana State scored 44 points in the paint, the same number they scored when the Bobcats won in Missoula in January, and turned a 35-33 halftime lead into a 14-point fourth-quarter advantage when Montana went just 3 for 10 with seven turnovers in the third quarter.

Trailing by 11 with three minutes left, Montana scored 14 points in five possessions, hitting four 3-pointers, to cut Montana State's led to two, 70-68, with 24 seconds left.

The Lady Griz got the ball down three, 71-68, but couldn't score when they had a chance to tie it or cut their deficit to one. Sammy Fatkin hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to make the final margin two points.

Most recently (Portland State): The Vikings took a three-game winning streak into the Idaho State-Weber State road trip and returned home with a two-game losing streak.

Portland State led Idaho State 21-20 at the half on Thursday but got outscored 39-22 in the second half to lose 59-43, PSU's lowest-scoring game of the season. The Vikings, who didn't have anyone score in double figures, shot 34.0 percent and got badly beaten on the boards, getting outrebounded 41-22.

Needing a bounce-back win against last-place Weber State on Saturday, Portland State shot 34.5 percent and lost 62-55, a setback that cost PSU a chance to remain in the top six in the league standings with three games to go.

Most recently (Sacramento State): Sitting in third place, the Hornets might be getting overlooked. Playing without one of the Big Sky's top 3-point shooters, Katie Peneueta, Sac State got swept on the Montana-Montana State road trip last month, losing both games by a total of five points.

That was followed by a nine-point loss at Eastern Washington.

Since then, with Peneueta back, it's been four wins in five games while averaging more than 75 points per game. The only setback was an 84-82 home loss in overtime to Northern Arizona, the Hornets' lone Big Sky home loss this season and first since Nov. 12.

Last weekend Sacramento State had little trouble winning at Weber State, 66-52, and at Idaho State, 75-62. At Pocatello, the Hornets led 42-26 at the half and held a 24-point second-half lead.

Most recently (Idaho): Like Montana, Idaho has won five of its last seven games, its losses at home to Sacramento State, 77-70, and on Saturday at Northern Arizona, 87-78.

The Vandals, who have Beyonce Bea, who always gives them a chance, have scored at least 70 points in each of their last five games after scoring fewer than 70 their first eight games of 2023.

The first meeting (Montana-Portland State): The Lady Griz cruised past the Vikings when the teams met last month in Missoula 88-56. Montana led 52-30 at the half and hit a season-high 13 3-pointers while holding PSU to 34.5 percent shooting.

Four starters scored in double figures for the Lady Griz, who also got 29 points from their bench.

Esmeralda Morales led Portland State with 18 points but got there on 6-of-19 shooting. Jada Lewis had 12, nobody else scored more than five.

Series history (Montana-Portland State): Montana leads the all-time series 53-22 and has gone 20-14 against the Vikings in Portland. The Lady Griz won 76-55 at PSU last season to snap a four-game losing streak on the Vikings' home floor.

Montana has gone 3-0 against Portland State under second-year Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger. In those three wins, the Lady Griz have averaged 85.7 points on 49.7 percent shooting while hitting 32 3-pointers.

The first meeting (Montana-Sacramento State): The Hornets arrived in Missoula last month in first place in the Big Sky and left with an 81-77 loss.

Sacramento State went 17 for 31 (.548) in the first half, 10 for 18 (.556) from the 3-point line, to build a 47-38 halftime lead.

It would grow to 14 points in the third quarter and was still 10, 67-57, with seven minutes left before Montana staged a winning rally.

Sacramento State made just two baskets over the final 5:50 as Montana improved to 28-1 all-time at home against the Hornets.

Gina Marxen gave Montana the lead for good with an and-one finish with 45 seconds left. Sacramento State was 0 for 1 with two turnovers in the final minute of the game.

Montana had five players in double figures, led by Mack Konig who had 21 points and six assists.

Kahlaijah Dean had 24 points for the Hornets on 9-of-23 shooting. Solape Amusan hit six 3-pointers (she has 26 on the season) and scored 19 points. Montana limited Isnelle Natabou to seven points and 10 rebounds on just four shot attempts.

Series history (Montana-Sacramento State): Montana leads the all-time series 46-8 and has won the teams' last three matchups and 10 of the last 11. The Lady Griz have gone 18-6 against the Hornets at The Nest with three straight wins.

The first meeting (Montana-Idaho): After opening league in late December with a nice road win at Eastern Washington, Montana lost two days later at Idaho 79-71 as Beyonce Bea finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.

Sydney Gandy added 17 points and eight assists, hitting 5 of 10 from the 3-point line.

Bea scored 20 points in the second quarter alone to spark Idaho to a 45-32 halftime lead. The final eight-point margin was the first time in the second half that Idaho's lead over the final 20 minutes was less than 10 points.

Sammy Fatkin led Montana with 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Series history (Montana-Idaho): Montana leads the all-time series with Idaho 44-16 and has gone 28-3 against the Vandals in Missoula.

The Lady Griz lost to the Vandals at home in 1985, then to Jon Newlee-coached teams in both 2016-17 and 2017-18. Montana has won the last three in Missoula over Idaho by three, nine and three points.

Montana notes:

* Monday's game will be Senior Night for Sammy Fatkin and Katerina Tsineke.

Fatkin played one season at Arizona, the 2018-19 season and six games of the 2019-20 season at Montana before stepping away. She returned to the Lady Griz to play for coach Brian Holsinger the last two seasons.

She is averaging 12.1 points this season and a career-high 5.7 rebounds. She had back-to-back 20-point scoring games in home wins over Providence and North Dakota in November, scored 21 at Gonzaga, 28 in Montana's road win at Idaho State last month.

Tsineke played in all 30 games last season, making 13 starts and averaging 5.3 points. She has totaled 16 points in 20 games played this year.

It was announced on Monday that fifth-year senior Carmen Gfeller will be returning for one more season in 2023-24.

* This will be the second time this season Montana has played three games in five days. Last month the Lady Griz escaped Weber State with a 67-64 overtime win, then had a thrilling rally in Pocatello to win 77-68 over Idaho State.

Montana took that momentum into a Monday home game against Eastern Washington and got shot out the gym, losing 87-60 in a game the Eagles held a shocking 48-25 halftime lead.

* Despite Saturday's loss at Montana State, Montana is still 5-2 since adjusting its starting lineup to Konig, Marxen, Fatkin, Gfeller and Bartsch.

* Montana scored 33 fourth-quarter points at Montana State on Saturday, the most quarter points scored by Montana under second-year coach Brian Holsinger. The Lady Griz scored 27 points in the game's final 4:55, 22 in the last 3:09.

* Freshman Libby Stump scored 21 and 20 points against Montana State this season. She is the first Lady Griz to score 20 or more against the Bobcats in the teams' two regular-season matchups since Shannon Cate in 1990-91.

* Montana's loss on Saturday was its ninth straight against Montana State in Bozeman.

* If the Big Sky tournament opened today, No. 4 Montana would face No. 5 Eastern Washington at noon on Monday on the second day of quarterfinal games.

* Portland State is 9-4 at home this season, Sacramento State 8-2. Montana is 6-5 in true road games, 5-2 in league, with losses at Idaho and Montana State.

* Libby Stump, coming off the bench in every game this season, has led Montana in scoring a team-high nine times.

* Montana has played eight games this season when the final margin has been five points or fewer. The Lady Griz are 4-4 in those games.

* Gina Marxen is shooting 44 for 49 (.898) from the free throw line in league, Carmen Gfeller is 56 for 63 (.889). Montana is shooting 80.2 percent. … For the season, Marxen (.872) ranks 28th nationally, Gfeller (.867) 31st.

* Mack Konig has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games to up her season average to 8.8. Montana has five players averaging in double figures in league.

* Montana had held five straight opponents to sub-.400 shooting before Montana State went 30 for 65 (.462) on Saturday.

* Montana's last six opponents have gone 32 for 133 (.241) from the 3-point line.

* Montana's largest lead in two games against Montana State this season was two points.

* Montana ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring (70.4/g) and shooting (.423).

* Montana's 209 3-point field goals made already rank second in program history. Only the 2013-14 team, which made 239, has made more in a single season.

* Montana's current free throw percentage of .774 would rank third in program history.

* Gina Marxen ranks second in the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0).

* Montana ranks first in the Big Sky, 13th nationally in fewest fouls committed per game (13.0).

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana State, which is 3-0 in league games decided by three or fewer points, sits atop the Big Sky at 12-3, two games clear in the loss column of Northern Arizona (11-5) and Sacramento State (10-5).

* Montana has now lost three games in league by one or two points.

* Northern Colorado (4-12) and Weber State (2-13) are locked into bottom-four finishes and an opening-day game in Boise. Everything else is fluid.

* Thursday schedule: UM at PSU, MSU at SAC, WSU at EWU, ISU at UI

* Thursday note: When Sacramento State faced Montana State in Bozeman, the Hornets led 13-0 and 19-2, and didn't allow a basket until nearly nine minutes into the game. Montana State would rally to win 61-60 as the Hornets went 3 for 20 in the fourth quarter.

* Saturday schedule: UM at SAC, MSU at PSU, ISU at EWU, WSU at UI, UNC at NAU

* Saturday note: Northern Arizona, which is 4-0 against first-place Montana State and third-place Sacramento State, closes the regular season with games against the bottom two teams in the league, Saturday at home against Northern Colorado, Monday at Weber State.

* Monday schedule: UI at UM, EWU at MSU, UNC at ISU, NAU at WSU, PSU at SAC

* Monday note: Portland State, trying to fight its way out of the bottom four, closes the season facing Montana, Montana State and Sacramento State. Advantage: Idaho.

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Players Mentioned

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Libby Stump

Katerina Tsineke

University of Montana Athletics