Lady Griz looking to add to win streak

The Montana women's basketball team, on a four-game winning streak, will try to add to it this week when it hosts Idaho State and Weber State at Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz (12-11, 8-4 BSC), above .500 for the first time this season, will host the Bengals (9-13, 4-7 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m., the Wildcats (5-18, 1-10 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

After closing a four-game home stand with wins over Sacramento State and Portland State, Montana swept the Northern Colorado-Northern Arizona road trip last week to improve to 5-1 this season in Big Sky road games. The Lady Griz were 3-7 last season on the road in league.

Things to know:

* As you've probably seen/heard/read, it's unofficially Robin Selvig Week as the court inside Dahlberg Arena gets named in his honor at a ceremony on Friday night. Doors open at 6 p.m., the program begins at 6:30 p.m. and is free of charge. There will be guest speakers, with Selvig speaking as well.

* Saturday's game will be the first played on Robin Selvig Court. His former players in attendance will be recognized in the first half. Selvig will address the crowd at halftime.

* Montana's four-game winning streak is its second-longest under second-year coach Brian Holsinger, who guided his team to a six-game winning streak during nonconference last season. It's Montana's first four-game winning streak in league in a non-COVID season since 2015-16.

* Montana extended its winning streak to three games on Thursday with a 78-61 win at Northern Colorado. The Lady Griz shot 55.2 percent, the 21st-best shooting percentage on the road in program history.

* Libby Stump came off the bench to score 19 points. Her 3-pointer in the final minute gave Montana 10 for the game. It marked the first time in program history a Lady Griz team had made 10 or more 3-pointers in four consecutive games.

* In sweeping the Bears this season, Montana averaged 80 points on 54.3 percent shooting. At the time, the Lady Griz had posted the two highest-scoring games against Northern Colorado this season that ended in regulation.

* Montana snapped a three-game losing streak against Northern Arizona with an 80-76 overtime win in Flagstaff on Saturday evening. The Lady Griz defended a season-high 84 shots but did enough down the stretch to rally back from a seven-point deficit midway through the third quarter.

* Trailing 66-60 one possession into the fourth quarter, Montana held Northern Arizona to four made baskets over the game's final 14:45. The Lumberjacks went 1 for 11 in overtime.

* Sammy Fatkin had 27 points, one off her career high, and added 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Carmen Gfeller had 12 points, 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season, the eighth of her career.

* Gina Marxen scored 13 points, her best scoring game since Jan. 14, Mack Konig had 12, her sixth consecutive game in double figures.

* Dani Bartsch grabbed 17 rebounds, the most for a Lady Griz since Jace Henderson had 18 in 2018-19. It was three off the program record, tied for 10th all-time.

* Three Montana starters played 40 or more minutes, all five played at least 32 as the team's bench needed to contribute just seven points, a season low.

* Montana's four-game winning streak coincides with the addition of Konig and Bartsch to the starting lineup. During their four-game winning streak, the Lady Griz are averaging 81.8 points on 48.1 percent shooting.

* Montana has five players averaging in double figures in league: Gfeller (14.7), Fatkin (11.8), Konig (10.5), Stump (10.3) and Marxen (10.3). All five of those players have had a 20-point scoring game this season.

* Montana outscored Sacramento State, Portland State, Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona by 70 points when Sammy Fatkin was on the court.

* Montana won 67-64 in overtime at Weber State last month, winning despite shooting 31.1 percent and turning the ball over 20 times. The Lady Griz limited Daryn Hickok and Jadyn Matthews, WSU's two leading scorers, to 24 combined points on 9-of-31 shooting.

* Montana's 77-68 win at Idaho State last month snapped the Lady Griz' six-game losing streak against the Bengals. It was Montana's first win at Pocatello since the 2014-15 season and came after trailing by 11 early in the third quarter. Montana outscored Idaho State 24-8 in the fourth quarter.

* Sammy Fatkin led Montana with a career-high 28 points.

* Montana is 75-15 all-time against Weber State, 41-4 against the Wildcats in Missoula. Montana has won 14 straight at Dahlberg Arena against Weber State, which last won 50-49 in 2005-06.

* Idaho State was sitting 3-0 in league back in early January, after winning at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado and at home against Weber State. The Bengals have gone 1-7 since.

* Longtime Bengal Callie Bourne leads the team in scoring at 13.8 per game. Finley Garnett, who was averaging 11.4 points, hasn't played since Jan. 7. Laura Bello averages 10.8 points, 9.3 rebounds. No other player averages more than 6.5 points for a team averaging 56.5 points this season.

* Idaho State is on pace to have its first losing season since 2014-15 and finish in the lower half of the Big Sky standings for the first time since 2015-16.

* Montana is 73-18 all-time against Idaho State, 41-6 against the Bengals in Missoula. ISU has won the last four games between the teams in Dahlberg Arena. Of Idaho State's 18 wins against Montana, 15th-year coach Seton Sobolewski has 12 of them.

* Weber State has finished in the bottom two in the Big Sky standings each of the last four seasons and will likely do so again this year. The Wildcats have just one win since Dec. 3, a 68-65 home win over Eastern Washington.

* Hickok averages 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, Matthews averages 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds. The Wildcats are shooting just 36.7 percent this season, which ranks 299th nationally.

* Montana State leads the Big Sky at 9-3. Northern Arizona, with its win at Idaho State on Monday night, moved into a tie for second with Montana at 8-4. Sacramento State (7-4) and Eastern Washington (7-5) are a game back in the win column.

* On Thursday night in the Big Sky, Northern Arizona plays a key game at Sacramento State. The Lumberjacks won the teams' first meeting in Flagstaff 77-67 to hand the Hornets their first loss in more than a month.

* On Saturday in the Big Sky, Eastern Washington, which has lost two of three, plays at Idaho, which has won three of four. The Eagles won the first meeting in Cheney, 74-59.

* Montana will have just four regular-season games remaining after this week, just one more at home. The Lady Griz will play at Montana State next weekend, then play three games in five days to wrap up the regular season: at Portland State, at Sacramento State, home for Idaho on Monday, Feb. 17.

* The Big Sky tournament opens in Boise on Saturday, March 4, with the bottom four seeds squaring off.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Sammy Fatkin

Carmen Gfeller

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Libby Stump

University of Montana Athletics