Wednesday at Dahlberg: Hot meets hot

The Montana women's basketball team will play its first of two games this week as part of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge when it hosts South Dakota on Wednesday.

The Lady Griz (8-3) and Coyotes (11-4) will tip off at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena.

After opening the season with home losses to Gonzaga and Washington State, two teams now 24-5, Montana has won eight of its last nine and will take a five-game winning streak into Wednesday's game.

It's Montana's longest winning streak since winning six straight games early in the 2021-22 season, in head coach Brian Holsinger's first year with the Lady Griz.

South Dakota opened the season 3-3 and since then also has won eight of nine.

The Coyotes have a NET national ranking of 114, second in the Summit League behind South Dakota State (80). The Lady Griz are just outside the top 100 at 102, second in the Big Sky behind Eastern Washington (48).

Montana's second game in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge will be at Nebraska-Omaha (4-9) on Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT). The Mavericks, who lost 77-71 in overtime at home to South Dakota on Sunday, play at Eastern Washington on Wednesday.

The Lady Griz will return to league play next week with games at Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona, then end their streak of five straight games away from home with matchups at Montana State and Weber State.

Coverage: Wednesday's game will stream on ESPN+ and on KGRZ (92.7 FM/1450 AM), KGRZMissoula.com and the Varsity Network, with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz ran their winning streak to five games and opened Big Sky play 2-0 with home victories over Weber State and Idaho State last week. Montana trailed for less than three minutes in the wins, early in the first quarter against the Bengals.

Against the Wildcats, the Lady Griz posted their highest offensive output against a Division I opponent this season and their highest against Weber State since 2013 in an 87-71 win.

Montana had five players in double figures for the fourth time this season and hit 13 3-pointers, three off the program record, while committing only seven turnovers.

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw, who had 16 points in three games in California prior to Christmas, opened league with a 21-point game on 5-of-8 shooting from the 3-point line.

Carmen Gfeller (15), Mack Konig (14), Gina Marxen (13) and Macey Huard (11) also were in double figures as Montana raced out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back.

On Sunday against Idaho State, Montana went up 24-12 in the first quarter, then held that lead the rest of the game on its way to a 66-55 victory that snapped its five-game home losing streak to the Bengals.

After putting up 27 points in the first quarter, going 10 for 15 overall and 5 of 9 from the 3-point line, the Lady Griz shot 35.3 percent the rest of the way while scoring 39 points over the final three quarters.

Gfeller and Marxen both scored 12, with Espenmiller-McGraw adding 11.

Trending (1): Montana has made 10 or more 3-pointers in five straight games, the first time that's happened in program history. The Lady Griz have made 10 or more in seven of their last eight games and in eight of 11 games this season.

Montana ranks eighth nationally in 3-point field goals made per game (9.6) and 27th in both 3-point attempts (25.7/g) and 3-point percentage (.375).

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw, who is 25 for 49 from the arc this season, ranks fifth nationally in 3-point percentage (.510).

Montana has hit 106 3-pointers through 11 games. At that pace, the Lady Griz would finish the regular season with 280. Montana has hit 200 or more in a season just three times in program history, 239 in 2013-14, 238 last year and 201 in 2007-08.

(Matchup note: South Dakota is holding its opponents to 25.4 percent shooting from the arc, which ranks 25th nationally.)

Trending (2): Carmen Gfeller, three times All-Big Sky Conference and preseason All-Big Sky this year, has scored in double figures in 10 straight games, the first time she's pulled that off in her career.

It's the first time a Montana player has done that since Kayleigh Valley had 28 straight games with 10 or more points in 2015-16.

Gfeller, who's getting the benefit of a fifth year, pulled even with Sonya Rogers at 12th on the Montana all-time scoring list with 1,320 points. She is seven points behind Jean McNulty and 38 behind Ann Lake and a spot in the top 10.

Trending (3): During its current five-game winning streak, Montana is averaging 72.0 points on 47.4 percent shooting. The Lady Griz have gone 57 for 131 (.435) from the 3-point line during that streak.

One of the keys to Montana's improved offensive numbers is the shooting of Mack Konig, who is 20 for 39 (.513) the last five games, 9 of 18 (.500) from the arc. Through the season's first six games, Konig was shooting 36.8 percent overall and went 2 for 19 (.105) from the 3-point line.

Montana's four leading scorers – Gfeller (12.8/g), Espenmiller-McGraw (12.4/g), Konig (10.1/g) and Marxen (10.0/g) – are averaging between 10 and 12.8 points per game. Their balanced shot distribution is between 87 (Marxen) and 109 (Gfeller).

Trending (4): Dani Bartsch is averaging 7.0 points and 8.3 rebounds while going 26 for 48 (.542) from the field, 13 for 28 (.464) from the 3-point line and 12 for 14 (.857) from the free throw line. She leads Montana in blocks (11) and steals (17), and has a delightful 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Bartsch grabbed 12 rebounds in Friday's win over Weber State, her fourth game of the season with 10 or more, the 13th of her career.

Trending (5): Montana was +13 on the boards against Weber State, +12 against Idaho State and has now outrebounded nine of 11 opponents this season. The Lady Griz allowed just 12 second-chance points to the Wildcats and Bengals.

At +7.3 per game for the season, Montana leads the Big Sky and ranks 46th nationally in rebounding margin. (Matchup note: South Dakota is a strong +4.9 for the season.)

At a glance (South Dakota): The Coyotes are off to an 11-4 start and already approaching last season's wins total, when South Dakota went 14-16, only its second time finishing below .500 since 1999-2000.

Kayla Karius, a standout player at Wisconsin-Green Bay and in her second year at South Dakota, is the latest coach in a position that has been a springboard for former coaches.

Ryun Williams (2008-09 to 2011-12) is the head coach at Colorado State, Amy Williams (2012-13 to 2015-16) is the head coach at Nebraska and Dawn Plitzuweit (2016-17 to 2021-22) is the head coach at Minnesota.

South Dakota went 14-16 last season, its first under Karius, and finished fourth in the Summit League at 10-8. With four starters back in 2023-24, the Coyotes were picked third in this year's preseason Summit League poll, behind South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

Junior Grace Larkins, who was first-team All-Summit League last year after averaging 18.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists, was voted to the six-player preseason first team in October. Sophomore Carley Duffney was voted to the five-player second team.

South Dakota's three early-season losses came at the hands of a ranked Creighton team on the road and against Michigan and Arizona at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Since then, the Coyotes have gone 8-1, their signature win a one-sided 84-65 home victory over Northern Iowa, preseason favorite of the Missouri Valley Conference. Also in that stretch was a 78-73 overtime win at Loyola Marymount, a team Montana defeated three days later in Missoula, 82-68.

At 10-3, South Dakota was ranked No. 21 in the Dec. 26 CollegeInsider.com mid-major top 25 poll, the latest available.

South Dakota opened league with an 84-69 home loss to North Dakota State on Friday, which ended USD's seven-game winning streak. The Coyotes bounced back and improved to 11-4 with a 77-71 overtime win at Nebraska-Omaha on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, Larkins leads South Dakota in scoring (17.1/g), rebounding (6.7/g) and assists (69) while posting a shooting line of .497/.397/.779. She reached 1,000 points for her career in Sunday's win at Omaha.

South Dakota's other double-digit scorers are both first-year Coyotes. Kendall Holmes (10.3/g) played three years at DePaul, Tori DePerry (10.1/g) played four years at Division II Saginaw Valley State.

South Dakota is a handful offensively. The Coyotes, whose numbers are helped by 108-46 and 100-35 non-Division I wins, are averaging 75.7 points on 45.5 percent shooting. USD is averaging 8.3 made threes per game on 34.7 percent shooting.

South Dakota's bench is averaging 29.4 points, which ranks 25th nationally. (Montana's bench is averaging 24.2 points, 75th nationally, and has outscored its opponent's reserves in nine of 11 games this season.)

Series history: South Dakota leads the series 2-1, with all three games taking place since the 2018-19 season.

Facing Plitzuweit-coached teams that would go 28-6 and 30-2, Montana lost at home to the Coyotes in 2018-19, 64-41, and in Vermillion in 2019-20, 96-64.

Montana won in Vermillion last season 76-60, as the Lady Griz held the Coyotes to 33.9 percent shooting. Larkins led USD with 18 points but shot 6 for 21.

Trailing 20-12 after the first quarter, Montana outscored South Dakota 30-6 in the second period and led the rest of the way. Libby Stump scored 16 points off the bench to lead Montana.

Montana notes: The Lady Griz are 8-1 this season when shooting 40 percent or better, 0-2 when they fail to reach 40. … Montana went 6-1 in December. … The Lady Griz are 3-0 this season in games decided by five points or fewer. … Montana has used the same starting lineup in all 11 games this season. … Carmen Gfeller's 15-point, 10-rebound game against Weber State was her ninth career double-double. … MJ Bruno is 13 for 29 (.448) from the 3-point line this season. She made 14 in two years at Portland. … Montana put up 40 or more points in three of four halves against Weber State and Idaho State. … Idaho State scored 22 points off 20 Montana turnovers on Sunday. It was the most points off turnovers by a Montana opponent this season.

Upcoming: Montana will face Nebraska-Omaha at 1 p.m. (MT) on Saturday at UNO's Baxter Arena, which opened in 2015.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

MJ Bruno

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw

Carmen Gfeller

Macey Huard

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Libby Stump

University of Montana Athletics