Lady Griz get right back on track

Monday, January 22

Ogden, Utah

6 PM

Montana

12-5, 4-2BSC

Weber State

6-14, 3-4BSC

Montana

Weber St.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke

1/22/2024 9:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

It was a gut check kind of night for Montana on Monday evening in Ogden, Utah, just two days after one of the more disappointing losses for the Lady Griz in a number of seasons.

Montana not only passed the test, the Lady Griz showed everything they are capable of, dominating a Weber State team that had won three of its last four games and winning 87-55 at Dee Events Center.

Six players scored in double figures, Montana matched a program record with 16 3-pointers and the Lady Griz averaged a robust 1.27 points per possession to improve to 12-5 overall, 4-2 in league.

"We came here and we were fired up. That's it," said third-year coach Brian Holsinger. "We were pissed about how we played the other night. We're committed to not playing like that, with hesitation.

"Everybody came and just brought it. We wanted to go fast, keep it simple and play our butts off. After a disappointing loss, to really take it to them right from the beginning, I'm really proud of our kids."

Falling behind by six points in the first quarter, 17-11, maybe wasn't what Holsinger wanted, but that was about the only misstep taken all night by the Lady Griz.

Montana would score 61 points over the next 20-plus minutes, building its lead to 72-42 by the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Griz put up 56 points over the second and third quarters on 20-of-35 shooting, 11 of those makes coming from the 3-point line.

"They had won three of four and were coming in with some momentum," said Holsinger. "We didn't want to give them any hope. We wanted to stay on the pedal."

It wasn't just on the offensive end that Montana overwhelmed Weber State inside a mostly empty Dee Events Center.

The Lady Griz held the Wildcats to 2-of-12 shooting in the second quarter, 2-of-15 in the fourth, 34.5 percent for the game, their best defensive effort of the season against a Division I opponent.

"We're defending, we're talking, we're just playing right," said Holsinger. "This team is capable of a lot. I refuse to let them not play the right way and with an urgency that this game demands.

"I'm looking for us to continue this, keeping it simple, playing at a high level. We have really good players, kids who are really talented. We just have to play right more than anything."

Mack Konig had her second big performance in three games, totaling 16 points and five assists while hitting four 3-pointers.

Macey Huard scored a season-high 15 points off the bench and added five rebounds, three steals and two assists, seemingly everywhere all at once for her 18 minutes of court time.

Montana averaged 3.06 points per minute during the time the great disrupter was on the floor, the highest mark on the team.

Carmen Gfeller scored 14 points, her 16th straight game in double figures, Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw matched Konig with four 3-pointers and scored 12 points.

Gina Marxen, who hit three 3-pointers, scored 13 points and had four assists, and Dani Bartsch, who also hit three 3-pointers, had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Bartsch's first rebound of the game was No. 500 of her career. She becomes the 39th player in program history to reach that mark.

Montana matched a season low with six turnovers, had 18 assists and used ball security and offensive rebounding to take 72 shots to Weber State's 55.

It was winning basketball all the way around, in one of the tougher environments to play well in, given the vastness of the facility and the usual lack of fans. Reported attendance on Monday night: 280.

"I told them before the game, we're going to need to create our own energy," said Holsinger. "I was way louder and more boisterous than I've been all season.

"Part of that was, this is what we're going to do. We're done playing hesitant, not playing the way we're capable of playing. We're done with it. You saw that from our team tonight."

Personifying that was Espenmiller-McGraw, who was an uncharacteristic 4 for 15 from the 3-point line the previous three games.

She matched that three-game total through the opening 32 minutes on Monday night. It was a cold-blooded performance by someone who can pull that off better than most.

"Maggie came out and was a killer," said Holsinger. "There was no hesitation. I'm going to make this three. If I miss, I'm making the next one. We just had a different mentality to us tonight."

Weber State (6-14, 3-4 BSC) led 17-16 after one quarter but got buried over the next two periods, getting outscored 56-25. Daryn Hickok led the Wildcats with 13 points.

Montana will host Portland State (5-13, 0-6 BSC) on Thursday, Sacramento State (1-16, 0-6 BSC) on Saturday on Robin Selvig Court inside Dahlberg Arena.