Lady Griz make their way back home

After playing five consecutive road games, the Montana women's basketball team returns home this week for a pair of matchups at Dahlberg Arena, hosting Portland State and Sacramento State.

The Lady Griz (12-5, 4-2 BSC) will host the Vikings (5-13, 0-6 BSC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the Hornets (1-16, 0-6 BSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. Saturday's matchup will be Montana's N7 game.

Portland State and Sacramento State both enter the week on 10-game losing streaks. The Hornets will open their road trip with a game at Montana State on Thursday night.

The games will close out Montana's January schedule. February's schedule opens next week with games at Idaho and at first-place Eastern Washington.

Coverage: Both games this week will stream on ESPN+ and be available on KGRZ (92.7 FM/1450 AM), KGRZMissoula.com and the Varsity Network, with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

Most recently (Montana): The Lady Griz wrapped up their stretch of five consecutive road games with a dominating 87-55 victory at Weber State on Monday night.

Montana put up 56 points across the second and third quarters to take control and matched a program record with 16 made 3-pointers. Six players scored in double figures.

That win followed a disappointing 64-55 loss at Montana State on Saturday, a game Montana led 19-5 early on before getting outscored 59-36 over the final 33 minutes.

The Lady Griz had three stretches of scoring struggles that added up to 22:09 of game time when they made just one basket. It resulted in Montana's 10th straight loss to Montana State in Bozeman.

Montana went 3-2 over its five games away from home, with wins against Omaha, Northern Arizona and Weber State, losses to Northern Colorado and Montana State.

Most recently (Portland State): The Vikings' losing streak, which began on Dec. 16, extended to 10 games last week with home losses to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.

Portland State hasn't scored more than 65 points during its losing streak and eight times has been held to 58 or fewer points over the last 10 games.

Most recently (Sacramento State): The Hornets also have lost 10 straight games, their only win of the season coming on Dec. 2, a 58-48 home victory over CSU Northridge, itself struggling at 2-15.

Sacramento State, which has cracked 60 points just three times in 17 games, lost 72-59 at home to Northern Colorado on Thursday, 83-66 at home to Northern Arizona on Saturday.

Storylines:

* Dani Bartsch grabbed her 500th career rebound on Monday at Weber State, doing so in her 75th game played. She is the seventh-fastest player to reach 500 rebounds in program history.

Hollie Tyler, the program leader with 952 career rebounds, did so in 58 games. Jodi Hinrichs (66), Katie Baker (71), Shannon Cate (72), Doris Deden (72) and Ann Lake (72) also got to 500 in fewer games than Bartsch.

Bartsch averaged 4.2 rebounds as a freshman, 7.9 last season and is averaging 9.2 as a junior. Only two players – Tyler (9.3 in 2002-03) and Alycia Sims (9.3 in 2015-16) – have averaged more than nine rebounds for a season since 1996-97.

Bartsch leads the Big Sky in rebounding and ranks 52nd nationally.

* Since going 3 for 16 from the 3-point line in a 67-57 road loss at Northern Colorado, Montana has made 40 over its last three games on 41.2 percent shooting.

That included Monday when the Lady Griz hit 16 3-pointers, matching the program record.

Montana ranks third nationally in makes (10.2/g), ninth in attempts (27.5/g) and 19th in 3-point percentage (.370).

The Lady Griz have made 173 3-pointers, which would be the 10th-best single-season performance in program history, with 12 regular-season games still to be played.

The program record is 239, set by the 2013-14 team.

* Carmen Gfeller scored 10 points at Montana State, 14 at Weber State, giving her 10 or more points in 16 straight games, since scoring four points in the opener against Gonzaga.

It's the best double-digit scoring run since Kayleigh Valley closed out the 2015-16 season with a stretch of 28 consecutive games with 10 points or more.

In Montana's last two games, Gfeller moved past Lauren Cooper, McKenzie Johnston and Katie Edwards and into sixth on the program's career scoring list with 1,417 points.

She is 11 points from passing Katie Baker (1,427), 53 behind Lisa McLeod (1,470), who ranks fourth.

(Gfeller's teammate Gina Marxen has 1,450 collegiate points, 954 scored at Idaho, 496 at Montana.)

Gfeller has played in 122 career games. If she remains healthy, she will break the program record of 129, a spot currently held by Jordan Sullivan and Kellie Cole.

* Hovering around 100 in the NET national rankings the last few weeks, Montana will take a ranking of 98 into this week's games, the second-best in the Big Sky. Eastern Washington is ranked 68.

Portland State (327) and Sacramento State (343) are the two lowest-ranked teams in the Big Sky out of 360 in the Division I rankings.

More on Portland State: The Vikings were a trendy pick to be a surprise team in 2023-24 after returning four starters from a squad that won 15 games last season and made a run to the Big Sky semifinals.

Junior Esmeralda Morales was voted the preseason MVP over Eastern Washington's Jamie Loera and Montana's Carmen Gfeller, and the Vikings were picked fifth in both the media and coaches' preseason polls.

The Vikings, with 10 straight losses, haven't won a game since Dec. 12 and have not defeated a Division I opponent since November.

Morales is taking nearly 15 shots per game and averaging 17.8 points – she ranks sixth nationally with 3.17 made 3-pointers per game – but as a team Portland State ranks 303rd nationally in scoring at 57.8 points per game.

The Vikings haven't reached 70 points in a game since November, when they did so in four of their first six games. Since the start of December, PSU has nearly as many games scoring in the 40s (2) as it does in the 60s (3).

On the other end of the court, Portland State is allowed 68.1 points on 47.0 percent shooting, the latter ranking 344th out of 348 teams in the national statistics.

On Thursday, Portland State will go up against a team averaging 73.9 points on 44.0 percent shooting. PSU's last four opponents have scored 79, 89, 73 and 71 points on 53.6 percent shooting.

In two recent games, Portland State allowed Kansas City to shoot 32 for 51 (.627) and Weber State to shoot 36 for 56 (.643).

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Portland State 53-23 and has gone 32-6 against the Vikings in Missoula.

The teams split their games last season, Montana winning 88-56 in Missoula, Portland State winning 74-72 in overtime at home after scoring eight points in the final 19 seconds of regulation to force overtime.

The last two years at home against Portland State, Montana has averaged 90.5 points on 48.0 percent shooting and has gone 25 for 55 (.455) from the 3-point line.

More on Sacramento State: After going 3-22 in 2020-21, the Hornets went out and hired former Oregon associate head coach Mark Campbell to be their new leader.

He led them to a 14-16 record in his first season, in 2021-22, then to a 25-8 record last year, the first 20-win season in program history.

Sacramento State tied for the Big Sky regular-season title at 13-5 with Montana State and Northern Arizona, and the Hornets defeated the Lumberjacks in the tournament title game to advance to the NCAA tournament, another program first.

Campbell departed for TCU after the season and Aaron Kallhoff was brought in and presented with a program that had lost a bulk of its scoring from 2022-23.

Despite playing 11 of their first 17 games at home, the Hornets head to Montana with a record of 1-16, on a 10-game winning streak and without a victory since Dec. 2.

Sacramento State has reached 60 points just three times in 17 games. Its season scoring average of 51.8 points ranks 340th out of 348 Division I teams. The Hornets rank 325th in turnovers (20.2/g).

Defensively, Sacramento State is allowing 69.6 points on 43.6 percent shooting. Teams are shooting 34.4 percent from the 3-point line.

Outside of its 58-48 home win over CSU Northridge, a team with a NET ranking of 346, just two of Sacramento State's 17 losses have come by fewer than 10 points. Its 17 losses have come by an average of 19.6 points per game.

Freshman forward Summah Hanson, of Brisbane, Australia, leads the Hornets in both scoring (14.1/g) and rebounding (8.5/g). Benthe Versteeg, from the Netherlands and who played for the Hornets last season, is averaging 10.4 points. They combine to score more than 47 percent of the team's points.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State 47-9 and has gone 28-1 against the Hornets in Missoula.

The Hornets' lone win in Missoula was a 73-60 victory in 2016-17.

In last year's matchups, Montana rallied from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit to win 81-77 in Missoula. In the rematch at Sacramento, the Hornets won 63-56, pulling away from a 52-52 deadlock.

Game notes:

* The Lady Griz lead the Big Sky in rebounding margin (+6.4/g) and have out-rebounded 14 of their 17 opponents this season. Portland State is -5.1/g, Sacramento State is -4.2/g to rank last and next to last in the Big Sky.

* Portland State's Esmeralda Morales leads the Big Sky in scoring (17.8/g). She ranks 59th nationally. She plays nearly 36 minutes per game.

* Carmen Gfeller leads the Big Sky in shooting percentage (.511). That's kept her career shooting percentage (.502) above .500. If that holds, she would rank fourth in program history.

* Gina Marxen leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4). She ranks 34th nationally.

* Montana has won its last three home games and is 5-3 at Dahlberg Arena this season.

* The Lady Griz lost on Saturday at Montana State while shooting 35.8 percent. The Lady Griz are 12-1 this season when shooting 38 percent or better, 0-4 when they don't.

* Gina Marxen has scored 10 or more points in seven of the last eight games.

* MJ Bruno, always selective of when and where she shoots from, is 8 for 11 the last three games, 14 for 21 the last five games. She has taken 40 3-pointers this season, connected on 19 of them (.475).

* Lauren Dick made her fifth career appearance on Monday at Weber State, grabbing her first career rebound.

* Macey Huard scored a season-high 15 points at Weber State. She grabbed a season-high five rebounds for the third straight game and added three steals and a season-high two blocks.

* Montana's 33-point third quarter at Weber State was its highest-scoring period against a Division I opponent since putting up 33 in the fourth quarter at Montana State last season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Eastern Washington continues to lead the league at 5-0. The Eagles, who are 15-3 overall, have won all five of their Big Sky games by 10 points or more, four of them by 18 or more.

* Eastern Washington trailed at home against Idaho State at the half on Saturday, 31-30, before outscoring the Bengals over the final 20 minutes 38-15.

* Northern Arizona, as projected, is a close second at 4-1. Northern Colorado, not as projected, is also 4-1 and on a five-game winning streak.

* Montana, at 4-2, is alone in fourth, with Idaho State at 4-3, Montana State at 3-3. … ISU is 6-1 at home this season, MSU is 7-1. Both teams are 1-8 in road games.

* Idaho is 2-7 at home this season, inside its new ICCU Arena. The Vandals are 7-1 away from home.

* Thursday in the Big Sky: PSU at UM, SAC at MSU, EWU at UNC, UI at NAU … Fun matchup in Greeley between the two hottest teams in the league. The Eagles have won nine straight, the Bears five straight.

* Saturday in the Big Sky: SAC at UM, PSU at MSU, UI at UNC, EWU at NAU, WSU at ISU … Head-to-head matchup between Eastern Washington, which topped the preseason coaches' poll, and Northern Arizona, which topped the media poll. The Lumberjacks defeated the Eagles in the semifinals in last year's Big Sky tournament.

Upcoming: Back on the road, this time to Idaho and Eastern Washington.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

MJ Bruno

Lauren Dick

Carmen Gfeller

Macey Huard

Gina Marxen

University of Montana Athletics