Bartsch leads Montana to sixth straight win

Wednesday, January 3

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

9-3

South Dakota

11-5

South Dakota

Montana

Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana

1/3/2024 11:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team, down 13 in the first quarter, used both the 3-point shot and a fierce defensive effort over the game's final 10 minutes to rally for a 74-61 victory over South Dakota on Wednesday night at Dahlberg Arena.

It was Montana's sixth consecutive win, its ninth in the last 10 games, and gave the Lady Griz a victory in the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge against a team that had won eight of nine before making its way to Missoula.

Montana (9-3) fell behind 23-10 seven minutes into the game, came back to take a 42-41 halftime lead, then had to rally again after falling behind 59-55 one possession into the fourth quarter.

Over the game's final nine minutes, Montana outscored South Dakota 19-2, with the Coyotes making just one of their last 14 shots.

"You couldn't have different first and fourth quarters," said coach Brian Holsinger, who watched South Dakota (11-5) put up a 25-point opening period on 9-of-12 shooting, with the Coyotes going 5 for 8 from the 3-point line. "We came out and looked like we wanted them to score as much as they wanted.

"Then it was just the opposite in the fourth quarter. I told our kids, we are gritty, we are tough, we are built for this and we're going to be so tough in the fourth quarter that we're going to dominate. That's what we did. They are a good team. We really frustrated them with our defense in the fourth quarter."

The playmakers were all over the place, with Carmen Gfeller scoring 18 points, MJ Bruno adding 10 and Gina Marxen coming off the bench to add 10 points and 10 assists.

But the star of the night was Dani Bartsch, who went 5 for 9 from the 3-point line and finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end, four steals and two blocks.

"What doesn't she do? She's doing everything," said Holsinger, who stacked his own fourth-quarter timeout near the media timeout to give Bartsch some extra rest, allowing her to play all 20 minutes of the second half and nearly 37 for the game.

"It was one of the greatest performances I've seen since I've been here, from a defensive and offensive perspective."

Montana needed something after South Dakota, which entered the game averaging more than 75 points per game, looked like it might try to put up 100.

If the opening period belonged to the Coyotes, who led 25-15 after 10 minutes, the second belonged to the Lady Griz, particularly to Bartsch, who hit three 3-pointers in less than three minutes to help flip a 31-18 deficit into a one-point Montana lead at the break.

All three of her triples were assisted by Marxen, who had five of her 10 assists in the second quarter.

"None of that comes without my teammates making phenomenal passes," said Bartsch. "If Gina doesn't drive aggressively, my girl doesn't have to help, and that gets me open. It's definitely not just me. It was a whole team effort to come back. We played a solid game after the first 10 minutes."

But Dani, you did go 5 for 9 from the arc, all while being seemingly everywhere all at once. "It was clicking today," she added. "I was too tired to think, and the less I think, the more they go in."

Montana would take 44 of its 63 shots from the 3-point line, 11 more than the previous program high for attempts. The Lady Griz hit 16 of them, matching the program record for makes in a game. They came on 36.4 percent shooting from the arc, and that's a deal any coach would take.

"When you're shooting around 35 percent, the numbers work out," said Holsinger, whose team has made 10 or more 3-pointers in six straight games. "That's what they were giving us. They were going to switch and they were going to help on the switches. That makes it hard to get inside."

South Dakota opened the second-half scoring to retake the lead, and Montana never held the advantage again until the fourth quarter. The Lady Griz trailed for more than 30 minutes, led for less than eight.

It's a game Montana hasn't always pulled out in the recent past.

"We just have more experience," said Bartsch. "MJ brings a lot of that," referring to Bruno, who had to come out of the game with blood dripping down her chin. "Her tooth went through her lip. She's going to need stitches.

"She's out here hustling, rebounding, putting her face in harm's way. If that doesn't inspire you, you're on the wrong team. She's our motor out there." Montana was +20 on the scoreboard in the 24-plus minutes Bruno was in the game.

After South Dakota put up 25 points in the first quarter, the Coyotes scored 31 across the second and third quarters, which was good enough to hold a four-point lead in the opening minute of the fourth.

But Montana's various defenses, some extending to three-quarters court and involving some aggressive trapping, finally got to South Dakota, which turned the ball over 20 times, which the Lady Griz converted into 23 points.

After a Coyote 3-pointer to open the final period and give South Dakota a four-point lead, it was all Montana.

"We wore them down," said Holsinger. "They didn't know when we were going to trap, when we weren't. We got them out of their rhythm.

"You can see it in the first half. When you let them run their offense, they are hard to stop, so we got a little scrappy, a little tougher, which put some pressure on them. So proud of these kids. What a great effort in the fourth quarter."

Marxen answered South Dakota's 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter with one of her own to make it 59-58. Gfeller followed with a lay-in to give Montana a lead it would never give back, and Bruno, needing stitches, but later, after the game, converted a three-point play to make it 63-59.

South Dakota's final basket and final points of the game came with 4:21 to go that made it 66-61. Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw and Gfeller both hit 3-pointers that put the game out of reach.

Montana had 18 assists on its 26 made baskets and turned the ball over just eight times, with Marxen and Mack Konig combining for 14 assists and three turnovers. "That gets the job done," said Holsinger. "That's a big-time performance. That's finding open shooters and knocking them down."

South Dakota star Grace Larkins had nine points, about half her season average of 17.1, 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Coyotes, who became only the third team this season to outrebound Montana, which they did by 11.

Montana will conclude play in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge with a game at Omaha (4-10) on Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT). The Mavericks lost 96-82 at Eastern Washington on Wednesday.