Lady Griz take winning streak on the road

The Montana women's basketball team, winner of three straight and 11 of 13, will return to the road this week for games at Idaho and Eastern Washington.

The Lady Griz (14-5, 6-2 BSC) will play the Vandals (10-9, 3-4 BSC) at 7 p.m. (MT) on Thursday at ICCU Arena in Moscow, the Eagles (16-4, 6-1 BSC) at 3 p.m. (MT) on Saturday at Reese Court in Cheney.

Montana extended its winning streak, which started with an 87-55 road victory at Weber State, to three games with one-sided home wins over Portland State and Sacramento State last week.

After this week's road games, Montana will return home for three straight in Missoula and five of its next seven.

At a glance (Montana): After scoring 87 points in a 32-point win at Weber State last week, the Lady Griz returned home for two more high-scoring victories.

Montana defeated Portland State 87-46 on Thursday and Sacramento State 84-57 on Saturday, putting up 84 or more points in three straight games for only the third time in program history.

During its winning streak, Montana is averaging 86 points on 47.7 percent shooting.

Saturday's win featured a program-record 19 made 3-pointers, surpassing the previous record of 16. It tied for 10th for the most 3-point makes in Big Sky history.

The wins moved the Lady Griz into third place in the Big Sky Conference standings at 6-2, half a game behind 6-1 co-leaders Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington.

At 14-5, Montana has already matched last season's wins total when Montana went 14-16. The Lady Griz are seeking their first 20-win season since 2015-16.

At a glance (Idaho): The Vandals, who are playing under first-year coach Carrie Eighmey, have won seven straight games in Moscow over the Lady Griz.

Idaho, at 3-4 in league, enters the week in seventh place in the Big Sky.

The Vandals were sitting at 9-5 a few weeks ago, 2-0 in league, before a season-high four-game losing streak. Three of those losses came at home, where Idaho is just 2-7 this season.

After losing 65-53 at Northern Arizona on Thursday, the final loss in that four-game losing streak, the Vandals got things righted with an impressive 60-56 road win at Northern Colorado on Saturday.

Idaho led 21-4 after the first quarter and 33-15 at the half before holding on for the four-point win, going 8 for 8 from the free throw line over the game's final 4:07.

At a glance (Eastern Washington): The Eagles will go into Thursday's home game against Montana State tied atop the Big Sky with Northern Arizona at 6-1, the co-favorites playing to form.

Eastern Washington topped the preseason coaches' poll, followed by Northern Arizona. NAU topped the media poll, followed by the Eagles. Montana was third in both polls.

At 16-4, Eastern Washington is well on its way to its first 20-win season since 2015-16 and only its fifth ever.

The Eagles extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 68-62 road win at Northern Colorado on Thursday, then lost for the first time since mid-December with an 89-81 overtime setback at Northern Arizona on Saturday.

Montana storylines:

* It will be a fun three weeks of games for Montana, which tries to snap a seven-game losing streak against Idaho in Moscow on Thursday.

Then it's back-to-back games against the preseason favorites and current Big Sky leaders, on the road at Eastern Washington on Saturday, at home for Northern Arizona next Thursday.

Montana has lost just twice in its last 13 games, at Northern Colorado and at Montana State. The Lady Griz will get the Bears in Missoula on Saturday, Feb. 10, the Bobcats on Saturday, Feb. 17.

Montana held a 14-point lead in both of those games before getting outscored 43-21 in the second half in Greeley, 39-26 in the second half in Bozeman.

* The points have been coming in bunches for Montana the last three games, when the Lady Griz have averaged 86 points on 47.7 percent shooting.

It's only the third time in program history Montana has scored 84 or more points in three straight games. The other two times came from coach Robin Selvig's 2006-07 team that went 27-4.

That team had a streak of four straight games with 84 or more points, another streak of three straight games.

That team averaged 77.5 points per game. Since then, only two Lady Griz teams have averaged more than 70 points per game for a season, the 2007-08 team (74.8/g) and last year's (70.3/g).

Coach Brian Holsinger's third team is averaging 75.2 points per game this season.

* Montana connected on 10 3-pointers in its season-opening game against Gonzaga and has been shooting them at high volume and a high percentage ever since.

The Lady Griz rank second nationally in makes (10.8/g), behind only Utah (11.4/g), and rank seventh in 3-point attempts (28.2/g) and ninth in 3-point percentage (.385).

For the season Montana is taking 46.6 percent of its shots from the arc.

Montana's 206 makes from the 3-point line are already the third-best single-season total in program history, with 10 more regular-season games to go, plus the postseason.

The program record of 239 was set by the 2013-14 Lady Griz team. Montana had 238 makes last season.

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw has hit 17 3-pointers the last five games and is 13 for 24 (.542) the last three. She ranks 13th nationally in 3-point percentage (.452).

In three of Montana's five losses, against Washington State, Colorado State and Northern Colorado, Montana went 12 for 62 (194) from the arc.

* Dani Bartsch, who averages 8.6 points and 9.6 rebounds with a slash line of .500/.446/.800 and who leads Montana in steals and is one off the team lead in blocks is evolving into one of the Big Sky's top players.

She has had a double-double in back-to-back games and in four of Montana's last five games.

"It's amazing, honestly, for a kid her size to have the double-doubles she's having," said Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger. "Usually those come from big kids in the post and she's not in the post.

"You're talking about a kid who is on the perimeter. It's hard to do what she's doing at her position. It's amazing how efficient she's become. She's doing so much for our team."

Bartsch won state volleyball titles as a sophomore, junior and senior at Helena's Capital High, teaming with her twin sister Paige, last fall's Mountain West co-Player of the Year at Boise State, to end their prep volleyball careers on a 71-match winning streak.

It's easy to see that volleyball player in action on the basketball court for the Lady Griz, with her sense of timing and space, and her ability to read the flight of the ball on a missed shot.

Bartsch leads the Big Sky and ranks 35th nationally at 9.6 rebounds per game.

"Her playing volleyball really helped her in rebounding," said Holsinger, who was hired by Montana a few months after Bartsch signed her National Letter of Intent.

"Her potential jumped off the video when I watched her. Her timing and her instincts are things you can't teach."

Bartsch made four 3-pointers as a freshman, or one less than she made on Saturday against Sacramento State, when she drained five against the Hornets.

She went 19 for 64 (.297) last season and is shooting 44.6 percent from the arc this year. Her 33 makes rank third on the team behind Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw (47) and Gina Marxen (38).

And don't overlook her decision-making. She ranks third on the team in assists and has the team's second-best assist-to-turnover ratio behind Marxen, who ranks among the national leaders.

"The shooting has come through hard work," said Holsinger. "I told her, to be a really effective player at this level at her position for what we do, she had to become an efficient 3-point shooter. She's done that. Every year she's gotten better and better.

"People I talked to about her said she's a hard worker. With her length, her feel, her knack for things, I knew if she was a hard worker, she was going to be able to help us. Did I think she was going to be this good? I wouldn't have predicted that."

* Carmen Gfeller moved past Katie Baker and into fifth place on the Montana career scoring list last week. She now has 1,450 points, 20 behind Lisa McLeod, who is in fourth.

Gfeller has scored 10 or more points in 18 straight games, since opening the season with four against Gonzaga. She is shooting 52.5 percent, which ranks second in the Big Sky, 59th nationally.

Gfeller is shooting 50.5 percent for her career. If that holds, she will become only the fourth player in program history to have a career shooting percentage of 50 percent or better.

* Montana is 6-2 in road games this season, 7-2 when counting its neutral-site win over UC San Diego. In both of those losses, at Northern Colorado and at Montana State, the Lady Griz held a 14-point lead.

Montana hasn't had an overall record away from home above .500 since 2014-15.

Idaho is just 2-7 at home this season at ICCU Arena. (The Vandals are 8-2 away from home.) Eastern Washington is 6-1 at home, its only loss coming by two points to Gonzaga.

The Eagles' six home wins have come by an average of 24.8 points.

More on Idaho: The Vandals moved on from former coach Jon Newlee after last season and brought in Carrie Eighmey, who previously had done good work at Nebraska-Kearney.

With a new coach and Beyonce Bea (Washington State), Sydney Gandy (Loyola Marymount) and Rosa Smith (UC San Diego), three of last year's four leading scorers, gone through the transfer portal, Idaho was picked seventh in the preseason media poll, eighth in the coaches' poll.

The Vandals are above .500 19 games into the season because of their work on the defensive end, where they are allowing opponents to score 56.4 points on 38.0 percent shooting. Idaho ranks first in the Big Sky in scoring defense, third in field goal percentage defense.

Offensively, Idaho averages 62.5 points. The Vandals have exceeded 63 points just twice in the last 12 games, against Sacramento State and Chicago State, teams that are a combined 2-42.

During its recent four-game losing streak, Idaho averaged 52.3 points per game. The Vandals snapped that streak with a 60-56 road win at Northern Colorado on Saturday.

Junior guard Kennedy Johnson, in her first year at Idaho after transferring from UC Santa Barbara, leads the Vandals in scoring (11.6/g).

Six-foot-three forward Hope Butera, who played two seasons at South Georgia Technical College and two at Florida International, averages 9.0 points and 8.2 rebounds.

Idaho's top three scorers are first-year players for the Vandals.

Idaho is holding its opponents to 28.6 percent shooting from the 3-point line, the top mark in the Big Sky and something to watch for against Montana, which is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the country.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Idaho 45-17 and has gone 16-13 against the Vandals in Moscow.

Idaho is 9-4 against the Lady Griz in the teams' last 13 meetings and has defeated Montana seven straight times in Moscow, two of those one-point games.

In the teams' games last season, Beyonce Bea scored 32 points, 20 in the second quarter, as Idaho won 79-71 in Moscow, holding the lead for more than 35 minutes.

In the rematch in Missoula, Montana's balance – five starters with 11 or more points – overcame Bea's 40-point outing as the Lady Griz held on for an 85-82 win.

Bea's 40 points matched the most ever scored against Montana and were the most ever scored against the Lady Griz in Dahlberg Arena.

More on Eastern Washington: The Eagles had a 19-win season a year ago, finishing fourth in the Big Sky at 11-7. With five starters back, including four who averaged more than 11 points per game last season, EWU was a solid pick atop the Big Sky preseason poll.

Eastern Washington is 16-4 through 20 games, its four losses, three of them coming on the road, each by eight points or fewer. That has the Eagles at 73 in the latest NET national rankings, with Montana steadily climbing, now at 88.

EWU lost three times in six games in late November and early December, at UC Irvine, home against Gonzaga and at California, then went on a 10-game winning streak, when it won by an average of more than 18 points per game.

That run came to an end on Saturday in a big clash in Flagstaff. The Lumberjacks led 37-24 at the half and by 15 early in the fourth quarter before the Eagles closed strong and forced overtime. NAU went 5 for 8 in overtime to win 89-81.

Aaliyah Alexander leads Eastern Washington in scoring (16.1/g) and ranks second in the Big Sky. Jamie Loera, on a very short list for Big Sky MVP, averages 12.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists with a sweet 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Four other players, in a balanced approach that mirrors Montana's, average between 6.3 and 9.7 points.

Eastern's numbers reflect a 16-4 team. The Eagles shoot 42.4 percent while allowing 37.1 percent, have a season scoring differential of more than 15 points, can shoot the three (.346) and have a team assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) that ranks 21st in the nation.

Eastern Washington is No. 25 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, down from No. 20 last week. Montana has received votes in the poll the last two weeks.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series 77-27 and has gone 29-16 against the Eagles in Cheney, where the Lady Griz have won three times on their last four trips.

The teams split their regular-season matchups the last two seasons. Montana won 81-70 in Cheney last season. Eastern Washington had a counter-punch 87-60 win in Missoula.

The teams met in the 4-5 matchup in the Big Sky quarterfinals in Boise in March.

Montana held a nine-point lead, 31-22, early in the second quarter before Eastern Washington closed the first half on a 21-4 run to take a 43-35 lead at the break.

The Lady Griz pulled within three, 57-54, early in the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 EWU run put the game out of reach. The Eagles won 72-64.

Jamie Loera, last year's Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, had 23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals for the Eagles in that tournament victory.

Montana notes:

* The Lady Griz are the Big Sky's top shooting team (.446) and rank second in scoring (75.2/g) behind Northern Arizona (78.4/g).

* Montana leads the Big Sky in rebounding margin and has out-rebounded all but three opponents this season. The Lady Griz out-rebounded Portland State and Sacramento State last week by 38.

* Carmen Gfeller (14.3/g) ranks fourth in the Big Sky in scoring and is second in shooting (.525). … Dani Bartsch leads the league in rebounding (9.6/g). The next closest is 8.3. … Gina Marxen leads the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6).

* Montana has three starters – Gfeller (.525), Bruno (.509) and Bartsch (.500) – who are shooting 50 percent or better on the season.

* Gina Marxen is 22 ahead of Gfeller for collegiate points scored. Marxen, who scored 954 points at Idaho and has 518 at Montana, has 1.472 for her career. Gfeller has 1,450. Both are enjoying the statistical fruits of a fifth year of eligibility.

* Gina Marxen the last four games: 21 assists, four turnovers. … Mack Konig the last three games: 19 assists, four turnovers. That's some nice point-guard play.

* Macey Huard has hit a 3-pointer in eight straight games, the longest streak on the team this season, the longest for Montana since Gina Marxen ended last season with a make in 14 straight games.

* During Montana's three-game winning streak, the Lady Griz have totaled 62 assists against 25 turnovers. … In its last four games, Montana has held leads of 14, 37, 43 and 27 points. The Lady Griz have held a lead of 13 points or more in 11 of their last 12 games.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona top the league at 6-1, with Montana close behind at 6-2. Idaho State and Montana State are tied for fourth at 5-3.

* Thursday schedule: UM at UI, MSU at EWU, UNC at ISU, NAU at WSU

* Saturday schedule: UM at EWU, MSU at UI, NAU at ISU, UNC at WSU, PSU at SAC

Upcoming: Three straight at home, where Montana has won five in a row, against Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado and Montana State.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw

Carmen Gfeller

Macey Huard

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

University of Montana Athletics