Lady Griz take care of business, win big on the road

Saturday, January 6

Omaha, Neb.

1 PM (MT)

Montana

10-3

Omaha

4-11

Montana

Omaha

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

Lady Griz take care of business, win big on the road

1/6/2024 4:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana led by a dozen after the first quarter, by 24 at the half and rolled to an 81-60 victory over Omaha on Saturday afternoon at UNO's Baxter Arena on the final day of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge.

The win was the seventh straight for the Lady Griz (10-3), their longest winning streak since 2015-16, and their 10th win in their last 11 games.

"We came out ready to go and jumped on them," said coach Brian Holsinger, whose team defeated South Dakota 74-61 on Wednesday to go 2-0 in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. "We scored 80 and held a team 15 points under its average, so a good day."

Carmen Gfeller scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, Dani Bartsch grabbed 11 rebounds for the second straight game, and MJ Bruno had another perfect shooting performance, hitting both of her 3-point attempts and four shots overall to finish with 12 points.

Macey Huard, who attacks the basket from the perimeter like few others, scored a season-high 14 points, and Gina Marxen added 12 points and a team-high four assists, giving her 32 assists and just six turnovers the last six games.

Montana shot 47.5 percent overall and used the 3-point shot, of course, to build its early advantage that would allow the Lady Griz to lead by 10 or more the game's final 30 minutes. Montana hit seven 3-pointers in the first half as it pulled away.

"When we executed right and with the right tempo, we were hard to guard," said Holsinger.

Easy to overlook given the team's offensive output was Montana's work on the defensive end, where the Lady Griz held the Mavericks (4-11), who scored 82 points at Eastern Washington on Wednesday night, more than 15 points below their season average.

UNO had 24 points at the half and needed to go 4 for 4 from the arc in the third quarter and 8 of 9 from the free throw line in the final period to finally crack 60 in the final seconds.

Montana has held four of its last six opponents to 61 points or fewer.

"We came out and executed the game plan really well," said Holsinger, who was facing a team that loves to run and either score in transition or get to the free throw line, where the Mavericks average more than 17 makes per game.

UNO scored two fast-break points, only got to the line 13 times and was limited to four offensive rebounds and four second-chance points. Montana squeezed the life out of Omaha, taking away everything the Mavericks do best and wanted to do again on Saturday.

"We did a good job of stopping them in transition and did a pretty good job keeping them off the line," added Holsinger. "We just made things really hard for them and then rebounded it pretty well too."

With its offense shut down, Omaha, which statistically is one of the worst defensive teams in the nation, allowing more than 82 points per game on better than 48 percent shooting, had nothing to fall back on.

Getting whatever shot it wanted, Montana led 24-12 at the end of the first quarter, 48-24 at the half. Gfeller, the best player on the court on Saturday, scored 10 points in the opening 10 minutes to get her team going.

"She came out ready and focused," said Holsinger. "She was ready to go right from the start, no lapses. Every time she came in, she just dominated and did what she was supposed to do. Really proud of her."

Omaha's only sustained offensive success came during a six-minute stretch of the third quarter when the Mavericks hit four 3-pointers to cut their deficit to 16, 56-40. Montana scored the final eight points of the period to push its lead back to 24, 64-40.

"We coasted. We relaxed, and when you relax, you don't make shots," said Holsinger, whose team went 0 for 4 from the 3-point line and 6 for 12 from the free throw line in the third quarter.

The lead remained at least 19 points throughout the fourth quarter, which allowed Holsinger to rest his starters, a rarity for a road game in January.

Huard scored seven of her 14 points in the final period, and fellow freshman Adria Lincoln had a sweet – and easy-looking – drive and left-handed finish, part of her four-point game, her highest output against a Division I opponent this season.

"Adria is getting better and better," said Holsinger. "Scoring is really easy for her. We're trying to keep her locked in on the defensive end. She's continuing to improve. I'm excited to see what that looks like as the season goes along."

Montana now will return to its Big Sky schedule for the rest of the regular season. The Lady Griz play at Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona next week.