Lady Griz host Cal Poly as home stand continues

The Montana women's basketball team, just days after picking up its first win of the season, will continue its three-game home stand on Thursday when it hosts Cal Poly.

The Lady Griz (1-1) and Mustangs (1-2) will tip off at 8 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena, the game moved back an hour because of the Montana-Sacramento State volleyball match that starts at 4 p.m.

Montana will conclude its home stand when it hosts unbeaten Washington (3-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Huskies, who host Eastern Washington on Thursday, have averaged 90 points in their three wins.

Happenings: As part of the Can the Cats food drive, fans can get into Thursday's game free of charge by bringing five canned goods to donate to the cause.

Coverage: Thursday's game will stream on ESPN+ and be broadcast on KGRZ 1450 AM/92.7 FM, with Ace Sauerwein on the call.

At a glance (Montana): After opening the season last Tuesday with an 82-69 setback at Gonzaga, the Lady Griz bounced back with a 72-60 home win over NAIA Southeastern University on Sunday.

Montana went 13 for 32 (.406) from the 3-point line and shot 48.1 percent overall. Dani Bartsch had 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Mack Konig dished out a career-high 10 assists.

The Lady Griz never trailed in the game but were also never able to pull away from the Fire, who shot 40 percent and turned the ball over 10 times, eight fewer than Montana.

The Lady Griz expanded their halftime lead of 33-27 to 16 points, 47-31, midway through the third quarter but a 17-2 run by Southeastern made it a one-point game early in the fourth.

Bartsch, who didn't score and had one rebound at Gonzaga in limited minutes, made it a seven-point game when she hit back-to-back 3-pointers less than 40 seconds apart.

Montana would lead by six or more the final 8:55.

Bartsch played less than 24 minutes (23:45) but Montana was +29 when she was on the floor. She shot 7 for 10 and went 5 for 7 from the 3-point line, matching her career high for threes made.

Konig, who had seven assists at Gonzaga, had 10 against the Fire, a new career high. She ranked fourth in the nation in assists (8.5/g) in Monday's national statistics.

Alex Pirog had her third career game with 10 or more points and nearly had her second career double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. She also matched her career high with three blocks.

Pirog is 8 for 10 from the field to open her junior season.

Tyler McCliment-Call hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points, Aby Shubert hit two off the bench and scored eight points.

Third-year guard Draya Wacker, who missed the last two seasons due to injury, made her Lady Griz debut in the game and hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter, her first collegiate basket.

Montana outrebounded Southeastern 43-21 and limited the Fire to three offensive rebounds and three second-chance points.

After shooting 50 percent at Gonzaga, Montana finished at 48.1 on Sunday. Through two games, the Lady Griz are shooting 49.1 percent to rank 40th in the nation.

At a glance (Cal Poly): The Mustangs, who played at Montana State on Tuesday, are 1-2 and have not played in a game with a tight fourth quarter yet.

Cal Poly opened the season with a 72-40 home win over NAIA UC Merced, then lost 90-35 at No. 3 USC on Saturday.

On Tuesday in Bozeman, the Mustangs fell behind 39-20 at the half against the Bobcats and trailed by at least 13 points the rest of the game.

Cal Poly was done in by 24 turnovers, which allowed the Bobcats to take 21 more shots than the Mustangs.

In its two games against Division I opponents, Cal Poly is averaging 46 points on 35.5 percent shooting with 57 turnovers.

For the season, 6-foot-3 forward Mary Carter is averaging 12.3 points on 46.9 percent shooting. Seniors Annika Shah (11.0/g) and Sydney Bourland (10.3/g) also are averaging in double figures.

The Mustangs have outrebounded their opponents this season (+0.3/g) and have held UC Merced, USC and Montana State to 17-of-80 (.213) shooting from the 3-point line.

Cal Poly went 17-14 last season and tied for third in the Big West with a 13-7 league record. The Mustangs were selected to play in the WNIT, where they fell 63-43 at Pacific in the first round.

The Big West sent four teams to the postseason last year, UC Irvine to the NCAA tournament, Hawaii to the WBIT and UC Riverside and Cal Poly to the WNIT.

It was the program's first national tournament appearance since making the WNIT in 2014.

Cal Poly was picked fifth out of 11 teams in this year's Big West preseason poll, behind Hawaii, UC Irvine, UC Davis and Long Beach State.

Shanele Stires is in her third year as coach after taking over for Faith Mimnaugh, who won 325 games while coaching the Mustangs the previous 25 seasons.

Series history: Montana is 4-0 all-time against Cal Poly, 2-0 against the Mustangs in Missoula.

The teams played three times over five seasons in the 1990s, the Lady Griz winning 79-42 (1994-95) and 77-66 (1998-99) in Missoula, 79-75 in San Luis Obispo in 1996-97.

The teams met again at Cal Poly last season, a 67-65 Montana victory that started a seven-game winning streak for the Lady Griz.

Carmen Gfeller led Montana with 21 points, with Gina Marxen adding 17 off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line.

The Lady Griz went 10 for 23 from the 3-point line, which helped offset 21 turnovers.

Montana trailed 54-48 midway through the fourth quarter but scored 19 points over the last 5:01 to rally for the victory, closing 7 for 10 with four 3-pointers made.

Upcoming: Montana will host Washington of the Big Ten at 2 p.m. on Sunday, the teams' 21st all-time meeting but only second since 1989.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Carmen Gfeller

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

Tyler McCliment-Call

Alex Pirog

Aby Shubert

Draya Wacker

University of Montana Athletics