Montana falls to Cal Poly

Thursday, November 14

Missoula, Mont.

8 PM

Montana

1-2

Cal Poly

2-2

Cal Poly

Montana

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

11/14/2024 11:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team dug itself an early hole on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena and was never able to climb out, falling 65-55 to Cal Poly in Missoula.

It was the Mustangs' first-ever win over the Lady Griz in five tries.

Cal Poly had made only 14 3-pointers through its first three games this season, but Mary Carter and Annika Shah had been shooting it well from distance, going 12 for 31 (.387).

Given space early in Thursday's game, both players went 3 for 3 from the 3-point line in the first quarter, allowing Cal Poly to build a 22-9 lead after 10 minutes.

"Both of those kids are no-threes kids on the scouting report. No threes means no shot up. You've got to do the right things and we just didn't do enough of them to start the game," said coach Brian Holsinger.

"It was a really tough start, which we've had a couple times now. It's really disappointing. We're just not doing the right things right now."

On most nights at Dahlberg, an early deficit for the Lady Griz (1-2) is a speed bump, but Montana's offensive execution never allowed the home team to mount a threatening comeback.

The Lady Griz went 5 for 25 from the 3-point line, turned the ball over 18 times and shot 36.0 percent overall. It was the fourth-fewest points scored at home in a game under Holsinger.

"Offensively, we were out of sync all over the place," said the fourth-year coach. "You have to give some credit to them. They are physical and tough, and we weren't.

"They came in here and really took care of business. We were on our heels all game. We've got to make some changes because we struggled on both sides of the ball tonight."

Montana trailed 39-25 at the half, 54-35 after three quarters.

The Lady Griz cut their deficit to 11, 57-46, with 4:43 left, but Sidney Richards got to the basket and scored on three straight possessions for Cal Poly to put the game out of reach.

Alex Pirog led Montana in both scoring (13) and rebounding (six), going 5 for 7 with two blocks. Through three games this season she is shooting 13 for 17 and leads the Lady Griz in scoring (10.7/g).

Montana's other four starters combined to score 17 points on 5-of-23 shooting. Avery Waddington came off the bench to score 10 points, hitting two of the team's five 3-pointers.

Shah led Cal Poly (2-2), which lost 75-57 at Montana State on Tuesday, with 21 points. Carter added 16. They combined to shoot 14 for 25, 7 for 12 from the 3-point line.

Montana will host unbeaten Washington (4-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Huskies, who have scored 81 or more points in all four games this season, won 83-59 at home over Eastern Washington on Thursday.