Lady Griz to face Spartans, Golden Hurricane in Florida

The Montana women's basketball team, last in action on Saturday, Dec. 7, will return to the court this week when it plays Michigan State and Tulsa at the West Palm Beach Classic.

The six-team event will be hosted at Rubin Arena on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Lady Griz (4-5) will face unbeaten Michigan State (10-0) at 10 a.m. (MT) on Thursday, Tulsa (5-5) at 10 a.m. (MT) on Friday. The Spartans are ranked No. 15 in this week's AP poll.

Also competing at the high-level event are No. 18 Tennessee (8-0), Alabama (10-1) and Richmond (9-2).

Both the Crimson Tide and the Spiders are receiving votes in this week's AP poll, while Richmond tops this week's World Exposure Report Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, one spot ahead of South Dakota State.

Montana will be playing both Michigan State and Tulsa for the first time in program history. The Lady Griz are seeking their first win over a ranked opponent since the 2003-04 season.

Michigan State, which opened its Big Ten schedule with a 68-66 home win over Iowa on Sunday, has a NET ranking of No. 12.

Three previous Montana opponents are in this week's NET top 100. Minnesota is No. 34, South Dakota State is No. 41, Washington is No. 84.

Montana's strength of schedule currently ranks No. 113, which puts the Lady Griz in the top third in the country for difficulty.

"You schedule your nonconference thinking teams are going to be this or that, but with the transfer portal, teams can change so dramatically over the offseason," said Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger.

"Has our schedule been harder than I'd want it to be? Probably, but sometimes you can't control that, so you turn it into a positive.

"Maybe you don't win as many games as you want to in the preseason but when you play a really good team, they expose your weaknesses and make you get better quicker."

Michigan State has won its first 10 games by an average of nearly 35 points per game and on Sunday against the Hawkeyes roared back from a 58-49 fourth-quarter deficit to win 68-66.

The Spartans are holding their opponents to 54.4 points per game on 33.6 percent shooting and forcing more than 25 turnovers per game.

Michigan State made the NCAA tournament last year, then added transfers from Ball State, Ohio State, Arizona State and Oregon in the spring.

"I wasn't sure they were going to be the toughest team on our schedule, but they are right there," said Holsinger. "They press, they run, they are physical.

"They are one of nine teams left in the country that are still undefeated. We'll get our chance to go down there and see what we can do against them."

Coverage: The games can be watched by purchasing a subscription to Baller TV. Radio coverage with Ace Sauerwein can be heard on KGRZ 1450 AM/92.7 FM or KGRZMissoula.com.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz head to Florida on a two-game losing streak after dropping both of their games in the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge.

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, Montana fell behind North Dakota State in Fargo by a score of 30-15 after the first quarter and trailed 51-31 at the half and could never claw all the way back.

The Lady Griz went 17 for 29 (.586) in the second half but could get no closer than six points in the fourth quarter.

It marked the third time this season Montana allowed 29 or more points in the first quarter. Gonzaga raced out to a 31-15 lead after 10 minutes, Minnesota a 29-7 advantage.

Three days later, Montana hosted mid-major power South Dakota State and fell 78-70 in Missoula to the Jackrabbits.

The game was tied 62-62 with four minutes left before South Dakota State pulled away.

Montana missed a 3-pointer with 4:14 left in a tie game, a driving layup with 1:35 remaining while down one and a 3-pointer with 56 seconds to go while trailing by three.

Brooklyn Meyer, last year's Summit League Player of the Year, went 12 for 15 and hit eight of her nine free throws to score 32 points, the most scored against Montana this season.

It was the most scored against the Lady Griz since McKenna Hofschild of Colorado State put up 36 in CSU's 78-69 win in Missoula early last season.

Dani Bartsch matched a career high with five 3-pointers against SDSU and scored 19 points, one off her career high. Mack Konig dished out a career-high 11 assists.

Adria Lincoln added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, Avery Waddington 11 off the bench and Izabella Zingaro 10 points.

The game marked only the second time this season that Montana's bench has been outscored by the opponent's reserves.

South Dakota State shot 54 percent and went 8 for 16 (.500) from the 3-point line, 16 for 19 (.842) from the free throw line. NDSU and SDSU combined to go 53 for 102 (.520) against Montana.

Montana went 11 for 25 (.440) from the 3-point line, the fourth time this season the Lady Griz have hit 10 or more 3-pointers.

Waddington scored in double figures for the third time this season, the first since Nov. 14.

Zingaro is shooting 33 for 44 (.750) from the field this season. She has scored 10 or more points the last three games, averaging 15.7 points on 74.1 percent shooting.

Montana is No. 184 in the NET, the sixth-ranked team from the Big Sky, which has three in the top 100: Montana State (55), Northern Arizona (76) and Idaho (86).

Montana vs. ranked opponents: Thursday will be the 64th time Montana has faced a ranked opponent in its history. The Lady Griz are 12-51 in those games.

Only four of those 12 wins have come away from Missoula, at Nebraska (1986-87), at San Diego State (1994-95), at Western Kentucky (1995-96) and a neutral-site win over Colorado (1996-97).

Montana has lost its last 16 matchups against ranked opponents. Its last ranked win was over No. 24 Utah, 61-58, in Missoula in January 2004.

At a glance (Michigan State): At 10-0, the Spartans are off to the best start in program history under second-year coach Robyn Fralick.

Michigan State opened the season with wins by scores of 107-42 over Oakland and 100-44 over Yale, and scored 95 or more points in five of its first six games.

Through 10 games the Spartans are averaging 89.1 points on 48.2 percent shooting.

Only two opponents have reached 70 points against Michigan State, which is forcing more than 25 turnovers per game. Six of its 10 opponents have been held to 54 or fewer points.

Sixth-year player Julia Ayrault, first-team All-Big Ten last year, is averaging 16.7 points and 8.0 rebounds.

Junior Grace VanSlooten, a transfer from Oregon, is averaging 15.3 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds.

Junior Theryn Hallock, last season's Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year, is Michigan State's third player averaging in double figures at 11.8 per game.

Michigan State went 22-9 a year ago, its first 20-win season since 2018-19, and finished 12-6 in the Big Ten to finish fourth, its highest finish since 2015-16.

The Spartans advanced to their 18th NCAA tournament, falling as a No. 9 seed to No. 8 North Carolina 59-56 in a first-round game in Columbia, S.C.

Series history: Montana will be facing Michigan State for the first time.

The only team out of Michigan that Montana has ever played is Western Michigan. The Lady Griz and Broncos played three times from 1997-98 to 2003-04.

At a glance (Tulsa): The Golden Hurricane will enter the West Palm Beach Classic with a record of 5-5 and on a three-game winning streak.

After falling to 2-5 with an 81-59 home loss to a strong Creighton team, Tulsa has won its last three, over Grambling State, San Jose State and Kansas City, by an average of more than 24 points per game.

Friday's game against Montana will be Tulsa's first of the event. The Golden Hurricane will face Tennessee on Saturday.

The Golden Hurricane returned three starters from last year's team that went 25-10 and finished in a three-way tie for first in the American Athletic Conference with a 13-5 league record.

It was Tulsa's first 20-win season since going 26-6 in 2005-06.

Tulsa was upset by No. 9 East Carolina in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament, 75-71, then chosen to play in the WBIT.

The Golden Hurricane won 80-62 over Arkansas and 73-61 over Georgetown, both at home, before losing 69-61 to Illinois, also at home.

It was the program's seventh national tournament appearance.

Tulsa was picked fourth in this year's AAC preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind South Florida, North Texas and Rice.

Senior guard Delanie Crawford, who scored 695 points as a junior (18.3/g), was one of five players named first-team preseason all-league.

Crawford is averaging 16.5 points per game this season, sophomore guard Elise Hill 10.5 points.

Tulsa is shooting 38.7 percent overall through 10 games, 28.5 percent from the 3-point line.

Upcoming: After a short Christmas break, Montana will open its Big Sky Conference schedule with home games against Eastern Washington and Idaho on Jan. 2 and 4.

Lady Griz to face Spartans, Golden Hurricane in Florida

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Mack Konig

Adria Lincoln

Avery Waddington

Izabella Zingaro

University of Montana Athletics