Lady Griz get second shot at Bobcats

The Montana women's basketball team will play a single game this week. And it's a big one for a number of reasons.

First of all, it's against Montana State, on Saturday at 2 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena. That alone makes it must-see basketball.

Second, the teams are tied for third in the Big Sky Conference standings with 8-4 league records. Both are trying to stay within reach of Big Sky leaders Northern Arizona (10-1 BSC) and Eastern Washington (9-2 BSC) as teams jockey for postseason seeding.

Third, Montana State (14-11) has gained the upper hand on Montana (16-7) over the last decade, a series the Lady Griz dominated for years. Montana may lead the all-time series 80-37, but Montana State has won 15 of the teams' last 18 meetings, including the first game this season in Bozeman.

Montana will have just five regular-season games remaining after Saturday, at Sacramento State and Portland State, home for Eastern Washington and Idaho, and at Idaho State.

The 10-team Big Sky tournament opens in Boise on Saturday, March 9.

Coverage: Saturday's game will be available on ESPN+ and on KGRZ (92.7 FM/1450 AM), KGRZMissoula.com and on the Varsity Network, with Ace Sauerwein calling the action and a special guest joining him (see below).

Scripps Sports also will be airing the game with Ben Creighton and Krista Redpath on the call.

At a glance (Montana): The Lady Griz lost back-to-back games against Big Sky leaders Eastern Washington, 61-56 on the road, and Northern Arizona, 69-60 at home, to drop off the pace being set by the Lumberjacks and Eagles, who are a combined 19-3 in league.

Montana bounced back from only its second two-game losing streak of the season – the other against Gonzaga and Washington State to open the season – with a convincing 82-73 win over Northern Colorado at home on Saturday, against the team that defeated the Lady Griz 67-57 in Greeley.

Held to an un-Montana-like 58.0 points on 32.2 percent shooting against Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona, the Lady Griz returned to the 80s on Saturday while shooting 44.4 percent.

Montana scored the game's first five points against the Bears, put up 24 in the first quarter against one of the Big Sky's better defensive teams and built its lead to 18 in the second half and never trailed in the game.

At a glance (Montana State): The Bobcats ran their winning streak to five games last Thursday, a streak that included an impressive 62-61 win at Eastern Washington, with a 61-40 home destruction of Northern Colorado.

Montana State led 30-12 at the half and limited the Bears to 13 made field goals overall, just two from behind the arc.

Given the same opportunity Montana had on Thursday, a home game against Big Sky-leading Northern Arizona, the Bobcats matched the Lady Griz and gave up 30 points to Big Sky Player of the Week Sophie Glancey in a 71-58 loss.

Northern Arizona, which has done it twice, is the only team since early December to score more than 62 points against Montana State.

Series history:

* Montana leads the all-time series with Montana State 80-37 and has gone 48-11 at home against the Bobcats.

* Montana State has won four of the teams' last five games in Missoula. Eight of the Bobcats' 11 all-time wins in Missoula have come since 2010.

* Montana State won the teams' first matchup this season in Bozeman 64-55. The Lady Griz raced out to a 19-5 lead in the game's opening seven minutes, the Bobcats outscored Montana 59-36 the rest of the way.

* Montana went 3 for 20 the final 13 minutes of the first half but still led 29-25 at the break. The Lady Griz had 12 second-half turnovers and went without a made basket the game's final 5:41.

* The game was tied at 53-53 from the 3:45 mark of the fourth quarter until Natalie Picton gave Montana State the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 1:50 to play. The Bobcats, who led for 8:51 compared to more than 27 minutes for Montana, ended the game on an 11-2 run.

* Madison Hall scored 18 points, one of four MSU starters in double figures. Dani Bartsch led Montana with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Lady Griz hit 10 3-pointers but turned the ball over 20 times, resulting in 23 MSU points.

Summary:

We heard that award-winning broadcaster Riley Corcoran will be on the broadcast of Saturday's game, breaking away from his men's duties to enjoy the women's action alongside Ace Sauerwein. We'd better get him up to speed so he's as prepared going in as he'll want to be.

Dear Riley,

Here is a bunch of stuff for you to know before Saturday so you and Ace can crush the broadcast.

1. Montana and Montana State are tied for third in the Big Sky standings behind Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington, which is about how everything was projected going into the season, with the Lumberjacks and Eagles taking the top spots in both preseason polls, the Lady Griz and Bobcats next.

Northern Arizona, at 10-1, put itself in the driver's seat with its road sweep of the Montana schools last week, but Eastern Washington, at 9-2, is right behind NAU and gets the Lumberjacks in Cheney on Feb. 22 in what will be an important matchup.

Of course, the Eagles then have to play at the Montana schools the final weekend of the regular season, so the Lady Griz and Bobcats are still in play for a top-two seed and the benefits that brings to the postseason, making Saturday's game all the more important.

2. You've been around this rivalry since your days calling games for the Montana State women's program, so you know the big-picture domination by the Lady Griz and the recent one-sidedness of more recent years in favor of the Bobcats.

Montana's 80-37 all-time series lead was built by long-time Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig and his teams that went 74-19 against Montana State.

Montana State coach Tricia Binford started making her own dent in the series record even while Selvig was coaching, winning four of seven games, three of those in Missoula, from 2010 to '13, then winning two of the last three she ever coached against Selvig.

Since Selvig retired in the summer of 2016, Binford's teams have gone 13-2 against Montana, the Lady Griz winning 87-63 in 2017-18, the Madi Schoening Game (18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists), and in 2021-22, the Carmen Gfeller Game (34 points on 11-of-16 shooting).

Of course, when wins have come infrequently enough that you can name them, that's never a good sign.

3. Speaking of Gfeller, wasn't she playing for the Lady Griz while you were still working at Montana State? Or does it only feel that way? Her freshman season at Montana was in 2018-19, or when Montana's Macey Huard and Montana State's Natalie Picton were in eighth grade.

Saturday will be her 12th Montana-Montana State game. Twelfth! She was on the bench for two of those games, redshirting in 2019-20. Saturday will be the 10th time she's played against Montana State. The 10th!

(That's not a record or anything. Montana faced Montana State in the Big Sky tournament seven times in eight years between 1990-91 and 1997-98, giving someone like Angella Bieber, for one, 12 games played against the Bobcats over four seasons.)

That longevity (thanks, COVID), plus her obvious skills, has allowed her to compile some pretty big career numbers, starting with her 1,503 points that rank fourth in program history behind only Shannon Cate (2,172), Mandy Morales (1,959) and Hollie Tyler (1,698).

And wouldn't you know it, the game you happen to be working on Saturday will be her 129th career game played, which will match Jordan Sullivan and Kellie Cole for the most games played in program history.

Her next made 3-pointer will be the 100th of her career, making her one of only 13 players in program history to reach that standard. Her next blocked shot also will be her 100th. She will be one of only 16 players to reach that number. She is four rebounds away from breaking into the top 20 in that category.

She is a career 50 percent shooter – if she hangs on, she will be one of only four Lady Griz in history to shoot 50 percent or better for their careers – a career 82.0 percent shooter from the free throw line. That consistency has allowed her to average these numbers the last four years: 14.3, 13.9, 13.8, 14.1.

She ranks in the top 10 in program history in six categories: games played, points, scoring average, field goal percentage, free throws made and free throw percentage.

4. Speaking of fun with numbers, Dani Bartsch reached 500 career rebounds a few weeks back in her 75th game played to become the seventh-fastest player in program history to reach 500.

Considering she has 579 right now and is averaging nearly 10 boards per game, we'll have to see how many have reached 600 faster than she does, but that's a note that can wait.

And in Saturday's home win over Northern Colorado, Mack Konig reached 500 career points in her 53rd game played, tying her for eighth-fastest with McKenzie Johnston, Lauren Cooper and Ann Lake.

5. Speaking of Dani, she's been Montana's breakout star this season. The rebounding – she leads the Big Sky and ranks 30th nationally at 9.9/game – you could see coming. Few, however, would have expected her to have 42 made 3-pointers on 43.3 percent shooting from the arc.

She is only 12 makes behind team-leader Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw, who ranks 16th nationally in 3-point percentage (.439), and only two makes behind Gina Marxen, who has made 293 for her career.

And Bartsch leads Montana in steals by a wide margin, ranks second in blocks and third in assists while owning a heady 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. I don't have access to the number, but it's believed Montana is +431 (estimated) this season while she's been on the court. What a baller!

6. Wait, you didn't know Montana could shoot the 3-point shot like that? It was never a weapon for a Selvig-coached team, just another tool to be deployed when called upon. Neither was it for the coaches who succeeded him.

But third-year coach Brian Holsinger has embraced it and why shouldn't he given the offensive weapons he has? Play to your strengths, right?

Montana will have three players – Espenmiller-McGraw, Marxen and Bartsch – with at least 50 made 3-pointers before the season is over. Fifty makes in a season has only been done 15 times in program history, never by even two players in the same season.

Montana has made 253 3-pointers this season and blew past the previous program record of 239 in Thursday's home loss to Northern Arizona. Only three previous Montana teams had ever made even 200 in a season, so this is rare territory for the Lady Griz. Maybe new territory that will become the norm.

Montana (11.0/g) ranks second nationally behind only Utah (11.2/g) in made threes per game and seventh in 3-point percentage (.388). The Lady Griz have made 10 or more in all but six games this season, including a program-record 19 in their home win over Sacramento State.

How the times have changed. Montana has made 13 or more 3-pointers in a game 14 times since the arc was added for the 1987-88 season. Twelve of those 14 shooting performances have come in the last three seasons under Holsinger.

All those threes have Montana averaging 74.1 points, which would be the highest scoring average for the Lady Griz since 2007-08. Same with the team's 43.9 percent shooting, something not done since 2007-08 (.441).

7. Here's a delightful fact for you that you can use to wow your listeners. Gina Marxen, also playing her fifth season, the first three of those at Idaho, has 1,504 collegiate points. Gfeller has 1,503. The race is on!

8. We know you love a good number to sprinkle into the pregame build. So, in the NET national rankings, for whatever they are worth, Montana, at 92, ranks second in the Big Sky behind Eastern Washington (79). Northern Arizona is next at 110, Montana State follows at 128.

9. Okay, about Saturday. We know you were at the first meeting in Bozeman, sitting in the front row in your Jack Nicholson seat, so you witnessed what went down, how Montana did anything it wanted for much of the first quarter, then struggled offensively the rest of the game.

Montana put up 19 points in the opening seven minutes, going 7 for 11, five of those makes 3-pointers, then had three separate stretches later in the game that added up to more than 22 minutes when the Lady Griz made a single basket. That's one basket in more than a half of basketball.

And Montana was still in a tie game with two minutes left before Montana State pulled it out. Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger said after the game it was the most frustrating loss in his time at Montana. You can see why. The game recorded a 9.7 out of 10 on the stomach-punch meter.

10. It's that contrast that makes the rematch so delightful, to see which team's plan wins out, because Montana State can't win if the Bobcats give up Montana's scoring average of 74.1. The Bobcats have reached 70 points only four times this season, with a high of 75. They're averaging 60.9 points.

And they are still winning, which makes this arguably the best coaching job of Tricia Binford's 19-year career, considering what she lost off last year's team through outbound transfers, then lost from this year's team due to injury, most notably Lexi Deden (13.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg) six games in.

Binford had to adapt to what she had available and has been masterful in making the most of it, which is the essence of coaching.

Montana State is allowing 58.3 points per game, which Montana didn't reach in the first game, the Bobcats holding the Lady Griz to 36 points over the game's final 33 minutes after falling behind 19-5.

Outside of Northern Arizona, which leads the Big Sky and ranks 24th nationally in scoring (77.8/g), no team has scored more than 62 points against Montana State since a 73-64 loss at Portland back on Dec. 2. Arizona State is the only other team to break 70 on the Bobcats this season.

It's that battle of strengths and how those play out against one another that will make this one so fun to watch.

11. It's something that Montana will have to contend with not only on Saturday but against the best teams in the league once the Big Sky tournament arrives next month: Can the Lady Griz operate at a high level offensively against the best defensive teams?

In Thursday's loss to Northern Arizona, when Montana scored 60 points on a season-low 30.9 percent shooting, the Lady Griz made one basket (one!) from inside the arc in the first half. Montana went 6 for 27 (.222) from inside the arc for the game. Three-point shooting can only get you so far.

Riley, you'll love these numbers because it gives you substance for your pregame buildup.

* In Montana's eight Big Sky wins, the Lady Griz are averaging 82.6 points on 47.3 percent shooting, with 113 3-pointers made (14.1/g). They've looked unstoppable.

* In Montana's four Big Sky losses, the Lady Griz are averaging 57.0 points on 34.5 percent shooting. The 3-pointers have come (33 makes) but more on volume (104 attempts in four games) than percentage (.317). They've looked stoppable. At least slow-downable.

Of course, Montana went from 57 points in a 67-57 loss at Northern Colorado last month to 82 points on Saturday, so the Lady Griz have shown they can adapt given a second shot, which they'll have on Saturday.

12. Here is what Montana coach Brian Holsinger has to say: "They are one of the better defensive teams, we are one of the better offensive teams, so it will be a fight to see who is going to win. Hopefully having a home-court advantage with our fans will help."

Wait, that won't help you at all. He's learned well over the years the art of coach-speak. You love to see it when a coach keeps his cards close to the vest and provides zero for the opponent to use, whether that be for game-planning or for bulletin boards. That's when you know it's a big game.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now. Hope this helps in your prep for Saturday. Have fun with the broadcast.

Montana notes:

* After 22 games with the same starting five (Konig, Espenmiller-McGraw, Bruno, Bartsch, Gfeller), Montana had a change in Saturday's win over Northern Colorado when MJ Bruno sat out. That bumped Gina Marxen into the starting lineup. All she did was match a season high with 17 points on nine shots.

* Northern Arizona's Sophie Glancey scored 30 points against Montana on Thursday night. It was the sixth time an opposing player has scored 30-plus points against the Lady Griz since the start of last year.

Last year, Idaho's Beyonce Bea (32 and 40) did it twice, North Dakota's Kacie Borowicz (35) and Eastern Washington's Jaydia Martin (33) did it once. This season, Colorado State's McKenna Hofschild (36) did it before Glancey on Thursday.

* Over the last eight games, Gina Marxen has 37 assists, six turnovers. With a 3.00 assist-to-turnover ratio for the season, Marxen ranks first in the Big Sky and seventh nationally.

* Montana is the Big Sky's top shooting team (.439) and ranks second behind Northern Arizona in scoring (74.1/g).

* Montana leads the Big Sky in rebounding margin (+5.7) but got outrebounded by a combined 16 last weekend against Northern Arizona (-10) and Northern Colorado (-6). It was only the fourth and fifth times this season the Lady Griz have been outrebounded.

Northern Arizona didn't give up a single second-chance point to Montana on Thursday.

* With Carmen Gfeller (30) and Dani Bartsch (23) combining for 53 blocked shots, Montana leads the Big Sky (3.6/g). … Gina Marxen (3.9/g) and Mack Konig (3.1/g) rank third and fourth in the Big Sky in assists. … Gfeller leads the Big Sky with 30 blocks (1.3/g).

* Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw's 54 3-pointers are the most in a season for Montana since McCalle Feller hit a program-record 75 in 2015-16. With one more make, Espenmiller-McGraw will be in the top 10 in program history for a single season.

* Macey Huard has a slash line of .387/.347/.838, a pretty remarkable bounce-back considering she began her collegiate career shooting 9 for 40 from the field and 3 for 24 from the 3-point line. In league play she is .408/.450/.833, a more accurate reflection of her shooting ability.

* Montana is 8-4 at home this season. Montana State is 3-8 in road games, 4-9 away from home. … The Lady Griz need four wins to reach 20 in a season for the first time since 2015-16 and for the 32nd time in program history.

* Montana's loss at Montana State was one of two games this year out of 14 when the Lady Griz held a halftime lead but didn't win. The other was against Northern Colorado.

* Six players (Bartsch, Bruno, Espenmiller-McGraw, Gfeller, Konig and Marxen) have led Montana in scoring this season. … The Lady Griz are 16-1 this season when they shoot 38 percent or better.

* Carmen Gfeller is 12 for 36 (.333) the last three games, notable for a career 50 percent shooter. She went 2 for 12 from the 3-point line in those games.

* Dani Bartsch had a double-double in both home games last week, including a season-high 15 rebounds against Northern Arizona and a career-high 20 points against Northern Colorado. She has 12 career double-doubles, six in the last nine games.

* Macey Huard has hit a 3-pointer in 12 straight games, the longest streak for Montana since Gina Marxen closed last season with a 3-pointer over the final 14 games.

This week in the Big Sky Conference:

Thursday games: PSU at UNC, EWU at ISU, UI at WSU, SAC at NAU

Thursday notes: Portland State picked up its first Big Sky win and snapped a 15-game losing streak at home against Idaho State on Saturday. … Sacramento State, with four wins all season, has quietly won three of four, all at home. … Northern Arizona takes an eight-game winning streak and all sorts of momentum into the week.

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

Upcoming: Montana will play at Sacramento State on Thursday, Feb. 22, at Portland State on Saturday, Feb. 24.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

MJ Bruno

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw

Carmen Gfeller

Macey Huard

Mack Konig

Gina Marxen

University of Montana Athletics