Eagles pull out a thriller over Lady Griz

Thursday, February 29

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

19-8, 11-5BSC

Eastern Washington

24-5, 14-2BSC

Eastern Wash.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Mo

2/29/2024 10:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

In a game of big importance for both teams, it was the little things that made all the difference as Eastern Washington pulled out a 56-55 win over Montana on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

The Eagles (24-5, 14-2 BSC) led for less than two minutes of game time but made the big plays down the stretch to come back from a six-point deficit in the final few minutes, outscoring the Lady Griz 9-2 over the last 3:36.

"We didn't execute down the stretch. As well as we executed down the stretch (last Thursday at Sacramento State), we didn't execute tonight. It's a close game, it's a battle, and they made more plays than us down the stretch," said Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger.

With Montana (19-8, 11-5 BSC) up 53-47, the Lady Griz got an open look at a corner 3-pointer with less than four minutes left that would have put them up nine and may have sent them on their way to a big home victory.

It missed and the Big Sky Conference-leading Eagles responded with six straight points to tie the game at 53-53 with 1:34 to go.

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw, who led the Lady Griz with 15 points, scored Montana's final points on a drive to the basket with 1:12 left to make it 55-53.

Montana forced a miss on the other end but a turnover gave Eastern Washington the ball down two and Jacinta Buckley hit only her second shot of the game, a 3-pointer to put the Eagles up 56-55 with 20 seconds left.

Montana turned the ball over again, its sixth of the fourth quarter, its 18th of the game, with 12 seconds left.

Eastern Washington missed two free throws with 3.5 seconds left, giving Montana the ball in front of its bench with 3.1 seconds to play. Carmen Gfeller got a good look on a pull-up jumper from the free throw line, but her shot at the buzzer was off.

"We wanted to put the ball in our senior's hands. She actually got a pretty good look, just didn't make it," said Holsinger.

Montana's 18 turnovers were critical. They gave the Eagles, who had only eight, 15 more shots, allowing Eastern Washington to pull out the win despite shooting 31.9 percent, a low for a Lady Griz opponent this season.

Shooting 6 for 13 from the free throw line was also a little thing that had huge consequences for Montana, which lost for the first time in 17 games this season when leading with five minutes to play.

"To win a close game against a good team, you have to do the little things or those will come back to get you. They bit us tonight," said Holsinger. "The game comes down to turnovers and not having enough possessions."

Montana scored 56 points in its five-point loss to the Eagles in Cheney earlier this month and had to fight to get good looks on Thursday as well.

Open shots from the 3-point line, where the Lady Griz were 7 for 18 (.389), were hard to come by, and Montana shot 38.9 percent overall as well, with only Espenmiller-McGraw and Mack Konig (11) reaching double figures.

The Eagles limited Gfeller to eight points on 3-of-13 shooting and Dani Bartsch didn't score in 23 minutes after taking an elbow to the nose in the first half and missing time, only to return with a different uniform top, No. 24, that wasn't blood-soaked. Yeah, it was physical.

"Dani got hit in the face and was out of it the entire game and couldn't play her usual game," said Holsinger.

Still, Montana led 27-21 at the half and went up seven in the third quarter, 40-33, on two Espenmiller-McGraw 3-pointers 80 seconds apart. MJ Bruno made it 51-46 with 5:26 left in the fourth and Gfeller made it 53-47 with 4:17 to go.

After Montana's missed 3-pointer with 3:47 left that could have extended their lead to nine, the Lady Griz closed the game going 1 for 4 with five turnovers, including three straight possessions with giveaways over 64 seconds that keyed Eastern Washington's comeback.

Jamie Loera, who had the drive and kickout pass that gave Buckley a wide-open 3-pointer to win the game, finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot.

In a tight game at Cheney in early February, she was the difference. On Thursday night, she was the difference again in a game of tiny margins.

"She does everything. She can score it, she can pass it, she takes care of it, she plays really good defense," said Holsinger. "She's one of the best players in the league."

Gfeller grabbed 12 rebounds, as did Bartsch, her 15th double-figure rebounding game of the season despite playing limited minutes and the second half with a gauze-plugged nostril.

Milly Knowles added 11 points for the Eagles, with Aaliyah Alexander, EWU's leading scorer at 15.5 per game, finishing with 10 on 4-of-16 shooting.

Montana, which is three games out of first and two behind second-place Northern Arizona with two games to go, hosts Idaho (14-14, 7-9 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The Vandals won 58-53 at Montana State on Thursday, outscoring the Bobcats 35-23 in the second half to rally back from a 30-23 halftime deficit.