Lumberjacks top Lady Griz in Big Sky semifinal

Tuesday, March 12

Boise, Idaho

2:30 PM

Montana

22-9

(2) Northern Arizona

25-8

Montana

Northern Ariz.

Photo by: TOMMY_MARTINO

3/12/2024 5:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The team that's been making the Lady Griz the Lady Griz again came up one game short of playing for a Big Sky Conference championship.

Montana, the No. 3 seed, lost 74-67 to No. 2 Northern Arizona on Tuesday afternoon in a semifinal game at the Big Sky Conference Championship at Idaho Central Arena in Boise.

The Lady Griz (22-9) shot 3 for 17 in the first quarter and never held the lead over the game's final 32 minutes.

Trailing 38-29 at the half, Montana tied it at 51-51 in the third quarter and pulled within one in the fourth, but in the end it was the Big Sky's highest-scoring team pulling away.

Sophie Glancey scored 21 points, Grace Beasley added 18 and Leia Beattie 13 as the Lumberjacks advance to face No. 1 Eastern Washington in Wednesday's championship game.

"Really proud of our kids. We came out in the third quarter playing the right way, but we just couldn't get over the hump," said third-year Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger.

"That's really it. We didn't get timely defensive stops. You have to give credit to NAU. They found ways. They are experienced in these moments at finding ways."

Montana will now wait until Sunday night to find out if its season gets extended.

After 68 teams are announced for the NCAA tournament, the NCAA's new WBIT will take another 32, then 48 will get selected for the WNIT. Montana has a NET national ranking of 95.

"I don't think we're done," said Holsinger, whose program has not played in a national tournament since 2015. "I think we've done enough.

"If we get to play in the postseason, that's another milestone that hasn't been done in Lady Griz basketball in a very long time."

The anticipated high-scoring shootout was nowhere to be found in the first quarter as both teams struggled shooting the ball, combining to go 9 for 37 through the opening 10 minutes.

Montana got going in the second quarter, shooting 9 for 19, but that wasn't enough to keep up with Northern Arizona, which shot 10 for 17 in the second period to build a nine-point lead at the break.

"Similar to us, they have weapons all over the floor and are hard to guard," said Gina Marxen, who had nine points and four assists.

Carmen Gfeller and Mack Konig both scored 21 points to lead Montana.

It was Konig who sparked the Lady Griz in the third quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of the second half to shoot her team back into the game.

Two free throws by Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw with 2:05 left in the third quarter finally pulled Montana even at 51-51.

Espenmiller-McGraw scored at the buzzer to make it a 55-53 game going into the fourth, Northern Arizona up two.

It was too much offense for the Lumberjacks in the final period and not quite enough for the Lady Griz, as Northern Arizona closed the game out by going 8 for 13 over the final 10 minutes.

Glancey banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the period and Beasley hit a pair of clutch threes later in the quarter to keep Montana just far enough away.

"They hit some big shots and we didn't," said Marxen. "A lot of it is on ourselves, on our execution. There were things we could have done to get over that hump. We just didn't execute down the stretch."

After a pair of Konig free throws made it 60-59 with still more than seven minutes to play, Beasley hit a 3-pointer.

Konig made it 63-61, then NAU scored six straight points, and Montana wouldn't be within five again over the last 5:19.

Dani Bartsch grabbed 11 rebounds. Her ninth rebound of the game was her 319th of the season, breaking Jill Greenfield's program record that had stood since 1981.

Espenmiller-McGraw's lone 3-pointer of the game, in the second quarter, was her 75th of the season, matching McCalle Feller's program record.

Having won 20 games for the first time since Robin Selvig was coaching and a postseason game for the first time since 2018, Montana now goes into wait-and-see mode.

However Sunday night turns out, this Montana team, Holsinger's third, has done plenty.

"This has been the most fun I've had coaching a team maybe ever," he said. "This group is special. That makes it hard and more disappointing and makes you want to cry.

"It hurts and that's okay. Being upset means it meant something."