Breakthrough season ends in Fargo

Monday, March 25

Fargo, N.D.

6 PM (MT)

Montana

23-10

North Dakota State

22-11

Montana

North Dakota St.

Photos: NDSU Athletics/Zachary Lucy

3/25/2024 10:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana women's basketball coach Brian Holsinger said everything without having to say anything after his team's season came to an end in Fargo with a 72-63 loss to North Dakota State in the WNIT round of 32 on Monday night.

After emerging from an intense locker room scene, with hugs and tears in no short supply, Holsinger's voice cracked with emotion as he sat for his final postgame interview of the season. His voice began to waver before he was even a half dozen words in.

This whole season? The one that began with so much promise back in the fall and mostly delivered to a fan base so ready for this kind of team? Yeah, it meant something. To him, to his players, to everyone who cares about the program.

"There are lots of tears but there are only tears when things mean so much," Holsinger managed to get out. "If no one cared, everyone would be like, okay, see you later. That is not what is happening. Everyone realizes that this group will never get to be together again."

Montana was up against it before the game even tipped off, with a shortened bench, a senior in Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw whose lower body is being held together by tape and prayer at this point and a very good opponent playing in front of a loud, fired-up crowd lured in by the carrot of free tickets.

And Montana still had a chance to take the game to the final minute. Down 64-59, Montana missed two contested layups at the rim and an open 3-pointer that could have made it a two-point game with 3:48 to go.

Down five entering the fourth quarter, Montana went 3 for 15 over the final 10 minutes, out of gas but still full of fight, tired bodies not able to do what their spirits were asking.

"I'm so proud of this team. They battled like crazy," said Holsinger. "We had a few missed layups in the fourth quarter where we could have flipped the script."

And that was enough talk about the game for Holsinger, whose mind and interview kept going big picture, to what his team pulled off this season, so many things not accomplished since Robin Selvig was coaching, the era of dominance that Holsinger and his program are determined to return to.

"The specifics of the game don't matter to me right now," he said. "What matters to me is what these kids did for the Lady Griz jersey. They made the community of Missoula and the people who are our fans, they made them proud this year.

"We've brought back the excitement of what Lady Griz basketball has been in the past. This program is a very proud program and I'm proud to lead this program. We're going to get better and better because of this team."

The players who fought so hard to make the Lady Griz the Lady Griz again were at their best on Monday night, as Montana tried to win a second game in a single postseason national tournament for the first time in program history.

Gina Marxen? All she did was hit six 3-pointers and score 24 points, the most in her two-year Lady Griz career, while going without a turnover in 37 minutes, all of it the perfect encapsulation of her on-court game.

Espenmiller-McGraw? The player who can finally tell her battered body the good news, that now it can finally take a break, finally heal and recover? She scored 16 points, going 4 for 6 from the 3-point line, her single-season program record now at 83 makes.

Carmen Gfeller? Penalized on this night for being big and strong, she had her final game taken away from her, fouling out in less than 22 minutes of court time, a less-than-ideal end to a legendary career.

Holsinger said something about it, then went big picture again. "These seniors have been unbelievable," he said. "Carmen stuck around for three years. She believed in our vision, in what we do and who we are and how we do things.

"Then you have Maggie and Gina who jumped on the wagon. This team was so fun to coach. I'm sad because tomorrow we'll wake up and won't be able to go to battle again together."

Dani Bartsch grabbed 13 rebounds to end her record-breaking season with 342, the sixth-most in Big Sky Conference history, Mack Konig added 11 points. Montana's bench, such a weapon throughout the season, had just two points.

Even while hamstrung, the Lady Griz played to their strengths, going 11 for 24 (.458) from the 3-point line and turning the ball over just seven times. Those 11 makes gave Montana 357 made 3-pointers for the season, the fifth-highest total in Big Sky history.

With the Lady Griz dazzling from the perimeter, the Bison were destructive in the interior. Montana had only been outrebounded a handful of times all season, never by more than 11. North Dakota State got the better of Montana on the boards 46-25.

The Bison outscored the Lady Griz by 22 in the paint, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and went 17 for 18 from the free throw line, all of it adding up to one team being nine points better than the other.

NDSU's leading scorer, sophomore guard Elle Evans, scored a super-efficient 17 points on just 10 shots. Montana held North Dakota State's other high-scoring guard, Heaven Hamling, to seven on 2-of-9 shooting.

North Dakota State will play either Minnesota or Pacific in the WNIT's Super 16.

After 40 minutes it was enough to end Montana's season. "We are pretty wounded," said Holsinger. "Then Carmen fouls out in 20 minutes. That doesn't help. But these kids battled so hard. I'm super proud of them. We just didn't do enough things to win on the road."

But they won the season. And that's what will make them unforgettable.