Montana rolls to second straight win

Saturday, January 18

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

7-10, 3-3BSC

Idaho State

6-10, 1-4BSC

Idaho St.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Mo

1/18/2025 5:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team hit a season-high 14 3-pointers and broke 80 for the first time since Thanksgiving on Saturday afternoon, defeating Idaho State 81-60 at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

It was the second straight win for the Lady Griz, who entered the week on a three-game losing streak and with seven losses in their previous eight games against Division I opponents.

Montana (7-10, 3-3 BSC) raced out to a 49-34 halftime lead against a team allowing fewer than 60 points per game this season and never looked back.

It was the most points scored by the Lady Griz against the Bengals (6-10, 1-4 BSC) since ISU has been under 17-year coach Seton Sobolewski, whose teams are annually among the Big Sky's stingiest.

Aby Shubert, who has made a dozen 3-pointers the last four games, led Montana with 14 points.

Tyler McCliment-Call wrapped up a strong showing in Montana's short home stand with 12 points off the bench as the Lady Griz reserves scored 41 of the team's 81 points.

Ten players scored, four reached double figures and Montana had 19 assists while shooting 52.6 percent, its best percentage since defeating Washington back on Nov. 17.

"I said it on Thursday. The kids get the credit," said acting head coach Nate Harris. "They're the ones who go out and do the things and run up and down and make good decisions.

"We try to put them in good spots but they make the plays. I'm so proud of their ability to stick together and find a way to make plays for each other."

After scoring 50 or fewer points in three straight games, all losses, Montana put up 74 points on Thursday against Weber State. The Lady Griz were even better offensively on Saturday.

Montana went 11 for 17 in the first quarter to put up 27 points, then went 6 for 8 from the 3-point line in the second period to pull away.

It was Montana's highest-scoring first half against a Division I opponent this season. Shubert went 3 for 6 from the arc in the first half and had 11 points at the break.

Over the last four games, Shubert has gone 12 for 27 (.444) from the 3-point line.

"Aby is a great example of what happens when you remove everything else and just play basketball," said Harris. "She was a little bogged down mentally. Is this a good shot? Is this a good shot?

"Fire away. You're a shooter. Anytime you're thinking about anything other than making shots as a shooter, you're going to struggle. When you get people feeling like that, it makes offense a lot easier."

Montana shot 61.3 percent in the first half, going 19 for 31. The Lady Griz were 10 for 18 from the 3-point line, nearly 60 percent of their shots in the first half coming from the arc.

"We want to be a team that shares the ball," said Harris. "I'll bet almost every one of our threes was off an assist.

"Idaho State is a team that protects the hoop and is very well coached. They do a really good job defensively, so we got the ball in, we kicked it out and people made shots."

The scoring didn't come as easily in the second half, Montana scoring 31 points on 42.3 percent shooting, but the Lady Griz held Idaho State to 26 second-half points on 31.3 percent shooting.

It was enough for Montana to win its third straight game over Idaho State, something the Lady Griz had not accomplished since Robin Selvig was coaching the team.

"It was a really balanced effort and we defended really well in the second half," said Harris.

MJ Bruno scored 10 points, her third game this season with 10 or more, and Adria Lincoln added 10 off the bench, her first game in double figures in more than a month.

Dani Bartsch, who had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists, reached a pair of milestones in the victory.

She hit her 100th career 3-pointer, becoming only the 16th player in program history to reach that mark, and she broke into the Lady Griz top 10 for career rebounds, passing both Anita Novak and Katie Baker.

Mack Konig, who missed Thursday's game, had four assists off the bench. Macy Donarski, getting her second straight start, had four points and three assists, hitting both of her shots.

To win its third straight game, Montana will have to pull off something extraordinary.

The Lady Griz will travel to Moscow on Sunday and play on Monday afternoon against an Idaho team that is 12-4, 4-1 in league.

The Vandals, who defeated the Lady Griz 63-50 in Missoula earlier this month, won their only game of the week on Saturday, getting past Eastern Washington 67-57 in Moscow.

Idaho, which has not allowed an opponent to score more than 65 points since Nov. 10, is 7-1 at ICCU Arena this season.

"It's not normal to play three games in five days, but it's what's on the schedule and what we're going to embrace," said Harris. "It's a hard trip against a team that beat us on our home court.

"I thought we did a really good job of managing minutes today. We're going to have to show up and play the right way and carry this through and go get after a really quality opponent."

Monday's game will tip off at 3 p.m. (MT).