Lady Griz fall to Bobcats in thriller

Saturday, January 25

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

7-12, 3-5BSC

Montana State

18-2, 8-0BSC

Montana St.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

1/25/2025 7:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana couldn't have scripted and executed it much better, not just the potential game-winning shot in the closing seconds but the entire afternoon against Big Sky Conference-leading Montana State.

That the shot rolled off the rim, allowing the Bobcats to escape with a 67-66 victory on Saturday at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, only meant that the Lady Griz had lost the game.

As far as most of the 3,400-plus fans in attendance were concerned, the home team, which has been on a two-week emotional rollercoaster, won the day.

"You don't play to be close. You play to give yourselves a chance to win," said acting head coach Nate Harris, who has shepherded Montana through a difficult period.

"Our group is proving that they belong. They are proving that they are going to be a problem in March."

Forget March. The Lady Griz were a problem most of this January afternoon for Montana State, which entered the day on a 10-game winning streak, hadn't lost since early December.

The Bobcats built their 17-2 record mostly on the strength of their defense, turning opponents over with regularity, nearly 24 times per game. The Lady Griz had to win that game within the game.

And they did. Montana turned the ball over 17 times but few of them were truly harmful, Montana State turning them into 14 points, only three more than the Lady Griz scored off Bobcat turnovers.

That execution is why it was a one-point game after one quarter, a three-point game at the half, Montana State leading 34-31.

The Bobcats flexed in the third quarter, twice going up by 12 points, but that only set the stage for Avery Waddington and her teammates to nearly pull off the most memorable of comebacks.

The freshman was human through three periods, totaling just six points. In the fourth quarter, she went from human to superhero, confidently splashing 15 points on just nine shots, hitting three 3-pointers.

She finished with 21 points for the game, a season high.

"For a freshman to come out in that big of a game, she is an absolute unit and weapon we can use no matter where on the floor," said senior Dani Bartsch, who put in her own superstar performance.

"She played an awesome game and stepped up big."

It was a slow-rolling comeback in the fourth quarter until Waddington provided the juice, hitting a 3-pointer, then scoring at the rim to make Montana State's 10-point lead a 56-51 advantage.

And awakened a home crowd that continues to support the Lady Griz program through thick and thin and everything in between.

"That's why you choose Montana," said Bartsch, who had 10 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in a Dani-just-being-Dani game.

"No other place in the Big Sky will get a crowd like this. Honestly, most of women's basketball won't get a game like this. It just means a lot more with the passion and the pride."

After Tyler McCliment-Call hit her own 3-pointer – the Lady Griz were 4 for 6 from the arc in the final period – it was a four-point game, 60-56, and the Bobcats were showing signs of stress.

Their next five shots were all 3-pointers, most of them with an I-hope-this-goes-in vibe, and all were misses, some badly.

And, oh my goodness, if Waddington wasn't just feeling it at that point.

What other freshman brings the ball up the right side in her first rivalry game, the outcome hanging in the balance, gets her defender off balance and just calmly strokes a three from 24 feet out? She does.

It about brought down the old barn. It was a one-point game with four minutes to go.

"She is a tremendous player, a tremendous talent," said Harris. "She has a chance to be really, really special by the time her career is done.

"You don't see things like that all the time from kids who are (6-foot-3), who can do the things she can do. She is a unique talent."

The final four minutes are why Montana State added Esmeralda Morales, twice an All-Big Sky selection at Portland State, to its lineup in the offseason. In a one-point game, she made that slightest difference.

She answered Waddington's three with a crafty finish at the rim with the shot clock about to expire. Montana State up three.

After four free throws gave Montana a 63-62 advantage, its first lead since early in the second quarter, and after Waddington hit a corner three that put the Lady Griz up 66-64 with 90 seconds to go, it would be Morales who would score the game's final three points.

She cut through Montana's half-court defense to finish at the rim with 1:18 to go, tying the game, then, after a series of turnovers and missed shots, she had the ball in her hands in a deadlocked game, the shot clock off.

The veteran got a Lady Griz defender on her hip as she drove the baseline and drew a two-shot foul with 4.6 seconds left. She missed the first, hit the second. Montana State led by one.

"She's always been a good player," said Harris. "She comes off so many different actions, it gets really difficult to not make a mistake. She is a really tough cover."

Montana, after advancing the ball and inbounding from in front of its own bench with 4.6 seconds left, couldn't have scripted the end-game situation much better.

Bartsch's pass to the rim was spot-on, the catch was made, the shot, its player falling a bit backwards, got to the rim but not over it. Montana State grabbed the rebound and the clock ran out.

"It's more of a short-clock play but I wanted to make sure we got a shot up and had a chance to offensive rebound," said Harris of his decision to go right at the rim instead of a something that would have required multiple passes.

"I was really confident we could get a high-quality shot with the time that was left."

And that was that, an effort fully appreciated if not ultimately successful, the rivalry's first one-point decision since 2011.

"Our kids played with such great poise and such great pace in the fourth quarter," said Harris. "We took care of the ball and got it where we wanted to get it.

"They get all the credit for getting us back in the game. We gave ourselves a great shot to win. Couldn't be more proud of our kids, how they executed and played in the fourth quarter.

"We could have folded the tent in the third quarter but they battled back, took the lead multiple times and gave us a chance to win it. Super proud of them."

Waddington's 21 were the most scored by a Montana freshman since Libby Stump put up 21 in a home game against Montana State two seasons ago.

Bartsch's 10-point, 16-rebound game was her 13th career double-double, her rebounds one off her career high.

"I think you got a great version of DB today. She was special today," said Harris. "Her effort on the glass was tremendous."

Mack Konig, asked to carry the heaviest of loads, serve as Montana's primary ball-handler against one of the nation's peskiest defenses, had six points and six assists.

Her poise at the point allowed Montana to shoot 45.3 percent, allowed the Lady Griz to break down Montana State's defense well enough that Montana had 21 assists on its 24 made field goals.

Only Central Florida, which had 16 against Montana State back in November, had fewer turnovers against the Bobcats this season than Montana's 17 on Saturday.

"We wouldn't have been in the game if it wasn't for Mack's ability to go against relentless pressure," said Harris. "For the most part, I thought we did a really good job executing."

Morales led Montana State (18-2, 8-0 BSC) with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Dylan Phillip went 3 for 3 from the 3-point line and scored 13 points, six above her average.

Montana (7-12, 3-5 BSC) will play six of its final 10 regular-season games on the road, starting next week at Portland State (4-12, 1-6 BSC) and at Sacramento State (10-10, 3-4 BSC).