Montana opens Big Sky-Summit Challenge in Grand Forks

The Montana women's basketball team will play the first of two games in the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge on Wednesday night when it faces North Dakota on the road.

The Lady Griz (1-5), who are seeking their first Division I win of the season after a tough November schedule, and Fighting Hawks (1-7) will tip off at 6 p.m. (MT) at UND's Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks.

Montana will then return home and host St. Thomas (2-6) on Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena in a first-ever match-up between the Lady Griz and Tommies, the school in St. Paul, Minn., that completed its transition from Division III to Division I in June.

The Lady Griz are 2-2 in Big Sky-Summit Challenge games, going 2-0 in 2023-24 and 0-2 last season.

Coverage: Wednesday's game will stream on the Summit League Network. Ace Sauerwein's local call can be heard on KGRZ (1450 AM/92.7 FM) and the Varsity Network.

Storylines:

* Montana went 1-5 in November, opening the season with an 81-44 home win over Seattle Pacific, then dropping five straight against teams that all rank in the top 70 in the nation in Tuesday's NET rankings. Those five teams are a combined 35-6.

Oregon (9-0) is ranked 16th in the NET, Washington (8-0) is ranked 25th, BYU (7-1) is ranked 54th, South Dakota State (6-2) is ranked 57th, Utah (5-3) is ranked 70th. Washington is up to No. 21 in this week's AP top 25 poll.

* Montana has taken 155 3-pointers the last four games and ranks first in the country in threes taken per game (34.2). The Lady Griz rank 11th in 3-pointers made per game (10.0).

Montana also ranks in the top 20 in the nation in free throw shooting, ranking 19th at an even 80.0 percent. The Lady Griz went 23 for 26 (.885) in their last two games, at home against BYU and Utah.

* Montana went 2-2 in the first two seasons of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. The Lady Griz defeated South Dakota and Omaha in 2023-24. Last season, Montana lost at North Dakota State and at home against South Dakota State.

* With nine points against Utah, Mack Konig passed Dawn Silliker (1984-88) and Jodi Hinrichs (1990-95) on the Montana career scoring list. She now ranks 28th and is only 67 points from breaking into the top 20.

* Avery Waddington grabbed 10 rebounds on Saturday against Utah, her second straight game with 10 or more, the sixth of her career.

* Konig (15.2/g) ranks fifth in the Big Sky in scoring, Waddington (7.2/g) ranks fifth in rebounding.

* Jocelyn Land's eight made 3-pointers against South Dakota State in Rapid City last month were one off both the Montana and Big Sky single-game records.

* Saturday's game against St. Thomas will be Montana's only home game in December. After finals, the Lady Griz will head to Texas for games against Houston, Abilene Christian and Tarleton State.

Montana's next home game won't be until Thursday, Jan. 8, when the Lady Griz host Idaho.

The last time out: Montana lost 78-38 at home to Utah on Saturday in the teams' first match-up since 2007. The Utes built a 42-25 halftime lead, then defended the Lady Griz into 3-of-29 (.103) shooting in the second half to pull away.

Land led Montana with 11 points, her third double-figure scoring game in Montana's last four. Waddington grabbed 10 rebounds, Konig had nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Her three steals matched a career high.

At a glance (North Dakota): Under first-year coach Dennis Hutter, the Fighting Hawks went 1-7 in November, their only win a 65-45 home victory over Wyoming.

North Dakota has failed to reach 50 points in half of its games this season and is averaging 53.4 points and 23 turnovers per game. UND ranks 340th nationally in scoring.

North Dakota went 12-19 last season, the fifth and final year for former coach Mallory Bernhard. She was replaced in the offseason by Hutter, who was on Bernhard's staff for one season.

Hutter previously was the head coach at nearby (NAIA) Mayville State, where he led his teams to 314 wins over 19 seasons.

In the offseason, the team lost its two leading scorers from last year's squad, Kiera Pemberton and Jocelyn Schiller, to the transfer portal. Pemberton is now at Baylor, Schiller is at North Dakota State.

Pemberton averaged 16.7 points, Schiller averaged 13.2. Pemberton was second-team All-Summit League, Schiller was the Summit League Freshman of the Year.

Leading this year's team in scoring (11.6/g) is first-year graduate student Mackenzie Hughes, who previously played at Mayville State for Hutter.

Senior Walker Demers, who played two seasons at South Dakota before transferring to North Dakota prior to last season, averaged 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds a year ago.

The 6-foot-2 center is averaging 10.6 points and 9.9 rebounds this season.

Six-foot-2 forward Ava Miller, in her first season in Grand Forks after transferring from USC Upstate, is averaging 9.4 points on 54.0 percent shooting and 8.8 rebounds.

North Dakota tied for fifth in the Summit League last season with a 6-10 league record. The Fighting Hawks were picked seventh out of nine teams in this season's preseason poll.

Demers was voted Preseason All-Summit League second team.

Like Montana, North Dakota is 2-2 in Big Sky-Summit Challenge games, going 1-1 the last two seasons. UND will play at Montana State on Saturday.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with North Dakota 13-8 and has won six straight over the Fighting Hawks.

The teams competed in the Big Sky for six seasons, from 2012-13 to 2017-18, before the Fighting Hawks departed for the Summit League.

North Dakota has won five of nine against Montana in Grand Forks, though the Lady Griz have won on their last three trips to The Betty, including last year, a 71-59 win.

Upcoming: St. Thomas on Saturday, finals, then off to Texas for a three-game road trip, capped by two games in the Abilene Christian Christmas Classic.

Montana opens Big Sky-Summit Challenge in Grand Forks

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Players Mentioned

Mack Konig

Jocelyn Land

Avery Waddington

University of Montana Athletics