Lady Griz open December with big road win

Wednesday, December 3

Grand Forks, N.D.

6 PM (MT)

Montana

2-5

North Dakota

1-8

Montana

North Dakota

12/3/2025 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team took the hard lessons learned from a challenging November and unleashed any pent-up frustrations on North Dakota on Wednesday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks.

The Lady Griz (2-5) matched a program record with 19 3-pointers and rolled to an 86-56 victory over the Fighting Hawks (1-8), a satisfying win that snapped a five-game losing streak and gave Montana its first Division I victory of the season.

"I thought it was a great performance and a great response from our team after a tough November," said coach Nate Harris. "We play in November to get to December and here we are. New month, new opportunity.

"The beauty of this whole thing is every day you get a chance to start over and be who you want to be. I thought today was a huge step in the right direction for the Lady Griz. I thought we looked like the team we can be as this year moves forward."

It was a total team performance – all nine players who scored hit at least one 3-pointer – highlighted by the play of sophomore Jocelyn Land, who finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.

It was Montana's first 30-point game since Carmen Gfeller put up 34 in a home win over Montana State in February 2022, the program's 44th 30-point game ever.

On a night when Montana went a red-hot 19 for 38 (.500) from the 3-point line, it was the team's scoring inside the arc that got both Land and the Lady Griz rolling.

With North Dakota opening the game in a tightly packed zone, with three defenders protecting the rim and two at the 3-point line, the high post was wide open for Land, who scored Montana's first six points on 15-foot jumpers from the free throw line.

Scoring from the paint and free throw line, Land had 10 points by the first quarter's end. It wasn't until the second half, when she went 4 for 8 from the arc, that her game expanded to the 3-point line.

"We thought they might zone and came out in zone and we just shredded it," said Harris. "That's kind of Jocelyn's spot in our zone offense. She was really aggressive to start the game from that spot."

North Dakota entered the game averaging only 53 points per game, but the Fighting Hawks made five of their first six shots on Wednesday to get out to an 11-6 lead just over three minutes in.

Montana answered with a 9-0 run and that was pretty much that. The Lady Griz led 23-18 after the first quarter, 36-27 at the half, then went a blistering 13 for 19 (.684) from the 3-point line in the second half to score 50 points over the final 20 minutes.

"I thought it was a great job by our kids. They really locked in defensively after a sluggish start," said Harris. "We got some great individual performances in terms of shooting the ball. We shared the ball really well and made the easy play."

Montana had 21 assists on 31 made field goals and turned the ball over only 10 times.

The Lady Griz matched the program record of 19 made 3-pointers, set against Sacramento State two seasons ago, and matched the most made by an NCAA Division I team this season. Florida State also made 19 in its 109-91 loss to Oklahoma on Sunday.

"North Dakota plants their five in the middle of the key and says, we're not going to give up lay-ups, so your five has to be able to make plays," said Harris, whose team had four players in double figures, including Mack Konig, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

"Mack really facilitated everything by not making the game harder than it needed to be. She was super-efficient, super under control and really played well defensively as well."

Aby Shubert, with six made 3-pointers through the season's first six games, broke out in a big way, going 4 for 4 from the arc. Shubert, Land and freshman Rae Ehrman, who scored 14 points in 16 minutes off the bench, all connected four times from the 3-point line.

Avery Waddington was limited to six points but she led the team in both rebounds (nine) and assists (five) and added two blocked shots and two steals.

Montana shot a season-best 49.2 percent and out-rebounded its first opponent since opening the season against Seattle Pacific. The Lady Griz out-rebounded the Fighting Hawks 42-34.

Montana will host St. Thomas (3-6) on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the second half of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge. The Tommies won at home on Wednesday night, 74-66 over Northern Arizona.