Thursday, February 13
Pocatello, Idaho
7 PM
Montana
at
Idaho State
Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana
Lady Griz enter the home stretch
2/12/2025 4:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Montana women's basketball team, with only six regular-season games remaining, four of those coming on the road, will play at Idaho State and Weber State this week.
The Lady Griz (10-13, 6-6 BSC) will face the Bengals (8-14, 3-8 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Reed Gym in Pocatello, the Wildcats (9-12, 6-5 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
Montana swept those two teams in Missoula last month, defeating Weber State 74-70 and Idaho State 81-60.
The Lady Griz will get their second chance to knock off Big Sky Conference leader Montana State next week when the two teams meet in Bozeman on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Montana will then wrap up the regular season with a flourish, playing three games in five days.
The Lady Griz will host Sacramento State and Portland State on Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and March 1, then play at Eastern Washington on Monday, March 3.
The five-day Big Sky Conference Championship in Boise will open on Saturday, March 8.
What's at stake (Montana): By winning three of their last four games, the Lady Griz have, for the time being, put themselves on solid footing in the league standings to avoid opening day in Boise.
The league's bottom four teams play in the first round on Saturday, March 8, the winners moving on to face the top two seeds on Sunday on the first of two days of quarterfinals.
Seeds 3 through 6, where Montana has landed each of the last five seasons, square off in Monday's quarterfinals.
If the season ended today, the No. 5 Lady Griz would face No. 4 Weber State at noon on Monday of Boise week, though there is still plenty of movement and change ahead in the standings.
Montana is currently two wins clear of seventh-place Sacramento State.
What at stake (Idaho State): The Bengals find themselves in the bottom four and facing a first-round game in Boise largely because of their inability to pull out close games.
Idaho State is 0-3 in overtime games in league and has three other Big Sky losses of less than 10 points.
Of ISU's eight league losses, only its games at Montana State (94-52 loss) and at Montana (81-60 loss) got away from the Bengals.
Idaho State's last game was a 79-76 overtime loss at home to Weber State, a game the Bengals, naturally, led by four in the final two minutes.
What's at stake (Weber State): Picked last in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll, the Wildcats continue to author one of the league's top stories.
Weber State is in fourth place with three weekends to go, with five of the Wildcats' final seven games coming against teams below them in the standings.
Weber State has had only one top-five Big Sky finish in the last 17 seasons.
Montana storylines:
* Nate Harris, acting head coach of the program the previous eight games, was named interim head coach this week.
After consulting with the NCAA this week, it was determined that Montana's 5-3 record under Harris will be counted as the start of his Division I head coaching record.
* Aby Shubert has not played since the Montana-Montana State game in Missoula on Jan. 25.
* Dani Bartsch got the start against Northern Colorado on Thursday but was only able to play a handful of minutes. She was not in uniform for Saturday's 96-76 home loss to Northern Arizona.
* Northern Arizona, which had 83 points through three quarters on Saturday, went 17 for 34 from the 3-point line, the most 3-pointers ever made against the Lady Griz.
South Dakota (2019), Sacramento State (2015), Sacramento State (2014), Sacramento State (2014), Villanova (2012) and Sacramento State (2010) all shared the previous record of 15.
* Northern Arizona's 96 points were the most ever scored against Montana at home and tied for the fourth-most ever scored against the Lady Griz.
Arizona (2018) and Sacramento State (2010) both reached 100 points against Montana. The Hornets (2017) also reached 97.
* Since totaling five points over a three-game stretch in early January, Tyler McCliment-Call has been on a scoring spree.
On January 15, through the season's first 15 games, McCliment-Call was averaging 7.0 points on 36.6 percent shooting. She had gone 16 for 46 (.348) from the 3-point line.
In eight games under Harris, she is averaging a team-high 14.9 points on 50 percent shooting. She has gone 23 for 43 (.535) from the 3-point line.
* True freshman Avery Waddington is averaging 26.2 minutes per game this season, a number that is only going to go up given her high level of play and the team's injuries.
The last time a true freshman played that many minutes for the Lady Griz? Katie Baker (26.7/g) in 2009-10.
Waddington put up a season-high 21 points on Montana State on Jan. 25, 15 of those coming in the fourth quarter in Montana's one-point loss.
During last week's two-game home stand, Waddington showed off her entire skill set, averaging 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists while playing 36.5 minutes per game.
She totaled 11 assists against the Bears and Lumberjacks while turning the ball over only twice in 73 minutes of court time.
* After reaching 10 points only three times in Montana's first 19 games of the season, Izabella Zingaro has done it three times in the last four games.
She scored 17 points at Portland State, had 21 on Thursday against Northern Colorado on 9-of-12 shooting and had 12 on Saturday against the Lumberjacks.
* Montana ranks in the top 50 nationally in: bench points (23rd, 26.5/g), free throw percentage (45th, .760) and 3-pointers made (24th, 8.6/g), attempted (36th, 24.7) and percentage (48th, .348).
* Montana is 3-8 away from Missoula this season but on a two-game road winning streak after sweeping the Portland State-Sacramento State trip.
* The Lady Griz split at home last week despite shooting 49.1 percent against the Bears and Lumberjacks and going 16 for 33 (.485) from the 3-point line. Montana had 38 assists, 22 turnovers in the two games.
The first matchup: Montana 81, Idaho State 60: The Lady Griz put up 49 first-half points on the Bengals and never looked back, shooting 52.6 percent and going 14 for 32 (.438) from the 3-point line.
The 81 points were the most Montana has scored against Idaho State since Seton Sobolewski took over the program before the 2008-09 season.
The Lady Griz had only reached even 70 points one time in their previous 19 games against the Bengals.
Montana had seven players score between eight and 14 points, with Aby Shubert leading the way with 14 on the strength of four 3-pointers. Adria Lincoln scored 10 off the bench.
Sophia Covello led Idaho State with 14 points.
Series history:
* Montana leads the series against Idaho State 76-19 and has won three straight and four of five, this after the Bengals had won 10 of 12 in the series.
* The Lady Griz are 31-11 against the Bengals in Pocatello. Montana has won two straight in Reed Gym after losing its previous five games at ISU.
* Montana has gone 22-13 against 17th-year coach Seton Sobolewski, who has 13 of ISU's 19 all-time wins against the Lady Griz.
* Montana interim head coach Nate Harris is 1-0 against Idaho State.
Idaho State notes: The Bengals' three Big Sky wins have come against Northern Colorado at home, Portland State at home and on the road at Idaho … The victory over the Vandals was by a score of 52-44. Idaho State held Idaho to 13-of-63 (.206) shooting … Idaho State won back-to-back regular-season Big Sky championships in 2020-21 and 2021-22 but is now trending toward its third consecutive losing season. The Bengals last had three straight losing seasons in 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96.
The first matchup: Montana 74, Weber State 70: The Lady Griz won their first game under Nate Harris by knocking off the Wildcats in a tense game in Missoula.
Up one at the half, 41-40, Montana used a strong third quarter to build a 60-49 lead through 30 minutes and increased that to 14 points in the fourth.
Montana led by 10 with two minutes left but went without a made field goal over the final 3:36, which allowed the Wildcats to nearly come all the way back.
After two missed free throws by the Lady Griz with 11 seconds left, Weber State had the ball down three. Kendra Parra's game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds was blocked by Avery Waddington.
The Lady Griz hit a late free throw to seal the win.
Montana did not have a starter reach 10 points, but Tyler McCliment-Call scored 18 points off the bench on 7-of-10 shooting, and Waddington added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Parra had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Wildcats. Lanae Billy went 5 for 8 from the 3-point line to add 15 points off the bench.
Series history:
* Montana leads the series with Weber State 79-15. The Lady Griz own a 34-10 record against the Wildcats in Ogden.
* Montana has won six straight in the series and 12 of the last 13. The Lady Griz have won two straight over the Wildcats in Ogden and six of the last seven.
* Montana is 3-0 against Weber State under second-year coach Jenteal Jackson. Montana interim head coach Nate Harris is 1-0 against the Wildcats.
Weber State notes: The Wildcats have six losses this season of five points or fewer … Weber State ranks fourth nationally in free throw percentage (.805) … Taylor Smith (14.0/g) and Kendra Parra (12.3/g) lead the Wildcats in scoring and both rank in the top 10 in the Big Sky … Antoniette Emma-Nnopu, a first-year transfer from UNC Greensboro, averages 10.2 points on 51.6 percent shooting and 9.6 rebounds, which ranks third in the Big Sky … Montana (.348) and Weber State (.341) are the Big Sky's top two shooting teams from the 3-point line … The Wildcats are 0-4 in league against the top three teams (Montana State, Northern Arizona, Idaho), 6-1 against the rest.
Around the Big Sky Conference:
* Montana State defeated Northern Arizona in Bozeman on Thursday, giving the Bobcats, now 12-0 in league, a season sweep of the Lumberjacks and a two-game lead in the standings over NAU.
* Northern Arizona (10-2) has a two-game cushion over Idaho (8-4) for a top-two finish but still has a game against the third-place Vandals in Moscow upcoming.
* Five of Northern Arizona's last six league games come against the bottom five teams in the standings, plus its game at Idaho.
* No league team has gone unbeaten through league since Montana went 14-0 in 2003-04. The Bobcats' biggest challenges to pulling it off should be at Weber State, home against Montana and at Idaho.
* Thursday schedule: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, SAC at UNC, PSU at NAU
* Non-Montana game to monitor: Sacramento State at Northern Colorado. The Hornets (4-7) are half a game behind Eastern Washington (5-7) for sixth place, which means a bye in Boise.
To pull even with the Eagles, Sacramento State will have to navigate a noon tip on Kids Day in Greeley.
* Saturday schedule: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, PSU at UNC, SAC at NAU, UI at EWU
Upcoming: Montana will play at Montana State on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Bobcats escaped with a 67-66 win when the teams played in Missoula last month.
The Lady Griz (10-13, 6-6 BSC) will face the Bengals (8-14, 3-8 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Reed Gym in Pocatello, the Wildcats (9-12, 6-5 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
Montana swept those two teams in Missoula last month, defeating Weber State 74-70 and Idaho State 81-60.
The Lady Griz will get their second chance to knock off Big Sky Conference leader Montana State next week when the two teams meet in Bozeman on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Montana will then wrap up the regular season with a flourish, playing three games in five days.
The Lady Griz will host Sacramento State and Portland State on Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and March 1, then play at Eastern Washington on Monday, March 3.
The five-day Big Sky Conference Championship in Boise will open on Saturday, March 8.
What's at stake (Montana): By winning three of their last four games, the Lady Griz have, for the time being, put themselves on solid footing in the league standings to avoid opening day in Boise.
The league's bottom four teams play in the first round on Saturday, March 8, the winners moving on to face the top two seeds on Sunday on the first of two days of quarterfinals.
Seeds 3 through 6, where Montana has landed each of the last five seasons, square off in Monday's quarterfinals.
If the season ended today, the No. 5 Lady Griz would face No. 4 Weber State at noon on Monday of Boise week, though there is still plenty of movement and change ahead in the standings.
Montana is currently two wins clear of seventh-place Sacramento State.
What at stake (Idaho State): The Bengals find themselves in the bottom four and facing a first-round game in Boise largely because of their inability to pull out close games.
Idaho State is 0-3 in overtime games in league and has three other Big Sky losses of less than 10 points.
Of ISU's eight league losses, only its games at Montana State (94-52 loss) and at Montana (81-60 loss) got away from the Bengals.
Idaho State's last game was a 79-76 overtime loss at home to Weber State, a game the Bengals, naturally, led by four in the final two minutes.
What's at stake (Weber State): Picked last in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll, the Wildcats continue to author one of the league's top stories.
Weber State is in fourth place with three weekends to go, with five of the Wildcats' final seven games coming against teams below them in the standings.
Weber State has had only one top-five Big Sky finish in the last 17 seasons.
Montana storylines:
* Nate Harris, acting head coach of the program the previous eight games, was named interim head coach this week.
After consulting with the NCAA this week, it was determined that Montana's 5-3 record under Harris will be counted as the start of his Division I head coaching record.
* Aby Shubert has not played since the Montana-Montana State game in Missoula on Jan. 25.
* Dani Bartsch got the start against Northern Colorado on Thursday but was only able to play a handful of minutes. She was not in uniform for Saturday's 96-76 home loss to Northern Arizona.
* Northern Arizona, which had 83 points through three quarters on Saturday, went 17 for 34 from the 3-point line, the most 3-pointers ever made against the Lady Griz.
South Dakota (2019), Sacramento State (2015), Sacramento State (2014), Sacramento State (2014), Villanova (2012) and Sacramento State (2010) all shared the previous record of 15.
* Northern Arizona's 96 points were the most ever scored against Montana at home and tied for the fourth-most ever scored against the Lady Griz.
Arizona (2018) and Sacramento State (2010) both reached 100 points against Montana. The Hornets (2017) also reached 97.
* Since totaling five points over a three-game stretch in early January, Tyler McCliment-Call has been on a scoring spree.
On January 15, through the season's first 15 games, McCliment-Call was averaging 7.0 points on 36.6 percent shooting. She had gone 16 for 46 (.348) from the 3-point line.
In eight games under Harris, she is averaging a team-high 14.9 points on 50 percent shooting. She has gone 23 for 43 (.535) from the 3-point line.
* True freshman Avery Waddington is averaging 26.2 minutes per game this season, a number that is only going to go up given her high level of play and the team's injuries.
The last time a true freshman played that many minutes for the Lady Griz? Katie Baker (26.7/g) in 2009-10.
Waddington put up a season-high 21 points on Montana State on Jan. 25, 15 of those coming in the fourth quarter in Montana's one-point loss.
During last week's two-game home stand, Waddington showed off her entire skill set, averaging 14.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists while playing 36.5 minutes per game.
She totaled 11 assists against the Bears and Lumberjacks while turning the ball over only twice in 73 minutes of court time.
* After reaching 10 points only three times in Montana's first 19 games of the season, Izabella Zingaro has done it three times in the last four games.
She scored 17 points at Portland State, had 21 on Thursday against Northern Colorado on 9-of-12 shooting and had 12 on Saturday against the Lumberjacks.
* Montana ranks in the top 50 nationally in: bench points (23rd, 26.5/g), free throw percentage (45th, .760) and 3-pointers made (24th, 8.6/g), attempted (36th, 24.7) and percentage (48th, .348).
* Montana is 3-8 away from Missoula this season but on a two-game road winning streak after sweeping the Portland State-Sacramento State trip.
* The Lady Griz split at home last week despite shooting 49.1 percent against the Bears and Lumberjacks and going 16 for 33 (.485) from the 3-point line. Montana had 38 assists, 22 turnovers in the two games.
The first matchup: Montana 81, Idaho State 60: The Lady Griz put up 49 first-half points on the Bengals and never looked back, shooting 52.6 percent and going 14 for 32 (.438) from the 3-point line.
The 81 points were the most Montana has scored against Idaho State since Seton Sobolewski took over the program before the 2008-09 season.
The Lady Griz had only reached even 70 points one time in their previous 19 games against the Bengals.
Montana had seven players score between eight and 14 points, with Aby Shubert leading the way with 14 on the strength of four 3-pointers. Adria Lincoln scored 10 off the bench.
Sophia Covello led Idaho State with 14 points.
Series history:
* Montana leads the series against Idaho State 76-19 and has won three straight and four of five, this after the Bengals had won 10 of 12 in the series.
* The Lady Griz are 31-11 against the Bengals in Pocatello. Montana has won two straight in Reed Gym after losing its previous five games at ISU.
* Montana has gone 22-13 against 17th-year coach Seton Sobolewski, who has 13 of ISU's 19 all-time wins against the Lady Griz.
* Montana interim head coach Nate Harris is 1-0 against Idaho State.
Idaho State notes: The Bengals' three Big Sky wins have come against Northern Colorado at home, Portland State at home and on the road at Idaho … The victory over the Vandals was by a score of 52-44. Idaho State held Idaho to 13-of-63 (.206) shooting … Idaho State won back-to-back regular-season Big Sky championships in 2020-21 and 2021-22 but is now trending toward its third consecutive losing season. The Bengals last had three straight losing seasons in 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96.
The first matchup: Montana 74, Weber State 70: The Lady Griz won their first game under Nate Harris by knocking off the Wildcats in a tense game in Missoula.
Up one at the half, 41-40, Montana used a strong third quarter to build a 60-49 lead through 30 minutes and increased that to 14 points in the fourth.
Montana led by 10 with two minutes left but went without a made field goal over the final 3:36, which allowed the Wildcats to nearly come all the way back.
After two missed free throws by the Lady Griz with 11 seconds left, Weber State had the ball down three. Kendra Parra's game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds was blocked by Avery Waddington.
The Lady Griz hit a late free throw to seal the win.
Montana did not have a starter reach 10 points, but Tyler McCliment-Call scored 18 points off the bench on 7-of-10 shooting, and Waddington added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Parra had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Wildcats. Lanae Billy went 5 for 8 from the 3-point line to add 15 points off the bench.
Series history:
* Montana leads the series with Weber State 79-15. The Lady Griz own a 34-10 record against the Wildcats in Ogden.
* Montana has won six straight in the series and 12 of the last 13. The Lady Griz have won two straight over the Wildcats in Ogden and six of the last seven.
* Montana is 3-0 against Weber State under second-year coach Jenteal Jackson. Montana interim head coach Nate Harris is 1-0 against the Wildcats.
Weber State notes: The Wildcats have six losses this season of five points or fewer … Weber State ranks fourth nationally in free throw percentage (.805) … Taylor Smith (14.0/g) and Kendra Parra (12.3/g) lead the Wildcats in scoring and both rank in the top 10 in the Big Sky … Antoniette Emma-Nnopu, a first-year transfer from UNC Greensboro, averages 10.2 points on 51.6 percent shooting and 9.6 rebounds, which ranks third in the Big Sky … Montana (.348) and Weber State (.341) are the Big Sky's top two shooting teams from the 3-point line … The Wildcats are 0-4 in league against the top three teams (Montana State, Northern Arizona, Idaho), 6-1 against the rest.
Around the Big Sky Conference:
* Montana State defeated Northern Arizona in Bozeman on Thursday, giving the Bobcats, now 12-0 in league, a season sweep of the Lumberjacks and a two-game lead in the standings over NAU.
* Northern Arizona (10-2) has a two-game cushion over Idaho (8-4) for a top-two finish but still has a game against the third-place Vandals in Moscow upcoming.
* Five of Northern Arizona's last six league games come against the bottom five teams in the standings, plus its game at Idaho.
* No league team has gone unbeaten through league since Montana went 14-0 in 2003-04. The Bobcats' biggest challenges to pulling it off should be at Weber State, home against Montana and at Idaho.
* Thursday schedule: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, SAC at UNC, PSU at NAU
* Non-Montana game to monitor: Sacramento State at Northern Colorado. The Hornets (4-7) are half a game behind Eastern Washington (5-7) for sixth place, which means a bye in Boise.
To pull even with the Eagles, Sacramento State will have to navigate a noon tip on Kids Day in Greeley.
* Saturday schedule: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, PSU at UNC, SAC at NAU, UI at EWU
Upcoming: Montana will play at Montana State on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Bobcats escaped with a 67-66 win when the teams played in Missoula last month.
Players Mentioned
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