Lady Griz rally, finish home-stand sweep

Thursday, February 27

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

11-16, 7-9BSC

Sacramento State

12-17, 5-11BSC

Sacramento St.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

3/1/2025 5:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana moved one step closer to a Boise bye and a spot in the Big Sky Conference Championship quarterfinals with a 74-61 home win over Portland State on Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz (12-16, 8-9 BSC) fell behind 23-10 after the first quarter, then slowly settled in and came back to complete an important home-stand sweep that started on Thursday night with a win over Sacramento State.

Montana could clinch a first-round bye as early as Saturday night, if Northern Arizona wins at Northern Colorado.

The Lady Griz did their part and finished off what they needed to do, winning for the second time in three days in a way that wasn't easy but still resulted in a pair of wins.

"Is there better basketball to be played? Absolutely. But there is something to be said for having resolve and grit and finding a way," said interim head coach Nate Harris. "I thought we showed that in spades the last two games."

Portland State (4-22, 1-16 BSC) entered the game with only one win since November but looked prepared to spring the upset in the opening 10 minutes, going 10 for 16 and hitting three 3-pointers.

The Lady Griz opened 1 for 13 and trailed 23-10 at the first break, a score that felt about right.

"It was one of those starts when good shots weren't going in, and I really think it affected us on the defensive end," said Harris. "Really proud of our kids for how they responded after a rough first quarter."

Portland State, much to its credit, didn't just give in. The Vikings still led 39-34 at the half and didn't allow Montana to hold its first lead until midway through the third quarter.

The lead went back and forth until early in the fourth quarter, when Montana blitzed the visitors with a 9-0 run that turned a 51-51 deadlock into a 60-51 Lady Griz lead.

Avery Waddington started it with a 3-pointer, Aby Shubert finished it with a 3-pointer, those two players going 7 for 12 from the 3-point line off the bench and scoring 16 and nine points, respectively.

A team that averages 55 points per game wasn't going to bridge that gap, and the Vikings didn't, not with Montana shooting 50 percent in the fourth quarter and going 4 for 7 from the 3-point line.

The Lady Griz held the Vikings to 38 points over the final three periods and to 34.6 percent shooting in the second half.

"You win by guarding the right way. I thought we responded and guarded well down the stretch, then the shooting came around," said Harris.

Mack Konig, coming off a big game on Thursday, again looked more like herself, finishing with 17 points on six shots and seven assists.

On Senior Day, Tyler McCliment-Call added 16 points and six rebounds and Dani Bartsch totaled eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

"Great to send our seniors out with a win and for us to get a win and keep moving forward and keep playing better basketball," said Harris.

On Thursday against the Hornets, who went to Bozeman and handed the Bobcats their first league loss on Saturday, Montana had to survive a triple-double by Benthe Versteeg, only the second triple-double ever recorded against the Lady Griz.

On Saturday, Kyleigh Brown scored 19 points for the Vikings, 10 above her average, and Rhema Ogele added 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, 10 rebounds and four steals.

"We responded to some of the curveballs the weekend threw at us, whether it was poor shooting in stretches or individual players making out-of-the-box plays against us. When we needed to, we responded," said Harris.

Montana will play its final regular-season game on Monday night at Eastern Washington (10-19, 6-11 BSC). The Eagles will go into the game on a four-game losing streak.