Northern Arizona tops Montana in Big Sky opener

Thursday, January 1

Flagstaff, Ariz.

6 PM

Montana

3-9, 0-1BSC

Northern Arizona

5-9, 1-0BSC

Montana

Northern Ariz.

1/1/2026 9:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Northern Arizona pulled away in the fourth quarter in what had been a back-and-forth game to hand the Montana women's basketball team an 81-72 loss in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Thursday evening in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams.

After Mack Konig, who would finish with 27 points, evened the score at 64-64 in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the game's eighth tie, the Lumberjacks (5-9, 1-0 BSC) scored six straight points to grab a lead they would hold through the final buzzer.

The Lady Griz (3-9, 0-1 BSC) made just one of their final 10 shots after Konig pulled Montana even. All nine of the team's misses in the final period came from the 3-point line.

"The game is 40 minutes for a reason," said coach Nate Harris. "We can say we ran out of steam, we can say whatever we want, but they are going to end up being excuses.

"This was a game we had in our hands. They started packing it in. We've got to step up and bury shots down the stretch. We have to continue to find better shots."

The game highlighted the skills of two of the Big Sky's top players, Konig and NAU redshirt freshman Naomi White, who matched Konig with 27 points.

While Montana was struggling to score down the stretch, White stepped up and hit a pair of key 3-pointers, one after the Lady Griz pulled within 70-66 with 4:06 to play, then next after Kennedy Gillette made it a five-point game with 2:39 to go.

The Big Sky's leading scorer had her 10th 20-point scoring game of the season. "They have a great player in White. She got loose when it mattered," said Harris.

With Konig, who reached 20 points for the 13th time in her career, and White balancing out the other's scoring, it came down to wingmen, with Audrey Taylor getting Northern Arizona going early.

Taylor entered the game averaging 7.6 points and had made 20 3-pointers through the season's first 13 games. On Thursday, she scored 14 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line.

The Lumberjacks led 22-20 after the first quarter, 43-39 at the half.

Taylor would finish with 17 points, Emma Dasovich with 15, nine more than her season average, Madison Watts with 10.

"Most of it is giving up 81," said Harris. "We just weren't locked in defensively in a way that's going to win a Big Sky game on the road."

Montana attacked offensively from the start, shooting 50 percent in the first quarter and scoring a dozen points in the paint through the opening 10 minutes as Konig and Avery Waddington, who would finish with 16 points, combined for 10 early points.

Both had 11 at the half and Waddington would score five more in the opening two minutes of the third quarter to pull the Lady Griz within a point, 47-46. She would not score again in the game.

Montana fell behind by seven, 53-46, before Rae Ehrman scored eight straight points for the Lady Griz on two 3-pointers and a short jumper to give Montana what would be its final lead of the game, 58-57.

With Northern Arizona leading 64-58 late in the third quarter, Konig scored the period's final four points to make it 64-62 going to the fourth quarter. She pulled Montana even by scoring the opening points of the fourth quarter.

Konig's 27 points came one game after scoring a career-high 35 against Tarleton State at the Abilene Christian Christmas Classic. She moved past both Cheri Bratt and Kayleigh Valley on the Lady Griz career scoring list and up to 18th.

She continued attacking the basket in the fourth quarter, but Northern Arizona began sending help defenders to clog the lane, leaving open looks for Montana at the 3-point line.

"Mack getting downhill really created opportunities for other people. We've got to embrace those," said Harris. "We've got the understand the synergy of what we're trying to do and make one down the stretch."

Ehrman hit three 3-pointers on five attempts and finished with 11 points, her best scoring game since early December. Jocelyn Land added nine.

Northern Arizona shot 51.7 percent for the game, the fourth team to shoot better than 50 percent this season against Montana, which shot 47.4 percent but hit just seven of its 32 tries from the 3-point line.

The Lumberjacks went 11 for 21 from the arc and out-rebounded the Lady Griz 39-26.

Montana will play at Northern Colorado on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Bears (9-5, 0-1 BSC) fell behind 36-11 after the first quarter at home on Thursday to Montana State before nearly coming all the way back with a 50-point second half, eventually falling 86-79.