Eagles rally, top Lady Griz 65-58

Saturday, January 10

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

3-12, 0-4BSC

Eastern Washington

8-8, 1-2BSC

Eastern Wash.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

1/10/2026 6:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Eastern Washington picked up its first Big Sky Conference win of the season on Saturday afternoon, rallying in the second half to defeat the Montana women's basketball team at Dahlberg Arena 65-58.

After missing their first 12 shots of the game, after trailing 16-11 at the first-quarter break and 28-26 at the half, the Eagles grabbed the lead for good with a strong start to the second half.

Eastern Washington (8-8, 1-2 BSC) opened the third quarter making seven of its first eight shots to build an eight-point lead. The Eagles would up their advantage to 14 points in the fourth quarter.

The loss keeps the Lady Griz (3-12, 0-4 BSC), playing their second consecutive game without Mack Konig, winless in league.

"Not the outcome we wanted, but I thought we fought in chunks," said coach Nate Harris. "We just have to continue to be more consistently right on some things.

"There are 14 games left, 14 more chances to keep battling with whoever we have for that game. We will not quit, we will not stop trying to find out how good this group can be."

Montana got off to an excellent start, going up 7-0 and 13-4 as the Eagles struggled to score early, but a nearly four-minute scoreless drought by the Lady Griz allowed EWU to pull within two late in the period.

Draya Wacker, who scored a then career-high 11 points in Thursday's home loss to Idaho before topping that with 12 off the bench on Saturday, hit a 3-pointer late in the first quarter to make it 16-11.

Jocelyn Land opened the second quarter with a basket and Wacker added a pair of free throws to make it 20-11, matching what would be Montana's largest lead of the game.

Another scoring drought by Montana helped Eastern Washington go on a 10-0 run that gave the Eagles their first lead of the game before Aby Shubert and Rae Ehrman hit late 3-pointers to give the Lady Griz a 28-26 lead at the half.

"I think we did some good things defensively early," said Harris. "I thought we scrapped. I thought we had some really good moments."

Eastern Washington grabbed the lead for good early in the third quarter, then made some big shots early in the fourth to pull away.

With Eastern Washington up five, 47-42, early in the final period, Missoula's Emily McElmurry hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Eagles up 53-42.

McElmurry hit a 3-pointer in the first half as well on her way to 13 points, her second-highest scoring game of the season and nearly 10 points above her season average (3.5/g).

"Some big buckets for them. Give credit to them. Emily McElmurry coming home and making three threes, every one of them was huge. Credit to her."

Ella Gallatin led Eastern Washington with 20 points, 12 of them coming in the second half when she took seven shots and made six, most of them finishes near the rim.

After shooting 29.3 percent in the first half, Eastern Washington was 16 for 32 in the second with 26 points in the paint.

"I thought we were juiced up to start and did a better job of staying in their way," said Harris of the first half. "It's a weird comment to make, but down the stretch, we got on their side a little too much.

"That's a team you have to stay in their way and force them to score over the top of you. They got downhill too much."

After being held to a single shot attempt on Thursday by Idaho, Avery Waddington finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season, the sixth of her career.

"Just tried to get her catches in places where she's a little more comfortable. Tried to (isolate) her a little bit," said Harris.

"To Eastern's credit, they did a really good job of shrinking the floor. Most of her points came out of more organic scenarios, just her being aggressive."

Land finished with 15 points, Wacker with a dozen and Shubert with eight.

Montana went just 4 for 18 from the 3-point line in the second half to finish 8 for 32 for the game from distance.

"We had some great looks that were just in and out," said Harris. "I think our urgency and our aggressiveness offensively had some lulls when we needed some big moments."

Billings' Kourtney Grossman, who leads the nation in rebounding, grabbed 17 boards on Saturday to go along with 11 points, her Big Sky-leading ninth double-double of the season.

Jaecy Eggers, who averages more than 12 points per game, was held to three on 1-of-13 shooting. She grabbed 14 rebounds.

"I thought we battled on the glass, especially on the defensive end against a team that likes to crash," said Harris, whose team forced Grossman and Eggers into 22 missed shots.

"To hold those two to 6-for-28 shooting, there are a lot of things about this stat sheet where I think, we're in great shape.

"It didn't turn out our way but we're going to be all right. It's just a matter of sticking with it and continuing to move forward with our eyes on the end goal."

Montana will play at Big Sky leader Montana State (11-4, 4-0 BSC) next Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats ran past Idaho in Bozeman on Saturday, outscoring the Vandals 99-66.