Lady Griz with Saturday, Monday games

The Montana women's basketball team, seeking its first Big Sky Conference victory of the season, will play games in the coming days against Montana State and Northern Arizona.

The Lady Griz (3-12, 0-4 BSC) will face the preseason-favorite and league-leading Bobcats (11-4, 4-0 BSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman before returning home to host Northern Arizona (6-11, 2-2 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Monday at Dahlberg Arena.

Monday's game is a celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, with a free sports clinic at noon for children ages 4-13 and Junior Game Day Helpers assisting with the operation of the 2 p.m. game.

Montana opened league by facing the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff of Jan. 1. Northern Arizona broke free from a 64-64 deadlock early in the fourth quarter on its way to an 81-72 victory behind 27 points from Naomi White

The Lady Griz will follow the Northern Arizona game with a road trip to Weber State and Idaho State.

Coverage: All of Montana's Big Sky games stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein's radio broadcast available on KGRZ (1450 AM/92.7 FM) and the Varsity Network. Saturday's game at Montana State will have additional coverage on Scripps Sports.

Storylines:

* Montana dropped a pair of home games last week, falling to Idaho 67-50 and Eastern Washington 65-58.

The Lady Griz, in their first game without leading scorer Mack Konig, trailed the Vandals on Thursday 29-19 at the half and played from behind for the final 33 minutes.

Montana shot 32.1 percent and turned the ball over 23 times.

On Saturday against the Eagles, Montana raced out to a 13-4 advantage as Eastern Washington opened the game 0 for 12, but EWU would grab the lead late in the second quarter, then pull away by making seven of its first nine shots to open the second half.

The fourth-quarter lead would reach 14 points, 62-48, before a late push by Montana got the game to six points in the final minute.

The loss kept the Lady Griz winless at home since Nov. 4 and dropped Montana to 0-5 at Dahlberg Arena this season against Division I opponents. The team's 0-4 start to league is only the second in program history. The previous also came under a first-year head coach, Shannon Schweyen in 2016-17.

* Montana played both games last week without senior leader and playmaker Mack Konig, who is averaging 17.4 points and leads the Lady Griz with 49 assists (3.8/g).

Without Konig running the offense and without her three-level scoring, Montana averaged 54.0 points on 33.6 percent shooting against the Vandals and Eagles. Idaho and Eastern Washington averaged 66.0 points on 43.5 percent shooting.

* In two games last week, Jocelyn Land averaged a team-leading 14.0 points per game. Playing nearly 20 minutes per game off the bench, Draya Wacker averaged 11.5 points, hitting five 3-pointers.

Wacker scored a career-high 11 points against Idaho, then set a new career high with 12 points against Eastern Washington.

* After being held to a career-low one shot attempt by Idaho, Avery Waddington broke free for a 16-point, 10-rebound performance against the Eagles. It was her third double-double of the season, the sixth of her career.

* Montana's last win in Bozeman came in the 2013-14 season, a 72-65 victory. The Lady Griz have lost their last 11 games against the Bobcats in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse by an average of more than 15 points per game.

Montana State is 16-3 against Montana since longtime Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig retired following the 2015-16 season. Selvig went 74-19 against MSU in his 38-year career. Twenty-first-year Bobcat coach Tricia Binford is now above .500 against the Lady Griz at 23-21.

* Montana State defeated Montana three times last season, the first and third in end-game thrillers.

In Missoula last January, Esmeralda Morales scored the game's final three points after an Avery Waddington 3-pointer had given the Lady Griz a 66-64 lead with 1:31 to go. A missed shot off a sideline-out-of-bounds play in the final seconds allowed the Bobcats to escape with a 67-66 victory.

In the Big Sky championship game in Boise in March, after No. 6 Montana had knocked off No. 3 Idaho and No. 2 Northern Arizona, the top-seeded Bobcats won 58-57 to add a tournament title to their regular-season championship.

A Dani Bartsch 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds to go gave Montana a 57-56 lead. Marah Dykstra's potential game-winning shot in the closing seconds missed but she hustled for the offensive rebound and tipped in the championship winner just before the buzzer sounded.

In between those games with dramatic finishes was a 98-66 Montana State win in Bozeman, the Bobcats' largest ever margin of victory over the Lady Griz.

* The three highest individual scoring performances against Montana this season have come in the Lady Griz' four Big Sky games, with Northern Arizona's Naomi White scoring 27, Northern Colorado's Heather Baymon scoring 29 and Idaho's Kyra Gardner scoring 28.

Those three players shot 31 for 50 (.620) and went 15 for 25 (.600) from the 3-point line.

Montana will get another shot at White on Monday afternoon in Missoula but before that, the Lady Griz will face Montana State sophomore Taylee Chirrick on Saturday.

A career menace defensively, Chirrick has made a huge jump in her scoring between her freshman season and this year, going from 6.9 points on 38.0 percent shooting last season to 18.8 points on 50.2 percent shooting as a sophomore. Her 3-point percentage has gone from .250 to .351.

Chirrick ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring behind White.

Chirrick was the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year as a freshman, ranking sixth nationally in steals (3.32). She is averaging even more (4.00/g) as a sophomore. That number is tied for fourth in the nation.

* Montana State ranks seventh in the Big Sky in field goal percentage defense (.416) but is allowing the second-fewest shots by a Big Sky team because the Bobcats rank fourth nationally in steals (15.7/g) and are forcing more than 26 turnovers per game, fifth most in the nation.

Montana ranks 32nd in the nation in turnovers, averaging 13.2 per game, one of the game's keys for Saturday afternoon.

* Mack Konig, Jocelyn Land and Avery Waddington have led Montana in scoring in all 15 games this season. All three have had multiple 20-point scoring games. Through games last week, Montana was one of only 11 teams in the nation with two players holding 30-point scoring games.

Land scored 30 in Montana's win at North Dakota, Konig scored 35 in the Lady Griz' neutral-site win over Tarleton State.

* Montana has out-rebounded only one Division I opponent this season (North Dakota). The team's rebounding margin (-11.9/g) ranks 354th out of 359 Division I teams. The Lady Griz rank 359th in offensive rebounds per game (5.5).

* The Lady Griz rank fourth nationally in 3-point attempts (30.9/g), 11th in 3-pointers made per game (9.5).

* Montana is allowing 72.5 points through four Big Sky games, those four opponents shooting 45.3 percent. … The Lady Griz have gone 35 for 122 (.287) from the 3-point line in league. … Montana is averaging 59.5 points in league, held to 58 or fewer points three times.

* Montana is 1-6 in road games this season, the lone win a victory at North Dakota. Montana State is 6-0 at home. Since the 2019-20 season, the Bobcats are 74-14 in Bozeman and have gone 47-9 in Big Sky home games.

* Montana head coach Nate Harris was on Tricia Binford's staff at Montana State for four seasons, from 2014-15 to 2017-18. Those teams won or shared two Big Sky regular-season titles and went to one WNIT, one NCAA tournament in 2016-17 after winning the Big Sky tournament.

* Montana State has the Big Sky's top NET ranking of 73. Idaho (131), Idaho State (132) and Northern Colorado (177) follow. Every other Big Sky team has a NET ranking of 212 or lower. Montana is 263, ahead of No. 305 Portland State.

* In three games against Montana State last season, Avery Waddington, then a freshman, averaged 18.7 points on 50 percent shooting. She went 8 for 20 (.400) from the 3-point line.

At a glance (Montana State): The Bobcats have become the Big Sky's most consistent team over the last seven seasons, finishing in the top four every year since 2019-20 and winning regular-season titles in 2019-20, 2022-23 and last season, when Montana State went 17-1 in league, 30-4 overall.

Going back to the start of last season, the Bobcats are 41-8, with four of those losses coming against Utah, Ohio State, Oregon and Oregon State.

Despite losing its top three scorers from last season – Esmeralda Morales, Marah Dykstra and Katelynn Martin – Montana State was picked as a heavy favorite to repeat as Big Sky champions again in 2025-26, a nod to that consistency.

Taylee Chirrick and Addison Harris have both made big strides from their freshman seasons a year ago. Chirrick, a four-time Big Sky Player of the Week this season, has gone from 6.9 to 18.8 points. Harris has gone from 5.8 to 15.2 points, with four games of at least 20 points.

In four Big Sky games this season, Chirrick is averaging 22.3 points on 57.6 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 steals, helping Montana State to a scoring average of 84.8, including a 99-66 home victory over Idaho on Saturday.

With Chirrick acting as the tip of the spear, Montana State is winning with the same formula it employed last year, which is characterized by defensive mayhem.

Because of all the turnovers and steals, the Bobcats have taken 232 more shots than their opponents, an average of more than 15 per game. It's how MSU, which shoots 42.0 percent while allowing its opponents to shoot 41.6 percent, has a season scoring margin of +11.3.

The Bobcats have used the same starting five all season, with Chirrick and Harris being joined by junior Isobel Bunyan (8.0 ppg, team-high 27 3-pointers), freshman Jamison Philip (6.3 ppg, team-high 56 assists) and junior Ella Johnson (4.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg).

Montana State does not have a senior on its roster.

The Bobcats are coached by Tricia Binford, who has a career record of 370-257 in her 21st year.

Series history: Montana leads the series 81-40 and continues to hold a winning record at Bozeman of 28-24, through both records have been getting closed in the last decade by Montana State.

Montana State has won 11 straight at home over Montana and is 16-3 overall against the Lady Griz in the teams' last 19 match-ups.

At a glance (Northern Arizona): Montana will be facing the Lumberjacks for the second time in less than three weeks on Monday when NAU finishes off a three-games-in-five-days gauntlet.

Northern Arizona hosts Sacramento State on Thursday, Portland State on Saturday before traveling to Missoula for Monday's game.

After opening the season 1-10, the Lumberjacks have been steadily improving under first-year coach Laura Dinkins, winning five of their last seven, three of those five wins coming on the road.

Northern Arizona split at home on the opening week of league, defeating Montana and falling to Montana State in Flagstaff. Last week, the Lumberjacks won 71-58 at Weber State before falling 59-46 at Idaho State.

In Thursday's win in Ogden, redshirt freshman Naomi White exploded for 37 points, going 9 for 14 from the 3-point line. Her nine threes were a program record, her 37 points were the fifth-most in program history, the most by an NAU player since 2018.

In the Big Sky opener for both teams in Flagstaff on Jan. 1, Montana shot 53.3 percent in the first half but Northern Arizona shot 56.0 percent in the second to pull away.

After Mack Konig tied the score at 64-64 early in the fourth quarter, the Lumberjacks closed the game going 6 for 11, with White hitting a pair of big 3-pointers. Montana closed the game 1 for 10 after Konig tied it.

At 22.8 points per game, White leads the Big Sky and ranks eighth nationally in scoring. After scoring 27 points against Montana, she scored 18 against Montana State, then went for 37 at Weber State.

On Saturday at Idaho State, White was limited to 11 quiet points on 4-of-17 shooting. She went 1 of 8 from the 3-point line. Her 11 points were her second-fewest of the season. She scored nine against Creighton.

White, who is shooting 56 for 135 (.415) from the 3-point line this season, ranking fourth in the nation at 3.29 makes per game, is Northern Arizona's only player averaging in double figures but five average between 6.5 and 8.1 points for a team that is averaging 71.9 points.

Audrey Taylor was the difference-maker in NAU's win over Montana, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points. For the season she is averaging 8.1 points.

Northern Arizona is under first-year coach Laura Dinkins, who played for the Lumberjacks. In her final game against the Lady Griz, in Flagstaff in 2007-08, she scored 28 points. Montana won the game 87-58.

Series history: Montana leads the series with Northern Arizona 64-22, though the Lumberjacks have won five of the teams' last six match-ups, including three straight at Dahlberg Arena, highlighted by last year's 96-76 win in Missoula when they went 17 for 34 from the 3-point line.

Montana put an end to a three-game losing streak against NAU with a 71-67 win in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament in Boise in March.

Even with wins in their last three trips to Missoula, the Lumberjacks are still 6-34 against the Lady Griz on their home floor.

Upcoming: After hosting Northern Arizona on Monday, it will be a quick turnaround, with games on Thursday and Saturday at Weber State and Idaho State.

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Players Mentioned

Dani Bartsch

Mack Konig

Jocelyn Land

Draya Wacker

Avery Waddington

University of Montana Athletics