Lady Griz look to make it a winning streak

Thursday, January 22

Ogden, Utah

6 PM

Montana

Weber State

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn / University of Montana

1/21/2026 12:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team, which picked up its first league win of the season on Monday, will look to add to it later this week with road games at Weber State and Idaho State.

The Lady Griz (4-13, 1-5 BSC) will play the Wildcats (6-13, 0-6 BSC) at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, then head to Pocatello for a game against the Bengals (11-6, 4-2 BSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Reed Gym.

Montana defeated Northern Arizona 76-72 in Missoula on Monday afternoon to collect its first Big Sky Conference win of the season.

The Lady Griz will close out the month of January next week with home games against Portland State and Sacramento State. The game on Saturday, Jan. 31, against the Hornets will be Montana's N7 game.

Coverage: Both games this week will stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein's local call available on KGRZ (1450 AM/92.7 FM) and the Varsity Network.

Storylines:

* Lady Griz get first Big Sky win: After opening league 0-5, Montana picked up its first Big Sky win of the season with a 76-72 home victory over Northern Arizona on Monday, the team the Lady Griz opened league with on Jan. 1, an 81-72 NAU win in Flagstaff.

Montana held the lead the final 33 minutes in Monday's rematch and went up 17 points early in the fourth quarter but still had to survive a tense final few minutes to get the win.

Naomi White, who would finish with 29 points, scored eight points – two 3-pointers, two free throws – in a span of 22 seconds in the final minute to bring the Lumberjacks within three, 74-71, and Audrey Taylor had three free throws with seven seconds left that could have tied the score.

She connected on only one of three and Avery Waddington hit two free throws with three seconds left for the game's final points.

It was Montana's first Big Sky win, the team's first home victory of the season against a Division I opponent and its first home win since opening the season with a home victory over Seattle Pacific on Nov. 4.

Jocelyn Land went 6 for 8 from the 3-point line and led Montana with 20 points. Aby Shubert and Draya Wacker both hit three 3-pointers as the Lady Griz went 14 for 28 from the arc, and Kennedy Gillette, averaging 3.0 points per game prior, scored 17 in her fifth start of the season.

It was Montana's seventh time this season hitting 11 or more 3-pointers. The Lady Griz rank fifth nationally in 3-point attempts (30.1/g), seventh in 3-pointers made (9.5/g).

* Konig still out: Senior point guard Mack Konig, who leads Montana in scoring and assists, missed her fourth straight game on Monday.

The Lady Griz averaged 50.7 points on 33.8 percent shooting in their first three games without Konig before putting up 76 points on Monday on 48.1 percent shooting.

Turnovers continue to plague Montana without Konig.

The Lady Griz were one of the nation's top teams in ball security with Konig in the line-up, averaging 12.6 turnovers per game through the season's first 13 games.

Montana has averaged more than 21 per game without Konig, including 32 in Saturday's 82-44 loss at Montana State, the most for a Lady Griz team since 1981.

* Gillette's big game: With Konig out, Kennedy Gillette has been starting the last four games. In the first three of those games, the junior totaled 16 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

Gillette broke out at just the right time on Monday, sparking the Lady Griz with 17 points, nine more than her previous season high. Gillette went 5 for 8, hit a pair of 3-pointers and went a perfect 5 for 5 from the free throw line.

* Draya Wacker, unleashed: With Konig out, minutes have gone increasingly to redshirt junior Draya Wacker off the bench. Wacker played 18 minutes against Idaho, 21 against Eastern Washington, 23 at Montana State and a career-high 27 on Monday against the Lumberjacks.

She has hit nine 3-pointers the last four games and was huge in the second half on Monday against Northern Arizona, scoring 13 of her 15 points over the final 20 minutes.

The Lady Griz outscored the Lumberjacks 58-45 when Wacker was on the floor. Northern Arizona outscored Montana 27-18 when Wacker was on the bench, the Lady Griz averaging 2.15 points per minute with Wacker playing, 1.39 with Wacker watching.

* Land's hot hand: Sophomore Jocelyn Land hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter on Monday to spark the Lady Griz to a lead they would hold through the end. She would finish 6 of 8 from the arc and reach 20 points for the third time this season.

She had hit six 3-pointers over the previous seven games combined before catching fire on Monday.

She went 8 for 16 from the 3-point line in scoring 24 points against South Dakota State, 4 for 9 while scoring 30 points at North Dakota. Her eight threes against the Jackrabbits are tied for the 12th most by a player this season in NCAA Division I, two off the nation's best for a game this year.

* Montana looking to end road woes: The Lady Griz, while playing a difficult schedule, are 1-7 in true road games this season, averaging 58.1 points on 37.7 percent shooting.

Montana has three times in eight road games failed to reach 50 points, at Oregon, at Abilene Christian and at Montana State. All three of those teams hold a current NET ranking in the top 100.

Montana's lone road win this season, in addition to a neutral-site overtime victory over Tarleton State in Abilene, Texas, was an 86-56 win at North Dakota.

Weber State is 4-4 at home this season, though three of those were against non-Division I opponents. Idaho State is 4-2, the best win a 61-49 victory over UC Irvine back in mid-November, against a team now 16-2 and on a 15-game winning streak since that loss in Reed Gym.

* Avery Waddington, rebounding machine: Sophomore Avery Waddington grabbed 10 rebounds on Monday against Northern Arizona, her fifth time with 10 or more rebounds this season, the ninth time in her career.

Waddington ranks sixth in the Big Sky in rebounding (7.4/g).

* Montana shortens its rotation: The Lady Griz went just seven deep in Monday's home win, with four starters going 31 or more minutes. Three of Montana's starters had to navigate their way through being whistled for four fouls.

Draya Wacker and Rae Ehrman were the only two players to get minutes off the bench.

It's the first time Montana has gone just seven deep since the Big Sky tournament championship game against Montana State in Boise in March, just the fourth time in the last two decades.

* Perfect from the line: Montana went 12 for 12 from the free throw line in Monday's win. It's the third-most makes without a miss in program history.

The Lady Griz went 18 for 18 against Northern Colorado in January 2021 and 15 for 15 against the Bears in March 2015.

The performance upped Montana's season percentage to .748, 62nd in the nation.

* Montana gets glass advantage: The Lady Griz out-rebounded the Lumberjacks on Monday 35-31. It's only the third time this season Montana has out-rebounded its opponent, the others being Seattle Pacific and North Dakota.

Montana ranks 350th in the nation out of 359 teams in rebounding margin (-10.6), 359th in offensive rebounds (5.8/g), though the Lady Griz have grabbed 16 offensive rebounds the last two games.

* Shubert upsets up scoring hierarchy: When Aby Shubert led Montana in scoring at Montana State on Saturday, it marked the first time this season that the Lady Griz' leading scorer was not Mack Konig, Avery Waddington or Jocelyn Land.

Land has led Montana six times, Konig and Waddington have led the Lady Griz five times each, with Shubert now leading Montana once.

Waddington has led or shared for the team high in rebounds in 14 of 17 games this season.

* Lady Griz love the three-ball: Montana has taken 53.3 percent of its shots this season from the 3-point line.

Five players have taken more than two-thirds of their shots from the arc: Aby Shubert (80.7 percent), Kennedy Gillette (71.9), Rae Ehrman (71.1), Draya Wacker (68.5) and Jocelyn Land (64.9).

* Looking ahead: Over the last few years, it's taken an 8-10 league record to finish in the top six in the Big Sky standings and avoid a first-round game in Boise at the Big Sky tournament. Montana would need a 7-5 finish to the regular season to reach eight Big Sky wins. That's doable.

The bottom four teams play each other in Boise on opening day, on Saturday, March 7. The top two seeds open on Sunday, seeds 3 through 6 start on Monday.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats closed their pre-Christmas schedule with four straight wins to move to 6-7 on the season but enter Thursday's game against Montana on a six-game losing streak, all six in league.

WSU sits at the bottom of the Big Sky standings, the only league team without a Big Sky win.

In six Big Sky games, Weber State is averaging 59.2 points on 35.9 percent shooting, five of its six losses coming by 10 or more points. The outlier was a 69-66 home loss to Northern Colorado.

Weber State has a NET ranking of 264, two spots better than Montana's ranking of 266.

Senior Antoniette Emma-Nnopu is averaging 14.8 points and 11.0 rebounds in league, 14.2 points and 10.2 rebounds on the season, the latter ranking 22nd nationally. She ranks 37th nationally in field goal percentage (.548).

Weber State has two other starters averaging in double figures: senior Lanae Billy (11.9/g, team-high 39 3-pointers) and junior Hannah Robbins (11.4/g), who spent the 2023-24 season at New Mexico, last season at Montana State.

Weber State's three Division I wins this season have come against Utah Tech (NET: 273), Loyola Marymount (151) and Omaha (360), which is 2-19.

The Wildcats went a surprising 13-16 a year ago and tied for third in the Big Sky with a 10-8 league record. The top player on that team, Taylor Smith (12.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg), is now at Gonzaga.

Weber State was picked eighth in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series against Weber State 79-16. The Lady Griz have gone 34-11 against the Wildcats in Ogden.

Montana has won 12 of 14 against Weber State. The teams split their games last season, Montana winning by four in Missoula, Weber State by four in Ogden.

At a glance (Idaho State): A rarity in Division I women's basketball these days, the Bengals returned their top five scorers from a season ago and are being rewarded with that experience.

ISU is 11-6 and has won six of its last eight heading into Thursday's big home match-up against Big Sky leader Montana State. The Bengals have the Big Sky's third-best NET ranking (126) behind Montana State and Idaho.

Per usual under 18th-year coach Seton Sobolewski, the Bengals are winning because of their work on the defensive end. Idaho State ranks first in the Big Sky in both scoring defense (58.1/g) and field goal percentage defense (.362).

That plus a nice rebounding margin (+7.2) has offset an offense that averages 64.4 points on 39.7 percent shooting, statistics that rank in the bottom four in the league.

Tasia Jordan, second-team All-Big Sky last season, is averaging 15.7 points, while the delightfully named Piper Carlson is averaging 10.5 points on 52.8 percent shooting and a team-high 7.8 rebounds.

Kacey Spink, a member of the Big Sky All-Defensive Team last season, averages 7.7 points and 7.1 rebounds. She has totaled 46 steals, third in the Big Sky.

With so much experience returning, Idaho State was picked a strong fourth in the preseason coaches' poll, earning one first-place vote.

The Bengals had a strong non-conference showing, winning on the road at Grand Canyon, at home over UC Irvine and in Hawaii over now 11-win Portland.

Idaho State opened league with road wins over Sacramento State and Portland State, split at home, losing to Northern Colorado before defeating Northern Arizona, and split again on the road last weekend, falling at Idaho, then bouncing back for a nice 66-57 win at Eastern Washington on Saturday.

ISU is led by three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year Seton Sobolewski. He has on his staff as associate head coaches Chelsey and Keithan Gregg. The former was the head coach at Portland State before being let go last spring.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series with Idaho State 76-20. The Lady Griz have gone 31-12 against the Bengals in Pocatello.

Fourteen of ISU's 20 all-time wins over Montana have come under Sobolewski. The Bengals are 12-6 in their last 18 match-ups against the Lady Griz.

The teams split their games last season, Montana winning 81-60 in Missoula, Idaho State winning 66-46 in Pocatello.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Montana State sits atop the Big Sky with a 6-0 league mark and NET ranking of 68. The Bobcats are 24-1 in their last 25 regular-season Big Sky games.

* Idaho is second at 4-1 in league, the Vandals' lone loss a 99-66 setback at Montana State. Northern Colorado is 5-2, the Bears 0-2 against Montana State, 5-0 in their other games.

* Idaho State (4-2) and Sacramento State (3-2) also are above .500 in league. Those top five teams in the standings are a healthy 33-7 at home this season.

* Thursday games: UM at WSU, MSU at ISU, EWU at PSU, UI at SAC

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Montana State at Idaho State. The Big Sky's top defense tries to slow down a team averaging 82 points through six Big Sky games.

* Saturday games: UM at ISU, MSU at WSU, NAU at UNC, UI at PSU, EWU at SAC

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Northern Arizona at Northern Colorado. NAU's Naomi White is averaging 22.0 points in league, UNC's Heather Baymon is averaging 19.3.

Upcoming: Montana will host Portland State and Sacramento State as the month of January comes to a close. That leaves only the days of February until the madness of March.