Lady Griz bring three-game winning streak home

Thursday, January 29

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

Portland State

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn / University of Montana

1/27/2026 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team, rolling into late January on a three-game winning streak, will look to continue its move up the Big Sky Conference standings this week when it hosts Portland State and Sacramento State at Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz (6-13, 3-5 BSC) will face the Vikings (5-14, 1-6 BSC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday, then play the Hornets (10-10, 4-3 BSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in what will be the team's annual N7 game.

Montana comes into the short home stand on a three-game winning streak, after defeating Northern Arizona, Weber State and Idaho State last week over a span of just six days, the wins over the Wildcats and Bengals coming on the road.

The Lady Griz will open February next week with road games at Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Coverage: This week's games will stream on ESPN+ and have radio coverage on KGRZ (1450 AM/92.7 FM) and the Varsity Network, with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

Storylines:

* When Montana won at home over Northern Arizona on Monday, then won at Weber State on Thursday, it gave the Lady Griz their first back-to-back wins of the season.

When Montana added an overtime victory at Idaho State on Saturday to make it three consecutive wins, it marked the first time that's happened for the Lady Griz in nearly a year, since defeating Portland State, Sacramento State and Northern Colorado about this time last season.

* Montana's three wins last week came by a combined eight points, four over Northern Arizona, one over Weber State, three over Idaho State.

The Lady Griz have won four straight games decided by five or fewer points and are 4-1 in those games this season, the only loss a 70-69 home setback against BYU when a Montana shot at the buzzer missed.

* When Montana won at Weber State on Thursday in Ogden by a score of 51-50, it was the fewest points scored by the Lady Griz in a game they won since getting past Loyola Marymount 49-47 on the road early in the 2013-14 season.

* Montana won at Weber State despite shooting 8 for 32 (.250) in the second half, 3 for 19 (.158) from the 3-point line. The difference came down to Avery Waddington, who scored all 10 of Montana's fourth-quarter points on her way to 20 for the game.

It was Waddington's third 20-point scoring game of the season, the fifth of her career.

* Rae Ehrman gave Montana a big spark off the bench at Weber State, going 4 for 4 from the 3-point line and scoring 12 points.

She then made her first four shots from the 3-point line on Saturday at Idaho State. Her eight straight makes from the arc are the most for Montana since MJ Bruno made eight straight over a three-game stretch in December of the 2023-24 season.

Ehrman would finish 5 for 8 from the 3-point line against the Bengals and shoot 8 for 12 overall on her way to a career-high 21 points, the most for a Montana true freshman since Avery Waddington scored 21 against Montana State in a one-point home loss last season.

* Ehrman and Draya Wacker shot Montana to the overtime victory on Saturday, combining to score 36 points off the bench on 9-of-16 shooting from the 3-point line. They were 13 for 26 overall.

Ehrman and Wacker combined to score 19 points in the critical second quarter, when Montana outscored Idaho State 31-13 to overcome a 14-point first-quarter deficit.

* Wacker, a redshirt junior, has four games of 10 or more points in her career. All four have come in the last six games. She scored a career-high 15 points in Monday's home win over Northern Arizona, then matched it with 15 points on Saturday at Idaho State.

* Montana's 31-point second quarter were the most points for the Lady Griz in a period against a Division I opponent since blitzing Portland State on the road with a 33-point first quarter in a 76-65 win late in the 2023-24 season.

* Saturday's win improved Montana to 2-0 in overtime games this season. The Lady Griz rallied past Tarleton State 90-85 in overtime at Abilene Christian's tournament before Christmas.

Montana was 3-6 in its last nine overtime games entering the season. The Lady Griz are now 30-24 all-time in overtime games.

It took the 97th all-time meeting between Montana and Idaho State for the Lady Griz and Bengals to play their first overtime game on Saturday.

* Montana had been 2-6 in its previous eight games at Idaho State's Reed Gym before winning in Pocatello on Saturday.

* Saturday was Montana's sixth consecutive game without senior point guard Mack Konig. Konig has not played since putting up 19 points and five assists at Northern Colorado on Jan. 3.

* With Ehrman leading Montana in scoring on Saturday, the Lady Griz have now been led in points by five players this season: Waddington (6), Jocelyn Land (6), Konig (5), Aby Shubert (1) and Ehrman (1).

Waddington has led Montana in rebounding, either outright or shared, in 16 of 19 games this season.

* Kennedy Gillette has started the six games Konig has missed. The junior, who was averaging 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 11.8 minutes with Konig in the lineup, is averaging 8.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 27.3 minutes in Konig's absence.

* In the six games Montana has played without Konig, Wacker and Land have led the Lady Griz with 64 points, with Waddington totaling 63.

* Montana went 7 for 9 from the 3-point line in the second quarter at Idaho State on Saturday and finished 15 for 36 (.417) for the game. It was Montana's third game this season with 15 or more made threes.

The Lady Griz rank seventh nationally with 9.7 made threes per game, fifth in 3-point attempts (30.4/g).

At a glance (Portland State): The Vikings are 5-14 under first-year coach Karlie Burris, who was hired in April to replace Chelsey Gregg, who went 32-87 over four seasons.

Portland State is 1-6 in league, its lone victory a 68-58 home win over Weber State to open its Big Sky schedule on Jan. 1.

The Vikings, who also have wins over Willamette, San Jose State, Kansas City and Seattle, have a NET ranking of 313, 44 spots lower than any other Big Sky team.

Portland State is led in scoring by sophomore guard Kyleigh Brown, who averages 18.6 points. Eight times she has scored 20 or more points this season, including 25- and 23-point games last week in home losses to Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Brown, who has 31 assists this season against 61 turnovers, averaged 9.8 points last season as a true freshman.

Australian freshman Hannah Chicken averages 11.4 points on a robust shooting line of .519/.542/.800.

Portland State ranks last in the Big Sky in both scoring defense (74.5/g) and field goal percentage defense (.431). Teams are shooting 34.0 percent from the 3-point line against the Vikings.

Burris played collegiately at the University of Portland, was an assistant coach at Northern Arizona from 2012-17 and was most recently on staff at UNLV, where she was part of four straight Mountain West regular-season championships.

Series history: Montana leads the series with Portland State 57-23 and has gone 34-6 against the Vikings in Missoula.

The Lady Griz have won four straight over the Vikings and eight of nine, scoring 72 or more points in each of those nine meetings. Montana has won five straight at home over Portland State.

At a glance (Sacramento State): That the Hornets are 10-10 overall and above .500 in league at 4-3 is not a huge surprise.

With Big Sky Preseason MVP Benthe Versteeg back for her redshirt senior season, Sacramento State was picked fifth in the coaches' poll, fourth in the media poll with a pair of first-place votes.

The Hornets opened the season winning five of their first six games, including a nice 71-60 road win at UC San Diego, a team currently sitting atop the Big West standings at 8-1 in league, 13-6 overall.

They then lost seven of their next eight, five of those losses coming by seven points or fewer.
The last of those seven losses was a 61-46 home setback to open league against Idaho State on Jan. 1. Other Big Sky losses have come on the road at Northern Colorado and at home against Idaho.

The team's three leading scorers are sophomore Rubi Gray (15.0/g), junior Natalie Picton (12.8/g) and Versteeg, who averages 11.3 points and 5.5 rebounds, and leads the Big Sky in assists (4.9/g).

Picton, a first-year transfer from Montana State, was named the Big Sky Player of the Week on Tuesday after averaging 18.0 points in a home split against Idaho and Eastern Washington.

The Hornets are one of the Big Sky's stingier defenses, allowing 59.2 points on 37.4 percent shooting. They rank 24th nationally at defending the 3-point line (.266).

Sacramento State forces 19.1 turnovers per game but also ranks 314th nationally, committing 19.2 itself.

The Hornets have their next four games on the road, playing at Montana State on Thursday, at Montana on Saturday and at Weber State on Monday. They play at Portland State a week from Saturday.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series 51-9 and has gone 30-1 at home against the Hornets, their lone win over the Lady Griz in Missoula coming during the 2016-17 season.

Montana has won four straight overall in the series, seven of eight and 14 of the last 16. The Lady Griz have swept the regular-season series the last two years.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Two days before Montana won at Idaho State, the Bengals handed Montana State its first Big Sky loss, 79-60.

* The Bobcats (7-1 BSC) and Idaho (6-1 BSC) both have one league loss. Those two teams play in Moscow a week from Thursday. Montana State won the first meeting 99-66.

* Northern Colorado, picked seventh in the preseason coaches' poll, continues to win. The Bears (6-2 BSC) have two Big Sky losses, both against league-leading Montana State.

* Idaho State (5-3 BSC) and Sacramento State (4-3 BSC) also are above .500 in league, with Eastern Washington (3-4 BSC) just ahead of Montana. Northern Arizona (3-5 BSC) is tied with the Lady Griz.

* Thursday games: PSU at UM, SAC at MSU, UI at UNC, EWU at NAU

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Idaho at Northern Colorado. It's a noon start on Thursday as Northern Colorado tries to hand Idaho its second league loss and prove itself to be a contender.

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

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Northern Arizona at Idaho. Idaho plays in Greeley on Thursday, Northern Arizona play at home in Flagstaff. Their Saturday match-up is a 1 p.m. local tip in Moscow.

Upcoming: It's off to Eastern Washington and Idaho for the Lady Griz next week to face two opponents who defeated Montana in Missoula earlier this month.