Waddington delivers Montana’s fourth straight win

Thursday, January 29

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

7-13, 4-5BSC

Portland State

5-15, 1-7BSC

Portland St.

Montana

Photo by: TOMMY_MARTINO

Waddington delivers Montana’s fourth straight win

1/29/2026 10:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

After watching Montana hit 15 3-pointers in its overtime win at Idaho State on Saturday, Portland State wasn't about to let that happen again on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

The Vikings limited the Lady Griz to a season-low two makes from the arc but that spread-out defense allowed Avery Waddington to go wild in the space it provided.

The sophomore scored a career-high 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting and had the game's decisive basket, a finish at the rim with 42 seconds left that broke the final tie and sent the Lady Griz to a 69-63 victory.

Like she did last Thursday, in Montana's one-point win at Weber State, Waddington came up huge when her team needed her the most.

She scored 13 points in the fourth quarter against the Vikings, 19 in the second half as Montana rallied from a six-point deficit early in the final period.

The lasting image of the game will be Waddington backing down her defender and finishing at the rim, which she did time and time again as Portland State refused to concede the 3-point line, no matter the consequences.

"Avery was huge throughout the course of the game. They refused to send a second body at her and she did great. She killed it," said coach Nate Harris.

The win gave Montana its fourth straight victory, its longest winning streak since late in the 2023-24 WNIT season.

Those wins have come when the threes have been falling – 29 combined makes against Northern Arizona and Idaho State – and when they haven't – 9-for-51 shooting from the arc against Weber State and Portland State.

On Thursday, Montana had to overcome a four-point second quarter, when the Lady Griz shot 2 for 16 and had a scoring drought of more than six minutes, and a third quarter when Portland State lit it up, scoring 25 points on 12-of-23 shooting.

It had the Lady Griz, if not on the ropes then at least backpedaling toward them, in another tight game. And once again Montana found a way.

Those four wins have come by 14 points. All four victories have been a one-possession game in the final minute.

"You're seeing the growth of this team," said Harris. "Two of our last three wins have come when we haven't shot the 3-point shot well. We're winning it on defense. We're winning by being more aggressive at the rim."

Montana (7-13, 4-5 BSC) looked like it might run Portland State (5-15, 1-7 BSC) out of Missoula early on, the Lady Griz going 9 for 11 from inside the arc in the opening quarter and building a 19-12 lead.

Montana went up 23-12 with 6:28 to go in the second quarter on a basket by Rae Ehrman, who scored 13 points off the bench, giving her 46 points the last three games, but those would be the final points of the first half for the Lady Griz, who missed their last nine shots of the period.

That allowed Portland State to not just creep back in it but go to the locker room up by two, 25-23.

"Our saying at halftime is, you only play the first half to get to the second half. The second quarter wasn't our best," said Harris.

"They were really staying out and forced us to finish in the paint. We got some great looks, they just weren't going."

Using the momentum of the end of the first half, Portland State attacked the basket in the third quarter and put up 25 points, 22 of them coming in the paint. Kyleigh Brown, PSU's leading scorer, had nine of her team-high 20 points in the period.

"Give Portland State a ton of credit. I thought especially in the third quarter they got really aggressive and made it tough on us defensively," said Harris.

It was a back-and-forth period that had Portland State twice going up by six, Montana going on a 14-0 run to go up 43-35 and the Vikings scoring 15 points over the final 3:32 to take a 50-46 lead to the fourth.

With everything on the line, with Portland State up 52-46 after scoring the opening points of the final period, Montana held the Vikings to just one more make the rest of the way, PSU going 2 for 15 in the fourth.

"We responded with a great quarter in the fourth, making it tough on them and holding them to 13 points," said Harris. "It was a great response by our kids after a rough third quarter."

But it wasn't going to be easy as the teams combined to go 20 for 22 from the free throw line in the final period, when 15 of the game's 29 fouls were called.

Waddington put Montana up three, 63-60, with 1:31 to go. With PSU's shot clock under five seconds on its next possession, Brown was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit all three free throws with 55 seconds left to tie it at 63-63.

Waddington broke the final tie with her finish at the rim with 42 seconds left and Portland State missed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to go.

Draya Wacker went 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the final 16 seconds for the game's final points.

Waddington added 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, the seventh of her career, Wacker grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds as Montana finished +9 on the boards, its best margin of the season against a Division I opponent.

Montana will host Sacramento State (10-11, 4-4 BSC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Hornets were humbled by Montana State in Bozeman on Thursday, losing 66-31.