Lady Griz to host unbeaten Cougars - University of Montana Athletics

Stop us if you've heard this before. Next up for the Montana women's basketball team is a match-up against an unbeaten from the Big 12.

After taking on BYU and Kansas State on the road over the last week, the Lady Griz will challenge the Big 12 again but this time do it at home.

Montana will host 3-0 Houston on Friday at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz lost to now 4-0 BYU and now 4-0 Kansas State, with the deep Big 12 as a league sitting 48-2 as of Thursday morning, the only teams to dent the conference record being Florida and St. Joseph's.

Montana will get its shot to add its name to that short list by hosting a Power 4 opponent on Robin Selvig Court for the first time since welcoming Utah last November.

The Lady Griz (1-2) opened their season last week at home, handling Montana Western 91-45.

Coverage: With the Big Sky Conference Soccer Championship in Missoula this week, with two semifinal matches being played Friday, the Montana-Houston game will have no video coverage.

The game can be tracked via live stats or listened to on KGRZ (1450 AM/92.7 FM) with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

Montana notes:

* The Lady Griz are in the midst of a challenging stretch of games. After hosting Houston on Friday night, it will be off to Spokane next week for a game at Pac-12 favorite Gonzaga.

* After giving up the fifth-most points in program history in Saturday's 97-53 loss at BYU, Montana cut 30 points off that total in Tuesday's 67-62 setback at Kansas State.

* The Lady Griz limited the Wildcats to 37.3 percent shooting, 4 for 12 in the fourth quarter as Montana almost completed what would have been a stirring comeback.

* The Lady Griz trailed 34-25 at the half in Manhattan and fell behind by 17 points, 44-27, midway through the third quarter and were on the verge of being lapped before Paige Lofing heated up.

* She scored nine points in less than three minutes, converting an and-one followed by a pair of 3-pointers to help make it a 10-point game, 54-44, entering the fourth quarter.

* She opened the final period with a 3-pointer, scored at the rim to make it 60-56 with 4:07 to go, then finished again with 1:50 left to pull Montana within two, 62-60.

* Kansas State called a timeout and executed well on its next possession, scoring with 1:26 left to make it a four-point game, and Montana would not have the ball with a chance to tie down the stretch.

* Lofing finished with 25 points, the only Montana player in double figures. It was the highest scoring game for a Lady Griz since Avery Waddington put 29 on Portland State in February.

* Lofing scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half.

* Freshman Hayden Kaut showed off her versatility, scoring eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, multiple times taking her larger defender to the 3-point line and blowing past on her way to the hoop.

* Avery Waddington was limited to four points on 1-of-3 shooting but grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and led the team with three assists while adding a block and a steal.

* Kennedy Moore hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with six points and six rebounds.

* Lofing hit nine of her 20 shots and went 4 for 11 from the 3-point line. Her shooting line for the season: .419 field goal percentage, .417 3-point percentage, a perfect 8 for 8 from the free throw line.

* Montana's four leading scorers through three games are all newcomers: Lofing (18.0/g), Dominique Nesland (10.3/g), Kaut (7.7/g) and Moore (6.3/g).

* Waddington is averaging 6.0 points and a team-leading 7.0 rebounds. She leads the team with 10 assists.

* In the national statistics, Montana ranks 20th in free throw percentage (.810), 59th in 3-pointers made per game (8.7).

* Lofing ranks 23rd in 3-pointers made per game (3.33) while ranking 98th in scoring. Kaut ranks 93rd in blocks (1.67).

Houston notes:

* The Cougars are 3-0 after posting home wins over Hampton (73-65), Sam Houston (78-50) and Stephen F. Austin (89-59).

* Through three games, Houston is averaging 80.0 points on excellent 51.6 percent shooting, a percentage that ranks 16th nationally.

* The Cougars' first three opponents have averaged 58.0 points on 32.5 percent shooting. They've gone just 9 for 58 (.155) from the 3-point line.

* Houston is coached by Matthew Mitchell, who made a name for himself while coaching at Kentucky for 13 seasons (2007-08 to 2019-20).

* The three-time SEC Coach of the Year led the Wildcats to 10 20-win seasons, seven 25-win seasons.

* In his 11th year at Kentucky, he brought his team to Missoula for a game against Montana during the 2017-18 season, as the Wildcats made their way to Pullman for a game against Washington State.

* The game was tied 27-27 at the half before Kentucky pulled away in the second half for a 71-54 victory.

* Mitchell retired from coaching following the 2019-20 season, only to re-emerge at Houston prior to last season.

* The Cougars went 7-23 in Mitchell's first season at Houston, finishing last in the Big 12 with a 1-17 league record, the lone league win a 72-70 home victory over Cincinnati.

* Houston underwent an even more drastic offseason turnover in roster than Montana. The Cougars' top six scorers this season are newcomers.

* Senior Raegan McCowan (18.0/g) spent three years at Western Illinois. She was the nation's 10th-leading scorer (22.3/g) as a sophomore in 2024-25 before being limited by injury to 10 games last year.

* Junior guard Esmeralda Enriquez played her freshman season (2024-25) at North Idaho for former Lady Griz assistant coach Nate Covill.

* She spent last season at Eastern Arizona. She was named the NJCAA D1 Player of the Year after leading EAC to a national championship. Enriquez was named the national tournament MVP.

* Junior Kaelyn Hamilton spent her first two seasons at San Diego State. She was the Mountain West Sixth Player of the Year in 2025-26 as the Aztecs won the league.

* Freshman Marta Llompart, of Mallorca, Spain, averages 9.3 points and has 19 assists against only seven turnovers. If the game is close late, she is 6 for 19 (.316) from the free throw line this season.

* Six-foot-six center Elodie Lutbert was a force at Tarleton State last season, then transferred to Houston. She is averaging 8.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.

* Lutbert played in 30 of 31 games last season for the Texans. The one game she missed? Montana's 90-85 overtime win over Tarleton State at the Abilene Christian Christmas Classic.

* First-year players have scored 217 of Houston's 240 points this season, 90.4 percent. … The Cougars' early weakness? They are turning the ball over more than 20 times per game.

* Friday is Houston's first road game of the season. The Cougars will leave Houston only one other time prior to Christmas, to Fort Myers, Fla., later this month for the Coconut Hoops event.

* Houston hosts Montana State on Dec. 7.

* The Cougars were picked 15th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, coming in ahead of UCF. Houston did not have anyone make the All-Big 12 Preseason Team.

Series history:

* Montana and Houston played in December at UH's Fertitta Center. The Lady Griz led 50-43 with four minutes to go before the Cougars came on late to rally for a 60-54 victory.

* With neither team shooting well (Montana: .354; Houston: .349), the difference was Montana's 19 turnovers and Houston's 15 offensive rebounds.

* Jocelyn Land led Montana with 15 points.

* The teams' only other match-up was a 93-72 win for the Lady Griz at Mississippi State's tournament in Starkville early in the 2001-02 season.

* Cheryl Keller scored 23 points and Montana shot 53.6 percent one day before the Lady Griz fell 78-73 in overtime to Mississippi State in the tournament's championship game.

Upcoming: Montana will travel to Spokane to face Gonzaga on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (MT). The Bulldogs are 2-1 and play at Grand Canyon on Friday, at Stanford on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Hayden Kaut

Jocelyn Land

Paige Lofing

Kennedy Moore

Avery Waddington

University of Montana Athletics