Bobcats get up big early, hold off Lady Griz

Saturday, February 14

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

7-17, 4-9BSC

Montana State

18-6, 11-2BSC

Montana St.

Montana

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn / University of Montana

2/14/2026 5:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana State jumped out to a 17-4 lead and held a double-digit advantage the final 32 minutes on its way to a 72-55 victory over Montana on Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

The Bobcats (18-6, 11-2 BSC) finished the season sweep of the Lady Griz (7-17, 4-9 BSC) and remain a game behind Big Sky Conference leader Idaho (21-5, 12-1 BSC) with 16 days left in the regular season.

Montana lost its fourth straight game, the last three after the Lady Griz faced early deficits that proved to be too large to overcome.

The Lady Griz trailed Eastern Washington by 15 in the first half last week and fell behind Idaho 20-2 in the opening minutes two days later.

On Saturday, the Bobcats shot 10 for 16 in the first quarter. The Lady Griz opened 3 for 16, and Montana State held Montana at arm's length the rest of the way.

"I thought we did a much better job as the game went along, but it was too much to overcome in terms of the margin that we allowed them to get up early," said Lady Griz coach Nate Harris.

"It's been the tale of our last few games. Down early to Eastern, down early to Idaho, down early to Montana State, then we're playing from behind. We have to find a way to start better."

Ella Johnson, who entered the game averaging 5.0 points on the season, got the Bobcats rolling early, putting up seven points in the first quarter without a missed shot.

She hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter on her way to 17 points, seven more than her previous season high.

Addison Harris had 15 points, Taylee Chirrick totaled 14 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Jamison Philip added 11 points and six rebounds.

Montana State led 34-10 15 minutes into the game and looked to be on its way to duplicating the teams' result in Bozeman last month, an 82-44 MSU victory.

But for all Montana's slow starts recently, the Lady Griz have never rolled over and didn't on Saturday either.

Avery Waddington hit a pair of 3-pointers and Kennedy Gillette scored twice in 13 seconds to cap off a 12-0 run that made it 34-22 with 90 seconds left in the first half.

That minute and a half would prove to be costly to Montana, which missed a shot that could have made it a 10-point game.

Instead, Chirrick hit a 3-pointer and Johnson did as well to make it 40-22 at the half.

There was a lot for Harris and his staff to like in the first-half box score, notably the seven turnovers against a team that forces more than 26 per game, but his team's offense couldn't keep up.

Montana State shot 17 for 31 (.548) in the first half. Montana went just 9 for 31 (.290).

"I thought we played great the final 22 minutes of the game. It just took us too long to get going," said Harris.

For every threatening move the Lady Griz made in the second half, the Bobcats had an answer.

Jocelyn Land hit a jumper with 6:13 left in the third that made it 42-29 and could have been the start of something, but Harris answered with a three and Chirrick a lay-up to extend MSU's lead to 18, 47-29.

The Montana State lead would be at least 15 points the rest of the game.

Montana finished with 18 turnovers, 14 fewer than the 32 the Lady Griz had in Bozeman. That matched the fewest the Bobcats have forced this season.

"We were even in possessions at the half. In the second half, the turnovers got a little bit tilted and the offensive rebounding got a little bit tilted in their favor," said Harris.

Gillette finished with 12 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting, Rae Ehrman had 10. "Both of them did a tremendous job," said Harris. "(Kennedy) was really aggressive and shot it when she was supposed to."

Avery Waddington scored 11, Aby Shubert hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Montana, in eighth place in the Big Sky standings, will host Idaho State (17-8, 10-4 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m., Weber State (8-19, 2-12 BSC) next Saturday at 2 p.m.