Lady Griz close out home stand

Thursday, February 19

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

Idaho State

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

2/18/2026 3:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's basketball team will wrap up a three-game home stand this week with games against Idaho State and Weber State.

The Lady Griz (7-17, 4-9 BSC) will host the Bengals (17-8, 10-4 BSC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena, the Wildcats (8-19, 2-12 BSC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Saturday will double as Senior Day for Mack Konig, whose career numbers have her in elite company (see below).

Montana will be trying to snap a four-game losing streak and win its way into position to play in a quarterfinal game at the Big Sky Conference Championship next month in Boise.

The Lady Griz opened their home stand with a 72-55 loss to Montana State on Saturday.

Montana will close the regular season by playing five games in 12 days. The Lady Griz will play at Sacramento State and Portland State next week, then host Northern Colorado on Monday, March 2.

The Big Sky Conference Championship opens in Boise on Saturday, March 7, with first-round games between the league's four lowest seeds at regular season's end.

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

What's at stake (Montana): The Lady Griz, sitting in eighth place, would play a first-round game in Boise on opening Saturday if the season were to end today.

But there is still plenty of potential movement in the standings, with Montana sitting a game behind Eastern Washington and Sacramento State, a game and a half behind Northern Arizona.

The Lady Griz will need to move past two teams to get a top-six seed for Boise and a quarterfinal game on Monday of tournament week.

What's at stake (Idaho State): The Bengals are tied for third in the Big Sky standings, even with Northern Colorado and behind Idaho (12-1 BSC) and Montana State (11-2 BSC).

A top-two finish is probably a bridge too far for Idaho State, but the Bengals do get a game at Montana State on Saturday, a team they defeated 79-60 in Pocatello last month.

The worst case is a 3 or 4 seed in Boise and a quarterfinal game on Monday of tournament week.

Idaho State closes with a road game at Weber State and a home game against Sacramento State.

What's at stake (Weber State): The Wildcats have been playing teams close throughout league but are likely on their way to their seventh bottom-three finish in the last eight years.

The culprit this season has been the road, where Weber State is just 1-12 as opposed to a more competitive 6-7 record in home games.

The Wildcats' lone road win was actually one of the best by a Big Sky team this season, a 68-60 victory at Loyola Marymount, the team tied with Gonzaga at 11-3 atop the West Coast Conference standings.

Weber State plays at Montana State on Thursday, then, after playing at Montana on Saturday, gets home games against Idaho State and Portland State.

Trending (Montana): The Lady Griz enter the week on a four-game losing streak, having fallen at home to Sacramento State and Montana State, and on the road against Eastern Washington and Idaho.

Montana has not dropped five consecutive league games since the 2016-17 season.

During their losing streak, the Lady Griz have allowed 75.3 points on 49.2 percent shooting. Idaho shot 53.8 percent and put up 89 points. Montana State on Saturday shot 50.0 percent.

When Montana won at Weber State, 51-50, and at Idaho State, 70-67 in overtime, last month, the Lady Griz held those two teams to combined 35.5 percent shooting.

Trending (Idaho State): The Bengals, who have lost back-to-back games only once this season, at Oral Roberts and at BYU in December, lost at home to Idaho on Saturday, 65-50.

That loss snapped a season-high five-game winning streak for Idaho State and dropped the Bengals out of regular-season championship contention.

Idaho State held Idaho well below its season scoring average of nearly 80 points per game but shot 32.8 percent and got out-rebounded by 20 inside Reed Gym, a rarity under coach Seton Sobolewski.

Trending (Weber State): The Wildcats have two league wins and both have come in the last five games, at home against Sacramento State and at home on Saturday over Eastern Washington in overtime.

The win over the Eagles followed a competitive 80-67 home loss to Big Sky leader Idaho, a game that had the Wildcats down only two in the second half.

Montana notes:

* Saturday will be Senior Day for Mack Konig, who caps her career after earning Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year honors in 2022-23.

She was voted the team's co-MVP as a sophomore, the outright MVP as a junior, when she earned second-team All-Big Sky honors.

She was named to the Big Sky All-Tournament team last March after leading the Lady Griz to within a last-second basket of a championship.

She ranks 15th in program history in career scoring (1,284) and on Saturday recorded her 400th career assist, leaving her 21 from the top 10 in that category.

She is one of only five players in program history to reach 1,200 career points and 400 assists, joining Shannon Cate, Mandy Morales, McKenzie Johnston and Skyla Sisco.

* The Lady Griz lost their only game last week, 72-55 at home to Montana State, giving the Bobcats, who won 82-44 in Bozeman in January, a season sweep of Montana.

As was the case in the teams' first game, a slow start by Montana and a hot-shooting start by Montana State was too much for the Lady Griz to overcome.

On Saturday, the Bobcats shot 10 for 16 in the first quarter and built leads of 17-4 in the first period, 34-10 midway through the second.

Montana State's lead would remain between 13 and 20 points for the entirety of the second half.

* Kennedy Gillette led Montana with 12 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting, her first time leading the team in scoring this season.

That continued Gillette's strong play of late. All four of her scoring games this season of 10 or more points have come in Montana's last eight games.

Over the last three games she is averaging 11.0 points while shooting 11 for 20 (.550), including 9 for 15 (.600) from the 3-point line.

She becomes the sixth player to lead Montana in scoring this season, along with Avery Waddington (9 times), Mack Konig (6), Jocelyn Land (6), Aby Shubert (1) and Rae Ehrman (1).

* Rae Ehrman scored 10 points off the bench against Montana State on 50 percent shooting. She has scored 10 or more points in five of Montana's last seven games.

* Montana ranks fifth nationally in 3-point attempts (30.2/g), ninth in 3-point shots made (9.4/g) and 39th in free throw percentage (.763).

At a glance (Idaho State): As usual, the Bengals, under coach Seton Sobolewski, are one of the Big Sky's top defensive teams, allowing 59.9 points on 37.0 percent shooting.

That's notable considering Montana has only one win this season, 51-50 at Weber State, when Montana didn't score at least 69 points.

Idaho State, with a bulk of its scoring back from last season, was picked fourth in the preseason coaches' poll, with Sobolewski leading his preferred type of team: veteran.

His starting lineup is all upperclassmen, led by graduate student Tasia Jordan, who averages 15.8 points, and junior Piper Carlson, who averages 10.6 points on 50.9 percent shooting and 8.0 rebounds.

Kacey Spink, one of the Big Sky's true stat-stuffers because of her all-around game, averages 9.1 points and 6.9 rebounds while leading the Bengals in assists (100) and steals (85).

Idaho State has a sweet 8-3 record in road games this season and is 5-1 away from Pocatello in league, with three straight wins.

On Sobolewski's staff this season are Chelsey and Keithan Gregg, the former the former head coach at Portland State.

The first meeting: Montana 70, Idaho State 67 (ot) – Two days prior, the Lady Griz won 51-50 at then winless-in-league Weber State while the Bengals rolled to a 19-point home win over Montana State.

It looked early on like the Bengals would boat race to another victory, going up 17-3 seven minutes into the game, but the 3-point shot saved the Lady Griz.

Trailing 20-9 after the first quarter, Montana posted its highest-scoring period of the season in the second, putting up 31 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line.

Montana led 40-33 at the half and Idaho State would not catch up until a pair of Tasia Jordan free throws with 1:10 left in regulation. Neither team scored in the final 70 seconds of regulation.

The Lady Griz went a tidy 3 of 5 in overtime, the Bengals 1 of 7 as Montana pulled out one of its three road wins of the season.

Rae Ehrman (21) and Draya Wacker (15) combined to go 9 for 16 (.563) off the bench from the 3-point line and score 36 points, more than the teams' starters, who totaled 34 points.

Spink had 10 points, seven assists, six rebounds and six steals.

Series history: Last month's win gave Montana a 77-20 advantage in the series against Idaho State and five wins in its last seven games against ISU. The Lady Griz are 43-7 at home against the Bengals.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats tied for third in the Big Sky last season but suffered a big blow when all-league forward Taylor Smith transferred to Gonzaga.

Weber State has been playing on thin margins all season, averaging 63.8 points on 40.0 percent shooting, allowing 67.8 points on 39.9 percent shooting.

Senior forward Antoniette Emma-Nnopu, who began her career at UNC Greensboro, is averaging a double-double, 14.2 points and 10.0 rebounds while shooting 52.5 percent.

Two other starters also average in double figures for third-year coach Jenteal Jackson, senior guard Lanae Billy (11.5/g) and junior guard Hannah Robbins (11.0/g), who began her career at Montana State.

Emma-Nnopu, with nine, ranks second in the Big Sky behind Eastern Washington's Kourtney Grossman (16) in double-doubles this season. Billy's 56 3-pointers this season rank fourth in the Big Sky.

The first meeting: Montana 51, Weber State 50 – In a game that was one possession over the final eight minutes, the Lady Griz pulled out a close one, courtesy of Avery Waddington.

The sophomore scored all 10 of her team's points in the fourth quarter as Montana won with the fewest points since getting past Loyola Marymount 49-47 on the road early in the 2013-14 season.

Waddington finished with 20 points, Rae Ehrman went 4 for 4 from the 3-point line to finish with 12 points off the bench.

Montana held Weber State to 33.3 percent shooting and forced 20 turnovers, which allowed the Lady Griz to overcome a 7-for-30 effort from the 3-point line, 35.1 percent shooting overall.

Emma-Nnopu had 12 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Billy hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Wildcats went 4 of 19 from the arc.

Series history: Montana leads the all-time series 80-16 and has gone 44-4 at home against the Wildcats, with 17 straight wins in Missoula. Weber's last win in Missoula came in the 2005-06 season.

The Lady Griz have won seven of the teams' last eight games overall.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Idaho made it through the Weber State-Idaho State road trip and remains atop the Big Sky standings with a 12-1 record. The Vandals are on a 10-game winning streak.

Idaho has a favorable close to the schedule, playing four of its final five at home, where the Vandals are 10-1 this season. Idaho's only remaining road game is at Northern Arizona.

* Preseason favorite Montana State is in second at 11-2. The Bobcats will be solid favorites in each of their last five games, three of which are at home, where MSU is 10-0 this season.

* Northern Colorado and Idaho State are tied for third at 10-4 in league and round out the four Big Sky teams that have separated themselves from the rest.

UNC has the tougher close, playing games at Northern Arizona, at Idaho and at Montana, and getting Eastern Washington at home.

* With Portland State (2-11) and Weber State (2-12) at the bottom of the standings, it's the block of teams in fifth through eighth where the drama lies.

Northern Arizona (6-8), Eastern Washington (5-8), Sacramento State (5-8) and Montana (4-9) are trying to earn the two spots that avoid a Saturday game in Boise and gets them to quarterfinal Monday.

The Eagles hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Montana and get Sacramento State and Portland State in Cheney this week.

Like Montana, Sacramento State has lost four straight and has a rough close to the season, at Eastern Washington and Idaho this week, then home for the Montana schools, then at Idaho State.

* From Montana's perspective, it's Sacramento State and Northern Arizona who are the most catchable in the standings, given their schedules.

The Lumberjacks also have a tough close, home for Northern Colorado and Idaho, then at Eastern Washington and at Montana State.

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

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Sacramento State at Eastern Washington. It's the two teams sitting one game ahead of the Lady Griz in the standings. Montana would pull even with someone with a win.

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

* Non-Montana game to monitor: Idaho State at Montana State. The Bengals roughed up the Bobcats in Pocatello, holding Taylee Chirrick without a made field goal and going up 20 in the third quarter.

Upcoming: A furious close to the season, with games at Sacramento State and Portland State, then a home game against Northern Colorado, all within five days.