Lady Griz ace the end game, win 55-53 in Portland

Saturday, February 28

Portland, Ore.

3 PM (MT)

Montana

8-20, 5-12BSC

Portland State

6-23, 2-15BSC

Montana

Portland St.

2/28/2026 6:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

It was some end-game perfection that delivered the Montana women's basketball team a 55-53 victory over Portland State on Saturday afternoon at Viking Pavilion.

Things looked dire when Portland State took possession in a tie game with the shot clock off, but the Lady Griz had fouls to give and the possession arrow pointing their way.

With 10 seconds left, Macy Donarski not only forced a turnover but had the situational awareness to immediately call a timeout when she got on the court and took possession of the ball.

That flipped the script in Montana's favor and it was Avery Waddington who hit the game-winning shot with less than two seconds to play as the Lady Griz snapped a seven-game losing streak.

"I'm not somebody who's okay letting them run it down and take the last shot," said coach Nate Harris. "We had the arrow and fouls to give, so we decided to be aggressive.

"Macy made a game-winning play. The shot will get the accolades but Macy's play was just as important, getting on the floor and getting us possession where we could have the chance to execute."

It was no surprise where Montana went on its final possession, with Waddington already having 27 points.

She got the ball in front of Montana's bench, took off for the basket, stopped and retreated, then attacked again, burning important seconds off the clock.

She got into the lane, spun and hit a fade-away from 10 feet out with less than two seconds on the clock. Without a timeout, all Portland State could do was inbound the ball and heave it from 70 feet.

"Avery had great patience. She caught it and looked to go early, but it was one of those things where we wanted to burn a little bit more time," said Harris.

"She did a really good job of being patient and getting to a spot and making a tough 10-foot fade-away for the win."

Montana (8-20, 5-12 BSC) hadn't won a game since defeating Portland State (6-23, 2-15 BSC) in Missoula on Jan. 29.

"It was a gutty win. We needed a win bad," said Harris, whose team had allowed its last six opponents to score 71 or more points, all of them shooting 48 percent or better.

Portland State (.438) out-shot Montana (.390) but the Lady Griz forced 17 turnovers and limited the Vikings to four offensive rebounds and three second-chance points.

"We were more consistent defensively than we've been," said Harris. "If you hold a team to 53, you're going to be in a good spot."

Montana led 22-18 at the half as both teams shot less than 30 percent over the game's opening 20 minutes.

Waddington put Montana up 51-46 midway through the fourth and Mack Konig hit a short pull-up jumper with 3:20 left to give the Lady Griz a 53-49 lead.

Montana would not score again until Waddington's game-winner, which allowed the Vikings to pull even at 53-53 with 52 seconds left.

The Lady Griz missed a potential go-ahead shot with 27 seconds left, setting up Portland State to hold it for the last shot.

But Montana had other plans. First it was Donarski with the steal, then it was Waddington with the game-winner, victory by determination instead of defeat by capitulation.

Waddington would finish with 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting. In two games this season against the Vikings, Waddington totaled 60 points on 25-of-40 shooting.

Unlike the first meeting between the teams, when all of Waddington's points came at the rim or the free throw line, on Saturday she matched a season high with four 3-pointers made on seven attempts.

"They were really keying on her, but she was able to find the ball in good spots, felt good, hit a couple of threes," said Harris.

"She was way more willing to shoot the three today, which was a big piece of it for her. She was tremendous today."

Jocelyn Land scored 10 points, Kennedy Gillette grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds and Konig added six points off the bench.

Montana held one of the Big Sky's leading scorers, Kyleigh Brown, to four points on 2-of-10 shooting. Cici Ellington led the Vikings with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Montana snapped a losing streak and now has to manage the coming days with an eye on the Big Sky Conference Championship.

The Lady Griz will host a strong Northern Colorado team on Monday night, bus to Boise later in the week, then open the tournament with a first-round game next Saturday afternoon.

Montana is locked into the 7-8 game at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday at Idaho Central Arena.

"We have to rest the right way and be smart about our prep for Monday," said Harris. "We're going to play to win while understanding that Monday has little to no effect on our seeding."