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Montana’s senior backcourt of Mandy Morales and Sonya Rogers combined for 39 points, but South Dakota State rallied back from a five-point halftime deficit to hand the Lady Griz a 64-59 loss Friday night in both teams’ final game at the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico.

The Jackrabbits, who improved to 6-1, rallied back from a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat Illinois 62-60 Thursday night.

Montana dropped its second straight game to fall to 3-2.

The Lady Griz shot 53.8 percent in the first half to take a 35-30 halftime lead, but SDSU limited Montana to 24.1 percent shooting and 24 points over the final 20 minutes.

The Jackrabbits out-scored the Lady Griz 13-4 in the opening five minutes of the second half to take the lead, and Montana would never regain the lead.

“We played well but the lid was just on the basket for us the second half,” Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said. “We went from making shots in the first half to not making anything in the second half. It was frustrating.

“It’s disappointing to lose that one, because that would have been a great team to get a win against.”

Montana went 14-for-26 from the field in the first half, hitting all four of its 3-point attempts.

Rogers went 3-for-3 from deep in the first half to lead both teams with 14 points.

The Jackrabbits led for most of the first half, but an 11-2 run by Montana late in the half put the Lady Griz up eight with one minute to play, 34-26.

Morales, Rogers and fellow senior Britney Lohman combined for all 11 of UM’s points in the run.

South Dakota State got two baskets inside, the final by Maria Boever just before the halftime horn, to pull the Jacks within 35-30.

SDSU opened the second half scoring from both inside and out. The Jackrabbits scored six in the paint and six from 3-point range during their half-opening 13-4 run.

South Dakota State finished with a 27-15 rebounding advantage in the second half, 42-33 for the game.

SDSU turned 15 offensive rebounds into a 21-2 second-chance points advantage and had a 26-16 overall edge in points in the paint.

 “We did a good enough job defensively, but they got a lot of put-backs that hurt us,” Selvig said.

Four straight points by Morales pulled Montana even at 43-43 with 13:40 to play, but SDSU out-scored the Lady Griz 13-3 over the next four minutes to take a 56-46 lead.

Montana twice pulled within three points down the stretch, but the Jackrabbits held off every potential rally by going 15-for-21 from the free throw line in the second half.

The Lady Griz had three different possessions when they trailed 60-55, each coming with a shot to pull within two or three, but each shot was off the mark and resulted in an SDSU defensive rebound.

Sophomore Sarah Ena scored eight points, giving Morales, Rogers and Ena 47 of UM’s 59 points. Montana’s other starters combined for six points and the bench just six points, all coming from sophomore Jessa Loman Linford.

South Dakota State’s Jennifer Warkenthien had a game-high 21 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. She had 11 points and 13 rebounds in the second half, coming within two boards of Montana’s team total for the final 20 minutes.

Boever had 16 points and seven rebounds.