PDF version of release

The University of Montana women’s basketball team will wrap up its regular season this week with an extended road trip to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. The Lady Griz (13-13, 8-6 BSC) will face the Lumberjacks (5-22, 3-11 BSC) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Flagstaff, Ariz., and the Bears (13-15, 5-9 BSC) Saturday at 7 p.m. in Greeley, Colo.

Montana has secured a spot in the six-team Big Sky Conference tournament, which will be held Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13, in either Cheney, Wash., or Sacramento, Calif. Eighth-place Northern Arizona and seventh-place Northern Colorado have both been eliminated from tournament contention.

What’s at Stake: Depending on Montana’s results on this week’s road trip and other results around the Big Sky Conference, the Lady Griz could finish the regular season as high as tied for second place and as low as sixth.

The top two teams in the final regular season standings will earn the Big Sky tournament’s Nos. 1 and 2 seeds and earn a bye to the semifinals, which will be played on Friday, March 12.

Seeds 3 and 6 and 4 and 5 will meet in tournament quarterfinal games on Thursday, March 11. Those four teams will not only have to win three games over three days to win the tournament championship, but Saturday’s championship game will be played at the decidedly unfriendly time of 2 p.m. (PT) for television broadcast purposes, a tough rebound for a low seed coming off of back-to-back night games.

Around the Big Sky Conference: Either Eastern Washington (18-10, 11-4 BSC) or Sacramento State (14-13, 9-5 BSC) will host the Big Sky tournament. The Eagles can clinch hosting rights with a win at home over Portland State (15-13, 9-6 BSC) Saturday afternoon or have the Hornets lose one of their road games this weekend at Idaho State (14-14, 9-6 BSC) and Weber State (9-19, 3-12 BSC).

Eastern Washington, Sacramento State, Portland State, Idaho State, Montana State (15-12, 8-6 BSC) and Montana are all locked in for the tournament.

This week’s schedule:
Thursday: UM at NAU, MSU at UNC
Friday: SAC at ISU
Saturday: PSU at EWU, MSU at NAU, UM at UNC, SAC at WSU

Most recently: Montana, Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado all lost at home last week in their lone games of the week.

The Lady Griz lost for the third time in four games and for the second time in their last three home games with a 77-72 defeat at the hands of Montana State Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena. The victory was the Bobcats’ first win at Dahlberg Arena since 1977.

Junior Stephanie Stender, who would score a career-high 16 points, gave Montana a 69-66 lead with her fourth 3-pointer of the game with 2:37 remaining, but Montana State guard Katie Bussey hit back-to-back 3-pointers on the Bobcats’ next two possessions to give MSU the lead for good.

Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado both lost at home last week to Sacramento State, which has won 10 of its last 11 games.

The Lumberjacks scored 56 first-half points and 98 for the game last Thursday against the Hornets, but it wasn’t enough as Sac State took the lead for good early in the second half and never gave it back.

NAU freshman Amy Patton won her personal scoring battle with Sac State senior Charday Hunt, 35 to 32. Patton also grabbed 11 rebounds in the game. Her 35 points were the most scored by a Big Sky Conference player this season.

Saturday at UNC, the Hornets made just six first-half field goals – 15 fewer than they had in the first half at Northern Arizona – on 24.0 percent shooting to fall behind by 16 at the half, 46-30.

Sacramento State shot over 56 percent in the second half and scored 63 points over the final 20 minutes. The Hornets took the lead for good on an Erika Edwards 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining.

More on NAU: Freshman guard Amy Patton is averaging 18.9 points and 8.6 rebounds for the season. Those averages have risen to 21.0 points and 9.7 rebounds per game during league play, both Big Sky highs. ... Northern Arizona’s 3-11 record in Big Sky play is deceiving. Eight of the Lumberjacks’ 11 league losses have come by 10 points or less. ... NAU shot a Big Sky-worst 35.6 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from 3-point range during the non-conference portion of its schedule. In Big Sky games, those percentages have risen to 40.6 and 34.7, which rank fourth and second.

The first meeting: When Montana and Northern Arizona met in Missoula on Jan. 30, the Lady Griz escaped with a 54-48 victory.

The Lumberjacks closed the first half on a 9-2 run and held a 27-21 lead at the break.

The Lady Griz remained within seven in the second half but wouldn’t take the lead until a jumper by senior Lauren Beck gave Montana a 44-43 lead with 3:37 remaining.

Northern Arizona missed on its next possession, and freshman Kenzie De Boer made it a four-point game when she knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:50 to play. Montana led the rest of the way.

Patton led NAU with 17 points and six rebounds though she shot just 7-of-21 from the field and 3-for-12 from 3-point range.

Junior Sarah Ena went 5-for-9 from the field and 7-for-7 from the line to lead Montana with 17 points.

History: Montana leads the all-time series with Northern Arizona 42-9 and has won the last five meetings. ... The Lady Griz have won on their last seven trips to Flagstaff and hold a 16-5 edge overall at NAU.

More on UNC: Northern Colorado was knocked out of tournament contention when the Bears gave up their big lead Saturday to Sacramento State. ... Saturday’s game will feature the Big Sky’s top two rebounding teams in Montana (+2.9/g) and Northern Colorado (+1.5/g). ... During league play, the Bears rank last in both scoring (61.5/g) and field goal percentage (.394) while the Lady Griz rank first in scoring defense (63.5/g) and field goal percentage defense (.375). ... Senior guard Whitley Cox ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring at 18.7 points per game.

The first meeting: Montana and Northern Colorado played a tight first half when the teams met in Missoula on Jan. 29. After seven ties and 13 lead changes, the Lady Griz took a 31-30 lead to the locker room.

Montana steadily took control of the game in the second half on the defensive end, limiting the Bears to just three baskets through the opening 14 minutes to build a lead as large as 19 points before coming away with a 65-54 win.

Junior Sarah Ena scored a career-high 21 points for the second straight game to lead Montana.

Courtney Stoermer had 13 points, four steals, three assists and two blocks for UNC.

History: Montana is 7-0 against Northern Colorado since the Bears joined the Big Sky Conference in 2006-07. In their three wins at Greeley, the Lady Griz have won by 18, 11 and 15 points.

Montana notes: Beck handed out a career-high six assists Saturday against Montana State. ... Beck leads the Big Sky Conference in minutes played during league games at 37.4 per game. ... Senior Shaunte Nance-Johnson has 13 assists and just one turnover the last two games. ... In Montana’s last three home games, Stender has gone 14-for-17 from the field, 9-for-11 from 3-point range. ... The Lady Griz’ last three opponents have made 35 3-pointers, including MSU’s 10-for-19 performance Saturday. ... Montana has shot better than 40 percent its last five games but is just 2-3 during that stretch. ... The Lady Griz were out-rebounded by the Bobcats Saturday by nine. It was the most Montana has been out-rebounded this season since being -13 against South Florida in November.