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The University of Montana women’s basketball team kept itself in the running for a high Big Sky Conference tournament seed with an important 72-66 victory at Northern Arizona Thursday night in Flagstaff, Ariz. With one regular season game remaining, the Lady Griz moved into a three-way tie for third place in the Big Sky (updated standings follow at end of recap).

With just two league games on Thursday’s schedule – Northern Colorado (14-15, 6-9 BSC) won at home over Montana State (15-13, 8-7 BSC), 70-68 – the tournament race got tighter than ever.

Eastern Washington (18-10, 11-4 BSC), which doesn’t play until Saturday, holds a game and a half lead over Sacramento State (14-13, 9-5 BSC). The Hornets, who play at Idaho State (14-14, 9-6 BSC) Friday and at Weber State (9-19, 3-12 BSC) Saturday, are the only team with two Big Sky games remaining and the only team that can reach the Eagles at 11 wins.

Portland State (15-13, 9-6 BSC), which plays at Eastern Washington Saturday afternoon, is tied with Montana and Idaho State. All three teams sit a half game back of Sac State.

The Bobcats, who could have made it a four-way tie for third with a win Thursday, dropped to sixth place.

Montana (14-13, 9-6 BSC) shot a season-best 50.0 percent Thursday but turned the ball over 18 times and gave up 15 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 15 second-chance points for the Lumberjacks (5-23, 3-12 BSC), making for a tight game.

With the score tied at 62 and less than four minutes to play, both teams had chances to take the lead. Montana would do so when freshman Kenzie De Boer, who scored a team-high 20 points, hit a pair of free throws after getting fouled on a strong drive to the basket with 2:40 to play.

After NAU’s third straight turnover, junior Jessa Loman Linford made it a 66-62 lead with 2:02 to play when she put back a De Boer miss.

The Lumberjacks had a pair of chances to cut into Montana’s lead but couldn’t convert. De Boer’s block of a Jenna Galloway jumper with 1:25 to play gave the Lady Griz the ball, and junior Sarah Ena made it a six-point lead, 68-62, with 67 seconds to play when she knocked down a pair of free throws.

Northern Arizona freshman Amy Patton, who entered the game averaging 21.0 points per game in Big Sky play, cut the margin to four, 68-64, with her jumper from the right baseline with just under a minute remaining, but that would be as close as the Lumberjacks would get.

NAU missed its final four shots of the game while Montana was going 4 for 6 from the line in the final 51 seconds.

Joining De Boer in double figures were senior Lauren Beck with 17 and Ena with 10. Beck went 7 for 10 from the field and added four steals, three rebounds and three assists.

Over half of De Boer’s points came from the line, where she went 11 for 15. It was the second time in three games that De Boer has scored 20 points.

“Kenzie did a great job tonight,” Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said after the game on KENR 107.5 FM. “When people are getting after us, she can go make plays, and tonight she got to the foul line a bunch.”

Montana jumped out big early, grabbing its first double-figure lead, 18-6, on a 3-pointer by junior Stephanie Stender with just over six minutes gone.

The lead would reach 13 points, 23-10, on a De Boer free throw with 11:33 to play.

With two possessions to extend the lead even further, Montana missed a three and turned it over.

Katie Pratt hit a 3-pointer for Northern Arizona, and that would spark a 15-4 run that trimmed the Lady Griz lead to two, 27-25.

The lead would stay tight the rest of the half, which ended with Montana up 37-36.

The Lady Griz shot 52.2 percent in the first half but turned the ball over nine times, including six during the Lumberjacks’ run to get back in the game.

“After a really good start when it looked like we were maybe going to get away from them, the wheels kind of came off a little bit and we just made some dumb turnovers,” Selvig said. “They seemed to be coming up with every loose ball, and they started getting pretty comfortable against our zone.”

Northern Arizona, which lost for the ninth time in Big Sky play by 10 points or less, jumped out to a pair of seven-point leads early in the second half.

Down 49-42, sophomore Misty Atkinson, who had scored just two points all season, connected inside off an assist by fellow reserve sophomore Tianna Ware.

Beck would then take the lead, scoring nine of Montana’s next 12 points to put the Lady Griz up 56-53 with just under eight minutes remaining.

Montana would not trail again in the game, though Northern Arizona would fight back to tie it at 62 before the Lady Griz closed things out to move back above .500 for the season.

“We didn’t play very well at times, but I loved our resiliency. We really weathered the storm after we had a good start and they came back and took away momentum,” Selvig said.

“All in all that’s a really good win for us.”

Patton finished just below her league-leading average with 20 points and a game-high seven rebounds.

Montana will play at Northern Colorado Saturday at 7 p.m. That is one of four Big Sky Conference games Saturday that will put all the final tournament puzzle pieces together.

Updated Big Sky standings
Eastern Washington (18-10, 11-4 BSC)
Sacramento State (14-13, 9-5 BSC)
Portland State (15-13, 9-6 BSC)
Montana (14-13, 9-6 BSC)
Idaho State (14-14, 9-6 BSC)
Montana State (15-13, 8-7 BSC)
Northern Colorado (14-15, 6-9 BSC)
Weber State (9-19, 3-12 BSC)
Northern Arizona (5-23, 3-12 BSC)

Remaining Big Sky schedule
Friday: SAC at ISU
Saturday: PSU at EWU, MSU at NAU, UM at UNC, SAC at WSU