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The University of Montana women’s basketball team won 63-60 at Northern Colorado Saturday night in Greeley, Colo., in its regular-season finale to earn the No. 2 seed at next week’s Big Sky Conference tournament, which will be held Thursday through Saturday at Cheney, Wash.

The Lady Griz (15-13, 10-6 BSC) finished in a three-way tie for second place with Idaho State (15-14, 10-6 BSC) and Sacramento State (15-14, 10-6 BSC) but won the No. 2-seed tiebreaker with their season sweep of the Bengals and their season split with the Hornets.

Eastern Washington (19-10, 12-4 BSC), which won at home over Portland State (15-14, 9-7 BSC) Saturday afternoon, won the regular-season title by two games and will host next week’s tournament.

In next Thursday’s quarterfinal games, No. 3 Sacramento State will face No. 6 Montana State (16-13, 9-7 BSC) at 3:30 p.m. (PT) and No. 4 Idaho State (15-14, 10-6 BSC) will play No. 5 Portland State (15-14, 9-7 BSC) at 6 p.m. (PT).

In Friday’s first semifinal at 3:30 p.m. (PT), No. 2 Montana will play the highest remaining seed from Thursday’s quarterfinals. The top seed Eagles will play the lowest remaining seed at 6 p.m. (PT).

Saturday’s tournament championship game will be played at 2 p.m. (PT) and broadcast on Altitude Sports and Entertainment.

Saturday’s tight game featured 13 lead changes, including two in the final 28 seconds.

With Montana up 59-58, Northern Colorado grabbed its final lead of the game, 60-59, with 28 seconds to play when Jayne Strand got the ball on the left block and scored.

Not wasting any time or waiting for a last-second shot, senior Lauren Beck gave Montana the lead for good just seconds later when she hit a mid-range jumper with 21 seconds remaining.

Following a UNC timeout, the Bears got the ball down low to Lauren Oosdyke, but the redshirt freshman’s forced shot with eight seconds remaining missed and junior Sarah Ena was there for the rebound.

Ena was fouled and hit a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining to make it 63-60.

Northern Colorado’s desperation 3-point attempt from well beyond the 3-point line at the buzzer was off the mark.

Coupled with Montana’s six-point win at Northern Arizona Thursday, Saturday’s win gave the Lady Griz a sweep of their final regular-season road trip and sends them into the Big Sky tournament on a two-game winning streak.

“The score was tied 13 times, the lead changed 15 times ... that was just a knock-out, drag-out game, and we persevered down the stretch,” Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said on KENR 107.5 FM.

“That’s just a good win for us. This is a positive note to head into the tournament on, that’s for sure.”

Neither team was able to gain much separation in a close first half that saw both teams shoot less than 35 percent.

The Lady Griz had a 30-27 lead at the break.

Montana made the first big move of the second half, going on a 13-3 run to turn a two-point deficit, 40-38, into an eight-point lead, 51-43.

Beck, senior Shadra Robison and redshirt freshman Alexandra Hurley started the run, freshman Alyssa Smith closed it with seven points in less than a minute and a half.

Junior Stephanie Stender would lead Montana with 13 points. A well-balanced offensive attack featured seven other players who scored between six and eight points.

“We had a lot of kids step up tonight,” Selvig said. “Steph had a big night, and Alyssa gave us a big lift.

“Everybody did something, but it wasn’t easy.”

Down eight, Northern Colorado stormed back to the lead with 10 straight points, the final three coming from Courtney Stoermer, who would go 5 for 10 from 3-point range for the game.

Neither team would lead by more than two points the final 6:35 until Ena’s free throws with six seconds remaining made up the final margin.

“It was a tough game, and we knew it would be,” Selvig said. “They are good defensively, and they got after us hard. It was just a physical battle.

“Northern Colorado is a good basketball team. They easily could be one of the teams in the tournament. The wins they have tell you that.”

Montana got big contributions from its four reserves in the game. Robison finished with eight points, Smith and freshman Kenzie De Boer seven and Hurly six to give the Lady Griz a 28-14 advantage in bench points.

Ena had a season-high 12 rebounds, her second double-figure rebounding effort of the season and the ninth of her career, to help Montana to a 39-33 edge on the boards.

Montana shot 48.0 percent in the second half to improve to 41.2 percent for the game, the team’s seventh straight game over 40 percent.

Northern Colorado, which was led by Stoermer’s 17 points, shot 32.8 percent.