MSU women clinch share of Big Sky title
BOZEMAN — Montana State’s ball movement early led to confetti movement late, as the Bobcat women’s team beat Montana 92-78 in Worthington Arena Saturday afternoon to clinch a share of the 2020 Big Sky Conference Championship.
The Cats shot 47 percent, built a double-digit lead on the first possession of the second quarter and were never threatened in sweeping the season series against UM.
Bobcat coach Tricia Binford said her team’s unselfishness was the key.
“Our ball movement the last couple weeks has been really sharp,” said the 15th-year head coach. “We haven’t let the ball stall, and kids have been shot-ready, and made the right play for who’s open.”
Montana State celebrated its third Big Sky regular season championship in the last five seasons amidst a flurry of confetti as Bobcat players, coaches, and staff members snipped pieces of the net. The win was MSU’s fourth straight against the Lady Griz, was the fifth straight against UM in Worthington Arena and marked the program’s first back-to-back sweeps of Montana since the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons.
The Bobcats hit a dozen 3-pointers, blocked seven shots and scored a dozen points off Montana’s 13 turnovers.
MSU’s offense received a jump-start early when supersub Tori Martell nailed a 3-pointer at the 5:18 mark. That pushed MSU’s lead to 12-5, and with the first quarter about to expire Madeline Smith grabbed a Lady Griz missed shot and pushed the ball ahead to Darian White, who found Martell for a triple to give MSU a 23-14 lead at the quarter’s close.
Martell scored 15 points, all from three-point range, while adding three assists and a steal.
Montana State’s solid shooting came in sharp contrast to the ice-cold start in the Cat-Griz contest three weeks ago in Missoula, when the Cats rallied to win.
“When you’re getting the matchup (zone) and we shot 2-for-22 at their place, to be able to start off hot today was a big deal,” Binford said. “Getting a good start and building momentum from there I thought was a really big hit for us.”
Saturday the Cats seemed to be running downhill all day. “We went into this game not worrying about whether they’re in the matchup or going man,” Binford said. “We just focused on executing our actions and I thought the kids did that. They kept the ball moving and found each other.”
When Oliana Squires hit a three-pointer on an inside-out assist from Smith near the midway mark in the second quarter, the Bobcats led 39-18. Smith’s layup 2:14 before halftime pushed the lead to 23, but an 8-0 UM run to close the half left the cushion 46-31 at the intermission.
“We knew they would probably shoot it better here at home,” Montana coach Shannon Schweyen said. “They got off to a good start and made it tough to stay in the zone, And then they are a challenge in man just because of their transition. They are a handful to try to contain.”
A lion’s share of the credit for Montana State’s early offensive explosion, Binford said, lie on the other end of the floor.
“Offense comes when you’re really focused on getting stops and getting out to run,” she said. “That’s when Darian White and Oliana (Squires) get going and our posts try to get something early in transition. I like that they’re keeping the game plan simple right now and just playing ball.”
Senior Fallyn Freije led a remarkably balanced Bobcat offense with 18 points. White, Squires, Martell, and Blaire Braxton each scored 15 points while Smith added 10. Freije led all playes with eight rebounds, but Smith and Braxton each snagged seven. Smith blocked three shots and White added four assists.
Emma Stockholm scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Lady Griz, who shot 40.9 percent on the afternoon. Montana also out-rebounded the Cats 45-38, snagging 20 offensive boards.
Montana State extended its win streak to 11 games overall, the second-longest in program history after the 1987-88 team’s 17-game streak to begin that season. The win boosted MSU’s record to 19-6 overall, 15-1 in Big Sky play. Montana fell to 14-11 overall, 9-7 in the league.
Montana State hosts Sacramento State on Thursday at 7 p.m, and entertains Northern Arizona for Senior Day on Saturday at 2 pm.