White leads Montana State women to Big Sky title over NAU

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Darian White scored 17 points, Leia Beattie added 16 and Montana State earned its third NCAA Tournament berth with a 75-64 win over Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game on Friday.

The second-seeded Bobcats weathered a 17-0 run from the fourth-seeded Lumberjacks and made 9 of 10 free throws in the last 47 seconds to win their first title since 2017. MSU, which also won in 1993, was scheduled to play in the 2020 title game as the top seed before the season was halted by the pandemic.

"We waited for this day," White, a junior, said. "I feel we got redemption."

Kola Bad Bear, another junior, scored 13 points for the Bobcats (22-12), who were in their eighth title game.

Emily Rodabaugh scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Lumberjacks (17-14), who had their five-game winning streak end with their eighth-straight loss to MSU. Miki'ala Maio added 14 points and Regan Schenck 12.

NAU lost top scorer Lauren Orndoff (11.3) late in the second quarter to an injury after scoring just two points.

Bad Bear had nine points in the third quarter when the Bobcats hit three 3-poitners and made 9 of 15 shots, stretching a seven-point halftime lead to as much as 15.

But the Lumberjacks scored the last seven points to close within eight and scored the first 10 in the fourth with Rodabaugh, who hit a 3 in the closing run, added a pair from distance for a 53-51 lead with 7:24 to go.

White, playing in her hometown, took charge, scoring the next six points and Montana State never trailed again. She actually had eight-straight points and scored 10 in the fourth quarter.

NAU was just 1 of 8 in the last two minutes while MSU made it's last four before the free-throw parade.

Montana State turned 17 NAU turnovers into 21 points to make up for a 47-29 rebounding difference. The Lumberjacks had 17 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points.