Jackson, MSU women roll; Lady Griz falter Thursday

by MSU and UM Communications
| January 6, 2023 10:51 AM

BOZEMAN — Madison Jackson scored 12 points, Montana State’s defense held Northern Colorado to 12 first-half points and the Bobcats drubbed the Bears 61-40 in Big Sky Conference women’s basketball Thursday.

Jackson, making her second consecutive start, shot 5 of 6 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. Grace Beasley also reached double-digits with 10 points. Ten out of 11 Bobcats scored.

The Bears shot just under 21 percent in Worthington Arena.

Montana State (9-6 overall, 2-1 in the Big Sky) built a 15-7 lead after the opening quarter and took a 20-point advantage into intermission.

MSU also forced Northern Colorado (8-6, 1-2) into 11 turnovers which the Bobcats converted into 11 points.

Senior Darian White finished with seven points and seven assists. White moved into fifth on MSU’s all-time scoring chart with 1,449 points. Kola Bear added nine points and Lexi Deden and Leia Beattie six each.

Montana State hosts Northern Arizona on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lumberjacks defeated Montana 76-74 Thursday in Missoula.

Lumberjacks 76, Lady Griz 74

MISSOULA — Northern Arizona freshman Sophie Glancy scored 22 points, including two tie-breaking free throws with 48 seconds left, as the Lumberjacks beat Montana 76-74 Thursday.

Carmen Gfeller and Keeli Burton-Oliver scored 15 points each to lead Montana (5-9 overall, 1-2 in Big Sky games), but both fouled out in the final minutes.

Montana scored the game’s opening 10 points and led 22-11 after the first quarter, but eight second-quarter turnovers by the Lady Griz helped Northern Arizona to build a 35-33 halftime lead.

There were 13 lead changes from there, with Burton-Oliver’s basket putting the Lady Griz up 72-70 with 1:54 remaining.

With the score 72-all Glancey drove and drew Burton-Oliver’s fifth foul. After a Montana miss, Montana Oltrogge hit a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left to put the Lumberjacks up 76-72.

The Lady Griz weren’t done: Freshman Alex Pirog hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left, and Montana forced a turnover. But the Lady Griz missed twice in the closing seconds, including a 3-pointer from freshman Libby Stump at the buzzer.

Stump had 12 points, and Gina Marxen 13 for the Lady Griz. Oltrogge added 15 for NAU (8-8, 2-1), which is coached by Havre product Loree Payne.