Lady Griz get their Boise breakthrough
BOISE, Idaho — The Montana women’s basketball team won its first postseason game since 2018 with a 73-61 victory over Idaho on Monday afternoon in a quarterfinal game of the Big Sky Conference Championship at Idaho Central Arena in Boise.
The Lady Griz, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, led 36-26 at the half, built a 24-point lead in the third quarter, then held on to advance in March for the first time since defeating Sacramento State in Reno back in 2018.
Montana (22-8), which won 20 games this season for the first time since 2015-16, won for the first time in Boise on its sixth trip.
“Anytime you do something that hasn’t been done in a long time, it feels good, just like winning 20 games this year. These are milestones we want to keep building on,” said third-year coach Brian Holsinger, whose team will face No. 2 Northern Arizona in a semifinal on Tuesday.
“Every win is big at this time of year. It doesn’t matter how much, half a point, 20 points, they are all big wins. Just happy for our program because we hadn’t won down here. Proud of our kids.”
Monday was Montana at its best, as the Lady Griz hit nine 3-pointers, shot 50 percent overall and overwhelmed No. 6 Idaho with their balance. Five players were in double figures, with Dani Bartsch also doing her thing, finishing with 14 rebounds and a career-high six blocks.
Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw scored 15 points, Gina Marxen 14, Mack Konig 13, Carmen Gfeller 11 and MJ Bruno 10, her highest scoring game since January.
“I love team basketball. When you have five players who can score, it makes us hard to guard. It’s what we’ve done all year,” said Holsinger. “This team has been the most fun I’ve had coaching in a long time.”
Next up for Montana will be a semifinal matchup against Northern Arizona at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The No. 2 Lumberjacks advanced out of the quarterfinals on Sunday with an 81-63 victory over No. 8 Sacramento State.
Montana and Northern Arizona split their season series, the Lady Griz winning 89-84 at Flagstaff in January, the Lumberjacks winning 69-60 in Missoula last month.