Brawl for the title
BOISE, Idaho — Another basketbrawl coming up, and this one is for the Big Sky Championship.
Top seeded Montana State and No. 6 seed Montana took care of business Tuesday in the semifinals and will meet in the Big Sky Women’s Basketball Tournament final Wednesday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.
The Bobcats cruised to a 75-42 decision over Idaho State, while the Lady Griz used a big fourth quarter to upset No. 2 seed Northern Arizona 71-67.
A win gives Montana State its first tournament title since 2022 and Montana looks for its first title since 2015.
No. 1 Montana State 75, No. 5 Idaho State 42
Isobel Bunyan scored 15 points and Esmeralda Morales added 14 as Montana State jumped on Idaho State early and picked up a semifinal win.
Marah Dykstra tallied 10 in 16 minutes for the Bobcats (29-3), who led 24-10 after the first quarter.
“For us, any game it can be anybody,” Morales said. “Today was Issy, yesterday was KJ (Martin, who scored 16 against Northern Colorado) and Taylor (Janssen who added 14).”
Tasia Jordan led the Bengals (14-17) with 14 points, Piper Carlson had nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Bengals were 0-for-14 on 3-pointers while Montana State shot 11 of 30.
Eleven Montana State players scored. The Bobcats shot 41% from the field compared to 34.5% for Idaho State.
Montana State opened on a 10-0 run, including a pair of triples — one from Dykstra and another from Morales.
Jordan willed the Bengals back into the game late in the second quarter, closing the deficit to 29-21.
Morales grew the lead back to 15 at the end of the half with an and-one as time expired to make it 36-21 at the intermission.
The Bobcats used that momentum to spark a 21-6 third quarter advantage that ballooned the lead to 57-27.
“It was a huge momentum turn for us in that shift,” Binford said. “Idaho State came out really well the second quarter, kind of chipped away, and we had a couple of those big possessions. ... I thought that was a big stretch for us.”
No. 6 Montana 71, No. 2 Northern Arizona 67
Mack Konig scored 29 points, including the go-ahead step back jumper with 37 seconds remaining and Montana upset Northern Arizona in the second semifinal.
Avery Waddington added a double-double for Montana with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler McCliment-Call had 16 points.
Sophie Glancey led the Lumberjacks with 29 points, Nyah Moran tallied 27.
Moran put Northern Arizona up 52-43 from the free throw line with eight minutes to go, then the Lady Griz made their run.
Waddington cut the deficit to seven in the paint, then Konig hit two straight from beyond the arc to put Montana within one at 52-51.
Dani Bartsch closed out the 10-0 run with a pair of free throws to give the Lady Griz their first lead since it was 2-1.
Glancey lived at the free throw line down the stretch, going 6 of 7 in the final four minutes — she finished 13 of 15 for the day. Her final trip to the line tying the game ay 65 with 49 seconds remaining.
That set the stage for Konig to put the Lady Griz ahead from the left elbow.
Waddington made it a two-possession game from the line with 11 seconds left and Montana held on for the upset.
The Lady Griz hadn’t made the tournament championship since 2015 under legendary coach Robin Selvig. Interim coach Nate Harris will be facing his old boss in the title game: He was on Binford’s staff at MSU for four seasons, from 2014-18.