Marah Madness: Dykstra's putback at buzzer gives Montana State women a victory over Montana to claim Big Sky title
Montana State forward Marah Dykstra (32) looks to the basket while being defended by Montana guard Adria Lincoln (33) during an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Big Sky tournament, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Steve Conner)
BOISE, Idaho — The Bobcats are dancing for the first time since 2022.
Marah Dykstra followed her miss and laid in the put back at the buzzer to lift Montana State over rival Montana 58-57 and win the women’s Big Sky Conference Tournament championship.
With 30 seconds left Avery Waddington drove to the basket and Montana State’s lead to 56-54. On the next Bobcats possession MJ Bruno poked the ball free and set up a Dani Bartsch three from straight away that put the Lady Griz ahead 57-56 with 7.8 seconds remaining.
Then. out of a timeout Dykstra received the inbound pass and drove to the hoop after a screen from Esmeralda Morales. She missed her initial layup but followed the miss with an offensive rebound and scored the put back as the buzzer sounded. Her teammates swarmed around her to celebrate while the officials confirmed the shot was in time.
It was.
Dykstra finished with 10 points; Morales led all scorers with 25.
The top seeded Bobcats finish out conference play at 20-1 including their three wins in Boise — the only blemish a 73-69 loss to Sacramento State. With the win, Montana State (30-3 overall) earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, the field will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
The Lady Griz (14-18 overall) looked for their first Big Sky Tournament win since 2015.
Montana came out hot early, jumping in front 15-3 thanks to a trio of 3-pointers — one each from Mack Konig, Tyler McCliment-Call and Bruno.
Waddington led the Lady Griz with 15 points, Konig added 13. Bruno had 11
Montana State had an answer as they rallied off 11 straight points to cut it to 15-14 late in the first.
The Bobcats controlled much of the middle 20 minutes, taking an 35-27 lead into the half and growing the advantage to 40-30 in the third quarter.
Then Bartsch and Waddington drew the Lady Griz close again with a 7-0 run. Waddington got to the hoop twice for lay-ins and Bartsch hit from long distance to make it 40-37. Bartsch finished with nine points, going 2-6 from beyond the arc.
Montana took its first lead of the second half on a triple from McCliment-Call with seven minutes to go.
Montana State responded with a 6-1 stretch to retake the lead 56-52.