The Little Things: Bobcat Women Fall to Big Sky Rival

Saturday, March 2

Bozeman, MT

3 p.m.

Montana State University

9-815-11/ BSC

MONTANA

15-321-6/ BSC

Team	1	2	F
Montana	30	28	58
Montana State	22	33	55

Rachel Semansky had ten points and six rebounds against Montana on Saturday afternoon.

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

3/2/2013 6:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

It all came down to the little things- a couple of turnovers, a missed box-out, an errant shot.

In the end, Montana escaped with a 58-55 victory over Montana State, Saturday afternoon in front of 3,355 fans in Worthington Arena.

The good news- Montana State (15-11, 9-8) got its mojo back in the second half. The bad news- the Bobcats are still looking to clinch a spot in the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament.

“I thought we showed great character to get back into the game and give ourselves an opportunity,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “We had a lot of kids step-up. However, it all comes back to making smart decisions at crunch time. We fell a little short in that area.”

Coming off a 14-day hiatus, the Bobcats showed signs of rust and nerves in the opening stanza. MSU shot 27 percent from the field and turned the ball over ten times.

“I'm not sure if it was the two weeks off or the two weeks preparing for your rival, but we came out nervous and in a funk,” Binford said. “Our goal was to get Montana's lead into single digits heading into halftime.”

Montana (21-6, 15-3) built its biggest lead at 28-14 at the 3:33 mark of the opening period on a Kenzie De Boer jumper. Montana State was able to close out the half on an 8-2 run pulling to within eight points at intermission.

“Halftime was very positive,” said Bobcat senior Rachel Semansky. “We knew if we could get into single figures, that we would have a good shot in the second half.”

The Bobcats cut the margin to 32-28 coming out of halftime on back-to-back baskets by Kalli Durham. UM responded to push its lead back to 12 points with 13:46 remaining via a Torry Hill three-pointer.

Enter Semansky.

The pride of Highwood, sparked a Montana State 14-1 run with seven points, and following a layup by Rechel Carter with 7:54 left, the Bobcats had its first lead since early in the first stanza at 47-46. The lead changed hands three times before Alyssa Smith rebounded her own missed free throw and hit Jordan Sullivan on the wing for a 15-foot jumper.

A Katie Baker layup gave UM a 55-51 edge with 4:30 remaining. The two rivals then traded buckets, before two Semansky charity tosses pulled the Bobcats to within 57-55 with 1:24 left.

With 43-seconds to go, Hill went one-of-two from the line to give UM a three-point advantage. On the ensuing possession, MSU had two attempts to even the score, but couldn't convert. Baker corralled the rebound on the second miss and was fouled. Baker went 0-2 from the line with 14-seconds left.

Following a MSU timeout, a Lindsay Stockton triple was partially blocked, giving the Bobcats one last look with 1.1-seconds remaining, but an Ashley Brumwell 3-point attempt from the left baseline came up short.

“We have nothing to hang our heads about,” Binford said. “I thought we got back to who we are as a team. We showed fight. We need to clean up the little things.”

Durham paced Montana State with 12 points, while Semansky finished with ten points, all coming in the second half. The Bobcats shot 54 percent from the field in the final period, finishing at 39 percent overall.

MSU held a narrow 37-36 edge in rebounding. The Bobcats were led under the glass by Brumwell and Semansky with nine and six rebounds, respectively.

The Lady Griz were paced by Baker with 18 points and seven rebounds.

The Bobcats will host Southern Utah on Monday night in Worthington Arena.