Strong First Half Lifts Cats to Victory

Sunday, December 4

BOZEMAN

2 p.m.

Montana State University

5-3

Seattle U

2-7

Seattle U

Montana State

Junior Hannah Caudill had seven assists against Seattle U.

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

12/4/2016 5:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State senior and Big Sky Conference preseason MVP pick Peyton Ferris drained a three-pointer at the top of the arc to cap a 14-0 run to open the game and the Bobcats cruised to a 75-56 win over Seattle, Sunday afternoon in Worthington Arena.

Montana State (5-3) saw its most efficient moments of the contest during the run. A three-pointer by Riley Nordgaard, followed by seven points via Ferris, another Nordgaard triple, and an old-fashion three-point play by freshman Oliana Squires gave the Bobcats a 20-2 advantage.

"I really liked how we got out on both the offensive and defensive sides," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "In the last few minutes of the opening quarter I thought we had a good tempo going and were able to take high quality shots."

Behind Ferris and Nordgaard, MSU pushed its lead to 45-18 at intermission. Ferris, a product of Twin Bridges, finished the first half with 17 points, connecting on seven-of-ten from the field. As a team, the Bobcats shot 53 percent from the floor in the first twenty-minutes.

Montana State took its largest lead at 54-24 at the 6:57 mark of the third quarter on a Hannah Caudill layup. Seattle U (2-7) whittled the lead down to 17 points midway through the final stanza as the Bobcat committed 14 turnovers.

"I'm disappointed with our play in the second half," Binford said. ""I thought our kids were playing with some frustrations and they need to learn to move past it, and play in the moment. The positive thing was that our bench got to play a lot of valuable minutes and gain good experience. We need to get some rest, get back to fundamentals and focus on us."

Ferris finished with a season-high 24 points, while Nordgaard 13 and freshman Madeline Smith 10 also scored in double-digits. Caudill dished out a season-high seven assists.

MSU out-rebounded the Redhawks 47-28 and were paced under the boards by Blaire Braxton with nine and Ferris with eight.

Seattle U was led by Alexis Montgomery with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana State will play at the University of Portland next Sunday.