Bobcats Survive Scare, Move Into Three-Way Tie for First

Saturday, February 11

BOZEMAN

2 p.m.

Montana State University

18-5, 11-2BSC

Southern Utah

5-19, 0-13BSC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Southern Utah	27	15	10	16	68
Montana State	23	16	14	18	71

Riley Nordgaard had 10 points in MSU's win over Southern Utah, Saturday afternoon.

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

Bobcats Survive Scare, Move Into Three-Way Tie for First

2/11/2017 6:21:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Montana State Head Coach Tricia Binford has been telling her team the past two weeks to expect everyone’s best shot.

By: Phillip Catlin\MSU Sports Information

Montana State Head Coach Tricia Binford has been telling her team the past two weeks to expect everyone's best shot. On Saturday afternoon in front of 1,797 in Worthington Arena, Southern Utah gave the Bobcats its best effort. In the end, MSU outlasted SUU 71-68, extending its home game win streak to 22- the fourth longest in the nation.

The victory, coupled by road losses by Northern Colorado and North Dakota, put the Bobcats in a three-way tie atop the Big Sky Conference standings.

"We were timely at the right times," Binford said. "Southern Utah is a team that's super hungry. They've taken a lot of teams down the stretch and have had some overtime losses against some really good teams. They're right there. I thought they challenged us. Every time we tried to respond, and make our run, they countered back."

Southern Utah (5-19, 0-13), looking to play spoiler, came out strong in the first quarter, shooting 66.7 percent and leading 27-23 going into the second quarter. Southern Utah's Kiana Johnson hit a 3 at the close of the second to give the Thunderbirds a 42-39 lead at the half.

Montana State (18-5, 11-2) took back the lead at 6:41 mark in the third stanza on an and-1 play by freshmen Oliana Squires. With the game close late in the final quarter, Delany Junkermier hit a pair of 3's, the last breaking a 64-all tie with 1:26 remaining. The Bobcats closed out the game converting four-of-six free throws in the final 14-seconds.

"I love our resiliency down the stretch," Binford said. "I loved our time management down the stretch and I feel really confident that when we're in these situations they know what to do in an end-of-game situation to step up and make some plays."

Bobcat senior Peyton Ferris scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Riley Nordgaard added 10 points, including a 5-of-6 effort from the line, despite only shooting 2-of-13 from the floor. Junkermier knocked down three 3's to finish with nine, and junior Hannah Caudill knocked down two from behind the arc, her ninth straight game with multiple triples.

As a whole, the Cats made 11 shots from 3-point range, their fourth time this season registering double digits from deep.

Southern Utah, who held a commanding 56-38 advantage under the boards, was paced by Jessica Richardson with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Montana State, winners of seven straight, travel to Portland State next Thursday.