Hannah Caudill
Photo by: MSU Sports Information
Bobcats Battle through Injuries and Ailments to Best Weber State
3/8/2017 5:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Riley Nordgaard and Hannah Caudill played through adversity to lead the way
Call them the bruised Bobcats.
Beat up but not beaten, Montana State survived a physical ball game and physical ailments to several key players to earn a 65-53 win over Weber State in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament in Reno on Wednesday. MSU advances to Friday's semifinals.
"Losing (in the first round) last year sucked," said junior guard Hannah Caudill, "for lack of a better word. We did not want to go through that again."
Caudill was one of the notable players hampered on Tuesday. She missed MSU's last two regular season games with illness, and at times buried her head in a towel during time outs.
"Pretty bad," she said when asked how she felt during the game. "But I just had to push through it."
That was the tale of the tape for the team, as well. The game remained close through the first quarter, but Weber State opened the second quarter with an 11-0 run to grab a 10-point lead, 28-18.
The Bobcats battled back, and caught WSU at the intermission, 31-31. MSU showed the mental toughness of a veteran team at that point. "I think our experience showed," said MSU coach Tricia Binford.
But the physical obstacles remained. Senior Riley Nordgaard scored only two points, but was a major factor on the boards, with a game-high 13 rebounds. But in the course of being flung to the ground hard a couple of times early and entering a scrum for at least one possession-changing loose ball, she came up wincing on several occasions.
Binford expected nothing less from her hard-scrabble senior. "It's obviously no surprise, that's who Riley is," she said. "She's a playmaker all over the floor for us. Hustle plays is something that she always does, she's always rebounding for us, she gets a lot of steals. She's in the right place."
The play of Caudill, who scored a career-high 24 points, and Nordgaard did not go unnoticed. "Hannah went off, even coming off of her sickness, and Riley's getting us extra possessions," said junior forward Delany Junkermier. "Obviously it's our experienced players that are hurting right now, and they're going to try to get it done any way anyhow. They're going to fight til the end."
The fight continues for another day for Montana State, the tournament's top seed. The Bobcats face fourth-seeded Eastern Washington Friday at 1 pm MT/12 noon PT.
Beat up but not beaten, Montana State survived a physical ball game and physical ailments to several key players to earn a 65-53 win over Weber State in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament in Reno on Wednesday. MSU advances to Friday's semifinals.
"Losing (in the first round) last year sucked," said junior guard Hannah Caudill, "for lack of a better word. We did not want to go through that again."
Caudill was one of the notable players hampered on Tuesday. She missed MSU's last two regular season games with illness, and at times buried her head in a towel during time outs.
"Pretty bad," she said when asked how she felt during the game. "But I just had to push through it."
That was the tale of the tape for the team, as well. The game remained close through the first quarter, but Weber State opened the second quarter with an 11-0 run to grab a 10-point lead, 28-18.
The Bobcats battled back, and caught WSU at the intermission, 31-31. MSU showed the mental toughness of a veteran team at that point. "I think our experience showed," said MSU coach Tricia Binford.
But the physical obstacles remained. Senior Riley Nordgaard scored only two points, but was a major factor on the boards, with a game-high 13 rebounds. But in the course of being flung to the ground hard a couple of times early and entering a scrum for at least one possession-changing loose ball, she came up wincing on several occasions.
Binford expected nothing less from her hard-scrabble senior. "It's obviously no surprise, that's who Riley is," she said. "She's a playmaker all over the floor for us. Hustle plays is something that she always does, she's always rebounding for us, she gets a lot of steals. She's in the right place."
The play of Caudill, who scored a career-high 24 points, and Nordgaard did not go unnoticed. "Hannah went off, even coming off of her sickness, and Riley's getting us extra possessions," said junior forward Delany Junkermier. "Obviously it's our experienced players that are hurting right now, and they're going to try to get it done any way anyhow. They're going to fight til the end."
The fight continues for another day for Montana State, the tournament's top seed. The Bobcats face fourth-seeded Eastern Washington Friday at 1 pm MT/12 noon PT.
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