Saturday, March 2
Flagstaff, AZ
2 p.m.
Montana State University
at
Northern Arizona
Madeline Smith puts in two against the Lady Griz last month.
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcats Take Final Big Sky Road Trip of Regular Season
3/1/2019 11:51:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Bobcats will make its last regular season road trip this week when it faces Northern Arizona, Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m. in Flagstaff.
WHO: Montana State at Northern Arizona
WHEN: Saturday, March 2, 2019 @ 2 p.m. (MT)
WHERE: Flagstaff, Ariz. - Walkup Skydome (3,300)
RECORDS: MSU- 14-12, 9-7, No. Arizona- 9-17, 5-12
SERIES: Montana State 46-21
LAST MTG: Dec. 31, 2018 - @Montana St., 80, NAU 70
RADIO: My 103.5 KZMY with play-by-play from Jason Alvine
VIDEO: Pluto TV channel 239 or at WatchBigSkiy.com
NEXT UP: The Bobcats will make its last regular season road trip this week when it faces Northern Arizona, Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m. in Flagstaff. MSU finishes the trip at Southern Utah on Monday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the America First Event Center. The trip kicks off four games in eight days for MSU.
THE STRETCH RUN: The Bobcats are the only Big Sky school that plays three stretches of four games in eight days. Six teams have two such stretches, while No. Colorado and Sacramento State have one, and Portland State, none.
ON A SERIES NOTE: MSU leads its all-time series with No. Arizona 46-21. The Cats have won six straight and 15 of 16 from the Lumberjacks, including an 80-70 decision over NAU on New Year's Eve. Northern Arizona's last victory over Montana State (79-64) came on Jan. 24, 2015 in Flagstaff.
STAT OF THE WEEK: In the last two minutes of its last eleven games the Bobcats are 26-31 from the free throw line - shooting 84 percent. On the season, the Cats are shooting 75.8 percent, led by Oliana Squires at 91.1 percent.
THAT WAS THE GAME THAT WAS:
Montana State got out to the start it wanted and held off a late fourth quarter run by Montana to post a 75-71 victory over the Lady Griz on Saturday afternoon.
Montana State opened the first period connecting on 5-10 three-pointers with Ashley Van Sickle's triple at the buzzer giving MSU a 26-21 lead after the first ten minutes.
MSU built its largest lead of the half at 36-29 on a Madeline Smith three-pointer at the 5:24 mark. It was Smiths' first triple of the season. UM finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to pull to within 38-37 at intermission.
Squires went to work in the third stanza scoring seven points, including 5-5 at the line. MSU committed one turnover in the period, building a 10-point lead with two-seconds remaining. Montana's McKenzie Johnston closed out the quarter with a 60-foot heave to get the Lady Griz to within seven-points and fire-up the crowd.
Halle Wright quickly quieted the crowd with a jumper 28-seconds into the final frame as the Cats fended off a change in momentum. Montana made another run, but a Squires triple followed by a Blaire Braxton layup pushed a one-point lead back to six with 3:17 remaining.
The Lady Griz used one final effort to pull to within 72-71 on a pair of free throws with 28-seconds remaining. Forced to foul, the Lady Griz sent Squires to the line with 24-seconds left. Squires went one-of-two to give the Cats a two-point advantage.
In the final 13-seconds, Johnston had two shots to even the score, but Braxton pulled down a rebound on the second miss and got the ball to Wright who was fouled. The freshman from Aumsville, Ore., put the game away converting two free throws with 1.7-seconds left to secure the victory.
Squires finished with 18 points, including an 11-12 effort from the line. She also added six assists and three rebounds.
All eight Cats that played scored. Also posting double-figures were Tori Martell and Wright with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Martell's points all came from beyond the arc.
Montana held a 36-33 advantage under the boards. MSU was led by Martha Kuderer and Braxton with seven and six rebounds, respectively.
For the game, MSU shot 39 percent from the field and connected on 19-21 attempts at the line. The Bobcats committed nine turnovers, while dishing out 15 assists.
The victory was MSU's seventh over the Lady Griz in the last nine meetings. MSU and UM are 5-5 at Dahlberg in the last 10 meetings.
MORE ON THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona enters Saturday's contest 9-17 overall and 5-12 in Big Sky Conference action. Last week, NAU dropped a pair of road games losing at Idaho 90-72, and Eastern Washington 81-76. The Lumberjacks were led in the losses by Khiarica Rasheed and Jacey Bailey, who averaged 18.5 and 17 points, respectively. Rasheed also pulled down 5.5 rebounds per game, as well. On the season, Northern Arizona had been paced by Kaleigh Paplow at 13.6 points and 7.6 boards per contest.
PRESEASON WNIT: MSU played in the preseason WNIT for the first time in its history. The Cats fell at #19 Marquette 100-52 in Milwaukee on Nov. 9. MSU rebounded to win its consolation pod defeating Delaware 69-60 and Texas State 67-59. Marquette went on to defeat Northern Iowa 102-61, before falling to Miami 63-55 in the semifinals. Iowa State captured the WNIT title with a 75-52 win over Miami.
HOLY MOLY, OLI: Oliana Squires is averaging 10.9 points per game. The Colorado Springs, Colo., product notched a season and career-high 21 points in MSU's win over Northern Arizona on Dec. 31. In the season-opener against No. 19-ranked Marquette, Squires nailed four 3-pointers. She has been in double-digit scoring in 17 of MSU's 26 games. Squires nearly pulled off a triple double at Sacramento State on Jan.5 with 13 points, a career-high ten rebounds and seven assists. In Montana State's win over Montana on Feb. 2, she had an outstanding performance with a game-high 20 points on eight-of-16 from the field, including a four-of-eight from long distance. Squires posted another solid day in MSU's win in Missoula last Saturday with 18 points, including an 11-12 effort from the free throw line.
KUDERER'S KUDOS: Martha Kuderer, who sat out last season after transferring from Seton Hall, is averaging 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. She had her best Big Sky outing recording 19 points and six rebounds in MSU's win at Sacramento State. Her best weekend of the season came against Delaware and Texas State in the WNIT when she averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds. Kuderer had a season-high 21 points against Texas State. On the season, she has been in double-digit scoring on 11 occasions. After sitting out the Montana and Northern Colorado games under concussion protocol Feb. 2 & 4, Kuderer has averaged 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in her last five outings. Against UM last Saturday, she had seven points and seven rebounds.
BOUNDING WITH BLAIRE: Blaire Braxton pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds in Montana State's win over Eastern Washington on Feb.7 in Cheney. The thirteen boards gave Braxton 507 for her career. Against EWU, she became just the 24th member of MSU's 500-rebound club. Her current 523 rebounds are currently 19th all-time at Montana State. Braxton leads the Bobcats in rebounding averaging 5.8 per game. Offensively, she is shooting 58.3 percent from the field, which is tops on the team. Her 6.7 points per game average is up 3.0 per contest from last winter. Braxton recorded a career-high 18 points in MSU's loss to Idaho on Jan. 10. For the game, she connected on seven-of-11 from the field. On the season, she has been in double-digit scoring in six games. Braxton has notched 93 career blocks, which is seventh all-time at MSU. On Saturday at Montana, she posted seven points and six rebounds.
MAD ABOUT YOU: Madeline Smith is currently averaging 8.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. The product of Snohomish, Wash., registered a career-high 25 points in MSU's win over Weber State on Feb. 16. Smith connected on 9-of-12 from the field against the Wildcats and was 7-of-8 from the line. Smith has been in double-figure scoring on ten occasions. In Montana State's win at Montana last Saturday, Smith recorded nine points and five rebounds. In addition, she connected on her first three-pointer of the season, giving her two triples in her three-year career at MSU. Smith is also 23 rebounds shy of becoming the 25th Bobcat to reach the 500-rebound club.
BARDS OF THE BLOCK: Juniors Madeline Smith and Blaire Braxton have manned the blocks for the Bobcats the past three seasons. The duo has swapped starting time at the five and each average just around 20 minutes per contest. On the season, the duo has combined to shoot an impressive 58.1 percent (155-267) from the floor.
THE WRIGHT STUFF: Freshman Halle Wright received her first start against TCU on Dec. 8. The Aumsville, Ore., product missed the first three games with an injury, but has started 19 straight since coming back. She had one of her best game of the season against Eastern Washington on Jan. 19, recording 13 points, including nine points in the overtime period. Wright also added a season-high eight assists and seven rebounds. She is averaging 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in Big Sky play. Wright registered 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in MSU's win over Montana on Saturday, including a pair of free throws to ice the game with 1.7 seconds remaining.
TORI, TORI, TORI: Tori Martell has connected on 39 three-pointers this season. The Somerset, Wis., native connected on 36 three-pointers, including 19 in the last eight games of the season, last winter. She is currently averaging 7.9 points per game in Big Sky play. Martell found her stroke from outside in Montana State's win at Northern Colorado on Jan. 14 scoring a career-high 19 points, which included a 5-of-8 performance from beyond the three-point line. Against Montana last Saturday afternoon, she posted 12 points for her sixth double-figure scoring game of the season. All 12 points game from behind the 3-point line.
FEET TO THE FIRE: Freshman Gabby Mocchi has played in all 26 games and is averaging 3.6 ppg in Big Sky play. She matched a career-high nine points in MSU's win at Montana. Freshman Kamden Hilborn has played 23 games and has in dished out 31 assists, while adding 13 steals. The Helena High product is averaging 11.3 minutes per game. Hilborn had a season-best five points at Eastern Washington on Feb. 7. Brynley Fitzgerald has played in 12 games and notched a season-best six points against Northern Colorado on Feb. 4.
THROWING SHAIDE: Senior Madisyn Shaide has played in 14 games. She had a career night against No. 19 Marquette on Nov. 9 scoring six points on two 3-pointers.
LAUDING LUNDBERG: Seton Hall transfer Claire Lundberg is out for the season after tearing her ACL against Northern Colorado on Feb. 4. The Anoka High School product was sixth in the Big Sky averaging 17.0 points per game. She was third in free throw percentage (86.8), 3-point field-goal percentage (39.5), points (356) and field-goals made (123), fourth in 3-point field-goals made (51) and 3-point field-goals per game (2.43), fifth in field-goals attempted (284) and field-goal percentage (43.3) and 3-point field-goals attempted (129) at the time of the injury. Lundberg had been in double-digit scoring in 18 of 21 games, including seven games with 20 points or more. She posted a season-high 28 points in MSU's win over Delaware. Lundberg was Big Sky Player of the Week for Nov. 20 after averaging 27 points and six rebounds as MSU beat Delaware and Texas State in WNIT action. Lundberg was perfect against Texas State hitting eight-of-eight from the field, four-of-four from long distance and six-of-six from the line. Lundberg is still in the hunt for Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cats saw the nation's second longest home court win streak snapped against Portland State on Jan. 11, 2018. The loss broke MSU's 31-game home streak. MSU has won 42 of its last 48 games in The Brick. The Bobcats are averaging 2,093 fans per game, which includes a sold-out crowd of 6,772 against Carroll College on Nov. 6. MSU is ranked 67th in the nation in attendance.
WHEN: Saturday, March 2, 2019 @ 2 p.m. (MT)
WHERE: Flagstaff, Ariz. - Walkup Skydome (3,300)
RECORDS: MSU- 14-12, 9-7, No. Arizona- 9-17, 5-12
SERIES: Montana State 46-21
LAST MTG: Dec. 31, 2018 - @Montana St., 80, NAU 70
RADIO: My 103.5 KZMY with play-by-play from Jason Alvine
VIDEO: Pluto TV channel 239 or at WatchBigSkiy.com
NEXT UP: The Bobcats will make its last regular season road trip this week when it faces Northern Arizona, Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m. in Flagstaff. MSU finishes the trip at Southern Utah on Monday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the America First Event Center. The trip kicks off four games in eight days for MSU.
THE STRETCH RUN: The Bobcats are the only Big Sky school that plays three stretches of four games in eight days. Six teams have two such stretches, while No. Colorado and Sacramento State have one, and Portland State, none.
ON A SERIES NOTE: MSU leads its all-time series with No. Arizona 46-21. The Cats have won six straight and 15 of 16 from the Lumberjacks, including an 80-70 decision over NAU on New Year's Eve. Northern Arizona's last victory over Montana State (79-64) came on Jan. 24, 2015 in Flagstaff.
STAT OF THE WEEK: In the last two minutes of its last eleven games the Bobcats are 26-31 from the free throw line - shooting 84 percent. On the season, the Cats are shooting 75.8 percent, led by Oliana Squires at 91.1 percent.
THAT WAS THE GAME THAT WAS:
Montana State got out to the start it wanted and held off a late fourth quarter run by Montana to post a 75-71 victory over the Lady Griz on Saturday afternoon.
Montana State opened the first period connecting on 5-10 three-pointers with Ashley Van Sickle's triple at the buzzer giving MSU a 26-21 lead after the first ten minutes.
MSU built its largest lead of the half at 36-29 on a Madeline Smith three-pointer at the 5:24 mark. It was Smiths' first triple of the season. UM finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to pull to within 38-37 at intermission.
Squires went to work in the third stanza scoring seven points, including 5-5 at the line. MSU committed one turnover in the period, building a 10-point lead with two-seconds remaining. Montana's McKenzie Johnston closed out the quarter with a 60-foot heave to get the Lady Griz to within seven-points and fire-up the crowd.
Halle Wright quickly quieted the crowd with a jumper 28-seconds into the final frame as the Cats fended off a change in momentum. Montana made another run, but a Squires triple followed by a Blaire Braxton layup pushed a one-point lead back to six with 3:17 remaining.
The Lady Griz used one final effort to pull to within 72-71 on a pair of free throws with 28-seconds remaining. Forced to foul, the Lady Griz sent Squires to the line with 24-seconds left. Squires went one-of-two to give the Cats a two-point advantage.
In the final 13-seconds, Johnston had two shots to even the score, but Braxton pulled down a rebound on the second miss and got the ball to Wright who was fouled. The freshman from Aumsville, Ore., put the game away converting two free throws with 1.7-seconds left to secure the victory.
Squires finished with 18 points, including an 11-12 effort from the line. She also added six assists and three rebounds.
All eight Cats that played scored. Also posting double-figures were Tori Martell and Wright with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Martell's points all came from beyond the arc.
Montana held a 36-33 advantage under the boards. MSU was led by Martha Kuderer and Braxton with seven and six rebounds, respectively.
For the game, MSU shot 39 percent from the field and connected on 19-21 attempts at the line. The Bobcats committed nine turnovers, while dishing out 15 assists.
The victory was MSU's seventh over the Lady Griz in the last nine meetings. MSU and UM are 5-5 at Dahlberg in the last 10 meetings.
MORE ON THE LUMBERJACKS: Northern Arizona enters Saturday's contest 9-17 overall and 5-12 in Big Sky Conference action. Last week, NAU dropped a pair of road games losing at Idaho 90-72, and Eastern Washington 81-76. The Lumberjacks were led in the losses by Khiarica Rasheed and Jacey Bailey, who averaged 18.5 and 17 points, respectively. Rasheed also pulled down 5.5 rebounds per game, as well. On the season, Northern Arizona had been paced by Kaleigh Paplow at 13.6 points and 7.6 boards per contest.
PRESEASON WNIT: MSU played in the preseason WNIT for the first time in its history. The Cats fell at #19 Marquette 100-52 in Milwaukee on Nov. 9. MSU rebounded to win its consolation pod defeating Delaware 69-60 and Texas State 67-59. Marquette went on to defeat Northern Iowa 102-61, before falling to Miami 63-55 in the semifinals. Iowa State captured the WNIT title with a 75-52 win over Miami.
HOLY MOLY, OLI: Oliana Squires is averaging 10.9 points per game. The Colorado Springs, Colo., product notched a season and career-high 21 points in MSU's win over Northern Arizona on Dec. 31. In the season-opener against No. 19-ranked Marquette, Squires nailed four 3-pointers. She has been in double-digit scoring in 17 of MSU's 26 games. Squires nearly pulled off a triple double at Sacramento State on Jan.5 with 13 points, a career-high ten rebounds and seven assists. In Montana State's win over Montana on Feb. 2, she had an outstanding performance with a game-high 20 points on eight-of-16 from the field, including a four-of-eight from long distance. Squires posted another solid day in MSU's win in Missoula last Saturday with 18 points, including an 11-12 effort from the free throw line.
KUDERER'S KUDOS: Martha Kuderer, who sat out last season after transferring from Seton Hall, is averaging 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. She had her best Big Sky outing recording 19 points and six rebounds in MSU's win at Sacramento State. Her best weekend of the season came against Delaware and Texas State in the WNIT when she averaged 19 points and 7.5 rebounds. Kuderer had a season-high 21 points against Texas State. On the season, she has been in double-digit scoring on 11 occasions. After sitting out the Montana and Northern Colorado games under concussion protocol Feb. 2 & 4, Kuderer has averaged 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in her last five outings. Against UM last Saturday, she had seven points and seven rebounds.
BOUNDING WITH BLAIRE: Blaire Braxton pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds in Montana State's win over Eastern Washington on Feb.7 in Cheney. The thirteen boards gave Braxton 507 for her career. Against EWU, she became just the 24th member of MSU's 500-rebound club. Her current 523 rebounds are currently 19th all-time at Montana State. Braxton leads the Bobcats in rebounding averaging 5.8 per game. Offensively, she is shooting 58.3 percent from the field, which is tops on the team. Her 6.7 points per game average is up 3.0 per contest from last winter. Braxton recorded a career-high 18 points in MSU's loss to Idaho on Jan. 10. For the game, she connected on seven-of-11 from the field. On the season, she has been in double-digit scoring in six games. Braxton has notched 93 career blocks, which is seventh all-time at MSU. On Saturday at Montana, she posted seven points and six rebounds.
MAD ABOUT YOU: Madeline Smith is currently averaging 8.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. The product of Snohomish, Wash., registered a career-high 25 points in MSU's win over Weber State on Feb. 16. Smith connected on 9-of-12 from the field against the Wildcats and was 7-of-8 from the line. Smith has been in double-figure scoring on ten occasions. In Montana State's win at Montana last Saturday, Smith recorded nine points and five rebounds. In addition, she connected on her first three-pointer of the season, giving her two triples in her three-year career at MSU. Smith is also 23 rebounds shy of becoming the 25th Bobcat to reach the 500-rebound club.
BARDS OF THE BLOCK: Juniors Madeline Smith and Blaire Braxton have manned the blocks for the Bobcats the past three seasons. The duo has swapped starting time at the five and each average just around 20 minutes per contest. On the season, the duo has combined to shoot an impressive 58.1 percent (155-267) from the floor.
THE WRIGHT STUFF: Freshman Halle Wright received her first start against TCU on Dec. 8. The Aumsville, Ore., product missed the first three games with an injury, but has started 19 straight since coming back. She had one of her best game of the season against Eastern Washington on Jan. 19, recording 13 points, including nine points in the overtime period. Wright also added a season-high eight assists and seven rebounds. She is averaging 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in Big Sky play. Wright registered 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in MSU's win over Montana on Saturday, including a pair of free throws to ice the game with 1.7 seconds remaining.
TORI, TORI, TORI: Tori Martell has connected on 39 three-pointers this season. The Somerset, Wis., native connected on 36 three-pointers, including 19 in the last eight games of the season, last winter. She is currently averaging 7.9 points per game in Big Sky play. Martell found her stroke from outside in Montana State's win at Northern Colorado on Jan. 14 scoring a career-high 19 points, which included a 5-of-8 performance from beyond the three-point line. Against Montana last Saturday afternoon, she posted 12 points for her sixth double-figure scoring game of the season. All 12 points game from behind the 3-point line.
FEET TO THE FIRE: Freshman Gabby Mocchi has played in all 26 games and is averaging 3.6 ppg in Big Sky play. She matched a career-high nine points in MSU's win at Montana. Freshman Kamden Hilborn has played 23 games and has in dished out 31 assists, while adding 13 steals. The Helena High product is averaging 11.3 minutes per game. Hilborn had a season-best five points at Eastern Washington on Feb. 7. Brynley Fitzgerald has played in 12 games and notched a season-best six points against Northern Colorado on Feb. 4.
THROWING SHAIDE: Senior Madisyn Shaide has played in 14 games. She had a career night against No. 19 Marquette on Nov. 9 scoring six points on two 3-pointers.
LAUDING LUNDBERG: Seton Hall transfer Claire Lundberg is out for the season after tearing her ACL against Northern Colorado on Feb. 4. The Anoka High School product was sixth in the Big Sky averaging 17.0 points per game. She was third in free throw percentage (86.8), 3-point field-goal percentage (39.5), points (356) and field-goals made (123), fourth in 3-point field-goals made (51) and 3-point field-goals per game (2.43), fifth in field-goals attempted (284) and field-goal percentage (43.3) and 3-point field-goals attempted (129) at the time of the injury. Lundberg had been in double-digit scoring in 18 of 21 games, including seven games with 20 points or more. She posted a season-high 28 points in MSU's win over Delaware. Lundberg was Big Sky Player of the Week for Nov. 20 after averaging 27 points and six rebounds as MSU beat Delaware and Texas State in WNIT action. Lundberg was perfect against Texas State hitting eight-of-eight from the field, four-of-four from long distance and six-of-six from the line. Lundberg is still in the hunt for Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cats saw the nation's second longest home court win streak snapped against Portland State on Jan. 11, 2018. The loss broke MSU's 31-game home streak. MSU has won 42 of its last 48 games in The Brick. The Bobcats are averaging 2,093 fans per game, which includes a sold-out crowd of 6,772 against Carroll College on Nov. 6. MSU is ranked 67th in the nation in attendance.
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