Bobcat Defense Stymies Lady Griz

Thursday, January 28

BOZEMAN

5 p.m.

Montana State University

8-5,5-2Big Sky

Montana

7-5,4-3Big Sky

Montana

Montana St.

Darian White posted 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals as the Bobcats defeated Montana for the seventh straight time in Worthington Arena.

Photo by: Garrett Becker

1/28/2021 9:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

The win marked the seventh straight at Worthington Arena for the Bobcats, who held Montana to its lowest point production in the rivalry since the Lady Griz defeated MSU 44-42 during the 1974-75 season.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State cashed twenty-three Montana turnovers into 18 points en route to a decisive 70-46 victory over the Lady Griz on Thursday night in Worthington Arena. The win marked the seventh straight at Worthington Arena for the Bobcats, who held Montana to its lowest point production in the rivalry since the Lady Griz defeated MSU 44-42 during the 1974-75 season.

"I'm really proud of how the team executed the game plan on the defensive end," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford, who has won ten of the last 12 against Montana. "We knew we'd have our hands full and I thought we got the stops we needed to create some possessions for us offensively."

Montana State (8-5, 5-2) took a while to settle into any kind of offensive flow in the first ten minutes, shooting just 19% from the field. Montana (7-5, 4-3) had a hard time finding its groove, as well, shooting 33.3% from the floor to hold a 10-9 first quarter advantage.

MSU used an 8-0 run with just over four-minutes remaining in the first half as five different Bobcats scored, giving Montana State a 27-17 lead. A Tori Martell triple with 10-seconds left gave the Bobcats a 30-20 cushion heading into intermission.

"We definitely showed anxiety in the first quarter," Binford said. "I think both teams showed a little bit of jitters in that first quarter. The ball was stalling, the ball was getting stuck and I thought we were just really trying to press a little bit too much."

The Bobcats opened the second half on Martell's second three-pointer of the game and MSU pushed its lead to 44-24 on her fourth make from long distance with 4-minutes, 56-seconds left. Montana State held a 49-28 lead heading into the final quarter.

Montana chipped the lead down to 16-points on three occasions in the final ten minutes, but Taylor Janssen's layup with 27-seconds left gave the Bobcats its biggest lead at 70-45.

"In the second half, we let the game play and let the ball get moving," Binford commented. "Obviously, when you start hitting a couple of shots that makes it a little bit easier. We missed some shots in that first half, then someone like Tori gets hot and kids start feeding off it and the energy started getting pretty excited on the bench."

Montana State was paced by Martell with a game-high 18 points, which included a 4-of-5 outing from beyond the arc. Also in double-figures were Darian White 13 and Gabby Mocci 12.

The Bobcats finished shooting 39.1%, which included a 51.7% effort in the second half. Montana ended hitting at a 30.6% clip.

Montana State also held a slim 42-39 advantage under the boards as Mocchi and Katelynn Limardo pulled down nine and seven rebounds, respectively.

MSU, who outscored the Lady Griz 36-18 in the paint, held UM's top scorer, Carmen Gfeller, to eight points under her yearly average. Abbie Anderson guided Montana with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Montana State will play at Montana on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.