Hot Start, Cold Finish: Cats Post First Road Win of Season

Sunday, November 19

Grand Forks, ND

11 a.m. (MT)

Montana State University

2-2,0-0Big Sky

North Dakota

1-3,0-0Summit League

Montana St.

North Dakota

Senior Lexi Deden

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

Hot Start, Cold Finish: Cats Post First Road Win of Season

11/19/2023 4:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

MSU built its largest lead of the game at 30-12 at the 6:42 mark of the second stanza on a Madison Hall three-pointer.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State got off to a hot start taking as much as an 18-point first half lead, then weathered a stretch of cold shooting in the second half before eventually knocking down seven-of-eight from the free throw line in the final minute to post a 60-53 win over North Dakota on Sunday afternoon in The Betty Englestad Sioux Center.

Montana State (2-2) jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first two-minutes, 20-seconds as all five starters scored. North Dakota (1-3) didn't put numbers on the scoreboard until the 6:22 mark of the opening period and the Bobcats held a 20-8 advantage after ten minutes of action.

MSU built its largest lead of the game at 30-12 at the 6:42 mark of the second stanza on a Madison Hall three-pointer. Katelynn Limardo's layup with two-minutes, 51-seconds left gave the Bobcats a 32-18 lead at intermission.

The Bobcats cold shooting to end the first half, coupled with missing its first nine shots to open the third quarter allowed UND to get back into the game. The Fighting Hawks whittled the Bobcats lead to seven-points as MSU's cold spell reached over seven minutes.

Lexi Deden finally put points on the board for MSU with a pair of free throws at the 4:52 mark. North Dakota remained hot and took its first lead as the Fighting Hawks rattled off a 12-2 run capped by two free throws by Nevaeh Ferrara Horne to give UND a one-point margin with just under two-minutes left in the third quarter.

"That was the poorest quarter of the season," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "We came out super flat in the second half. Maybe they thought North Dakota was going to roll over, but instead they responded, and we got ourselves into a tight situation."

Leading by one-point heading into the final frame, MSU built its advantage to 44-39 following a Deden jumper. The lead changed hands two times at the midway mark of the quarter and was tied at 48-all at the 3:10 mark before Deden took over scoring seven straight points for MSU and giving the Bobcats a 55-50 lead with 45-seconds remaining. MSU closed out the contest connecting on five-of-six from the line in the waning moments to earn its first road win of the season.

Deden, who finished with a team-best 22 points, scored eight points in the opening quarter and 12 points in the fourth. In all, she connected on eight-of-13 from the field and six-of-eight at the line.

"Lexi got into a little foul trouble, but luckily for us, when she was in the game, she was our answer," Binford said. "We ran everything through her."

Also hitting double-figures for MSU was freshman point-guard Natalie Picton, who finished with 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Limardo chipped in eight points and a team-best nine rebounds, while Taylor Janssen registered seven points, six rebounds and two blocks. Sophomore forward Marah Dykstra contributed six points, five rebounds and four assists.

MSU shot 60% in the first frame but hit just 13.3% (2-15) from the field in the third quarter. The Bobcats shot 37.5% for the game. UND finished shooting 29.5% from the field and made just one-of-15 shots from long distance.

Kacie Borowicz led UND with 22 points.

"Our focus going forward needs to be better," Binford said. "We challenged them to be more consistent. We are showing how we practiced last week with good and average effort. We need to be better in that area,"

MSU will face New Mexico and James Madison on Thursday and Friday, respectively, at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico.