Hall’s Late Game Heroics Lift Bobcats to Win

Friday, December 29

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

6-6,1-0Big Sky

Idaho State

4-6,0-1Big Sky

Idaho St.

Montana St.

WBB_2324_MADISON_HALL_GAME_WINNER_ISU_BCS

Madison Hall releases the game-winning shot against Idaho State on Friday night.

Photo by: Garrett Becker

12/29/2023 10:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Montana State fifth-year guard Madison Hall was in the right place at the right time.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State fifth-year guard Madison Hall was in the right place at the right time. The 5-9 product of Parma, Idaho, corralled a pass from Natalie Picton and converted a jump shot- straight on- from 15-feet to give the Bobcats a 58-56 lead with 0.7-seconds remaining.

Hall then intercepted Idaho State's pass on the ensuing possession and MSU recorded its first Big Sky Conference win of the season on Friday night in Worthington Arena.

"It was pretty fitting for her to hit the game winner," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford on Hall's basket. "I thought she was our toughest kid from the start. Idaho State was winning the toughness battle, but Jack (Hall's nickname) was playing Jack, staying within herself, she wasn't trying to do too much. She just came in and competed, so it was fitting for her to hit the game winner."

Montana State (6-6, 1-0) was on the verge of pulling away from Idaho State (4-6, 0-1) with six-minutes, 56-seconds remaining in the contest following a pair of free throws by Katelynn Limardo, giving the Bobcats a 52-39 advantage. However, the Bengals would not go quietly into the night rattling off ten unanswered points to close to within 52-49 with 4:14 left.

MSU pushed its lead back to seven points with two-minutes, 37-seconds remaining on a three-point play from Hall. But again, ISU responded with a 7-0 run to even the game at 56-all on a Maria Dias layup with 30-seconds left, setting up Hall's late game heroics.

"It was a gritty win," Binford said. "And you have to celebrate the victories. Wins are hard to come by in this conference, it's a grind, and you have to protect homecourt.

"But we had a lot of errors that we need to solve by Sunday," she added. "We had way too many errors on the offensive end, and we gave away too many possessions. On the other end, we put them on the foul line too much, so our discipline needs to get a lot better."

Hall finished with a season-best 17 points. She connected on six-of-ten from the field and was five-of-six at the free throw line. She also grabbed four rebounds and matched a career-high four steals.

Also, in double-figures were Limardo 15, and Taylor Janssen 10. Janssen, a 6-2 forward from Rosemount, Minn., dished out a career-high five assists to guide the Cats' offense.

For the game, the Bobcats shot 35.7% from the field, including a 45.8% effort in the second half. MSU won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Bengals 40-33. The Bobcats were led under the glass by freshman Issy Bunyan with seven boards, while Limardo and Marah Dykstra added six rebounds, apiece.

Dias paced Idaho State with a game-high 21 points, which included an eight-of-nine effort at the line.

Montana State hosts Weber State, Sunday at 2 p.m. in Worthington Arena.