Philip Hits Career-High as Bobcats Tame Coyotes

Wednesday, December 4

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

7-1,0-0Big Sky

South Dakota

3-6,0-0Summit League

South Dakota

Montana St.

Dylan Philip scored a career-high 22 points as MSU defeated South Dakota 77-46 on Wednesday night.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

12/4/2024 10:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

“The big challenge was South Dakota collapsing on our three primary scorers and leaving others open,” Binford said. “We wanted our kids to be shot-ready and we had some really good looks. Dylan has earned the right to takes those shots, she’s put in the time, trusted the process and she kept shooting. She’s a confident kid, and I’m super proud of her.”

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State sophomore Dylan Philip scored a career-high 22 points connecting on eight-of-18 from the field, including five 3-pointers as the Bobcats cruised to a 77-46 win over South Dakota on Wednesday night in Worthington Arena as part of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge.

Montana State's 7-1 start to the season is its best since the 2002-03 Bobcats opened 8-1 in the non-conference.

It took both squads an entire quarter to get on stable ground. Montana State (7-1) held a 10-5 lead after the opening period. The Bobcats converted four-of-19 (21.1%) in the first ten minutes, while South Dakota (3-6) went two-of-12 (16.7%) from the field.

"We knew South Dakota was very good at trying to play off of certain kids and home in on other kids and that kind of threw us off initially," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "Once we got some things going on the defensive end and getting out into transition, I thought we picked up our pace and everything started to change for us."

The Bobcats outscored the Coyotes 27-10 in the second quarter, hitting at a 52.6% clip. MSU played errorless ball in the opening half going without a turnover, while forcing USD into eight miscues which turned into nine points. The Bobcats held a 37-15 advantage at intermission.

"The big challenge was South Dakota collapsing on our three primary scorers and leaving others open," Binford said. "We wanted our kids to be shot-ready and we had some really good looks. Dylan has earned the right to takes those shots, she's put in the time, trusted the process and she kept shooting. She's a confident kid, and I'm super proud of her."

MSU took its largest lead of the contest at 70-36 with 6:16 remaining following a steal and layin by freshman Taylee Chirrick

Morales paced the Bobcats with a team-high seven assists. As a team, MSU dished out 21 assists, while committing just five turnovers.

"The assist/turnover ratio was one of my favorite stats," Binford said. "The fact that you have someone like Esme (Morales) who can put double digits up on any given night dishing out seven assists with no turnovers is a great stat line. It means we were sharing the ball, finding each other, moving the ball and that was the difference in the last three quarters is the fact that we got the ball going side-to-side."

Katelynn Martin also reached double figures for the Bobcats with 10 points, while Issy Bunyan added nine, and Chirrick and Teagan Erickson, eight. MSU won the battle of the boards outrebounding South Dakota 44-33. Ella Johnson pulled down a team best eight rebounds to pace the Bobcats under the glass.

Alexi Hempe led South Dakota with 14 points.

MSU plays at Oral Roberts on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla.