Thursday, January 8
BOZEMAN
7 p.m.
Montana State University
10-4,3-0Big Sky
72
vs
70
Eastern Washington
7-8,0-2Big Sky
1
2
3
4
OT 1
F
Eastern Wash.
15
14
18
10
13
70
Montana St.
11
9
18
19
15
72
Jamison Philip
Photo by: Brian Morse
Bobcats Stage Comeback to Take Down Eagles in Overtime in Women's Basketball Big Sky Home Opener
1/8/2026 10:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Taylee Chirrick and Addison Harris combined for 47 points to lead the Cats
BOZEMAN, Mont. (Jan. 8, 2026) – On a night when the Montana State women's basketball coaching staff honored the school's football title-winning football team with national championship sweatshirts, Bobcats coach Tricia Binford joked that her team took the tribute a little too far.
"Just because we wanted to support our football team didn't mean we needed to make it feel like the fourth quarter" of Monday's FCS Championship Game, she joked after her Bobcats beat Eastern Washington 72-70 in overtime. After trailing for 36 minutes, the Cats outscored EWU 34-23 in the fourth quarter and overtime to secure the win.
Montana State jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Eastern Washington scored 11 straight to lead 11-4. From that point, EWU held the lead until 29 seconds remained in the fourth quarter, and Taylee Chirrick hit a three-pointer to tie the score 57-57.
The teams played a back-and-forth overtime period, and when Eagles guard Ella Gallatin drained a three-pointer with 7.8 seconds to play, the game was tied at 70. The Bobcat guard Jamison Philip gathered the inbound pass, drove the length of the floor, and converted a driving layup with under 1.7 seconds to play to give MSU the winning margin.
"I feel we never gave up throughout the entire game, in the fourth quarter, and all the way into overtime," she said. "(The play call was) just get to the paint and when I got in there I knew I had to have confidence and believe. Everybody on the team told me that I'm meant to be in this moment."
That MSU made it to the closing seconds with an opportunity to win seemed like a long shot for much of the game. The Bobcats suffered through a difficult shooting night, failing to nudge their shooting percentage over 30 percent until overtime. Then in extra time, the team hit five of its eight shots, including a three-pointer, and four of six from the line. Eastern shot 3-9 from the field in overtime.
"We obviously were not sharp offensively," Binford said. "You look at our field goal percentage, our free throw percentage, it was not an offensive day for us. Eastern always does a great job defensively. Our offense was not clicking."
While Montana State's offense took nearly a full regulation game to get going, the team responded defensively to a sluggish start. "Defensively we looked a little bit tired out of the gate, to be honest," Binford said. "We had to regroup, and fortunately we were able to get enough extra possessions to overcome being really cold on the offensive end."
Eastern took advantage of MSU's early lethargy on defense, shooting 43.8 percent in the opening quarter and jumping to a 15-11 lead. That would be the only period the Eagles topped 40 percent shooting, and the Bobcats' 28 turnovers forced allowed MSU a 16-shot advantage (84 by the Cats to 68).
MSU trailed 29-20 at halftime and 47-38 after three quarters before making up the nine points in the fourth period. Taylee Chirrick led all players with 24 points, and Addison Harris added 23 to overcome an Eagles attack paced by all five starters scoring in double-figures.
While forcing 15 more turnovers than they gave up, the Cats were out-rebounded 58-50. Jaecy Eggers snared 17 for EWU, while Kourtney Grossman grabbed a dozen. Chirrick's eight rebounds led MSU, but Harris and Ella Johnson each snagged seven. Chirrick added six assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Montana State raises its record to 10-4 overall and 3-0 in Big Sky play with the win, while Eastern Washington is 7-8 and 0-2. Coupled with the Bobcat men winning in Cheney, both MSU's basketball teams are 2-0 in Big Sky play for the first time since 2001-02.
The Bobcats host Idaho at 2 pm Saturday in Worthington Arena, while EWU visits Montana.
#GoCatsGo
"Just because we wanted to support our football team didn't mean we needed to make it feel like the fourth quarter" of Monday's FCS Championship Game, she joked after her Bobcats beat Eastern Washington 72-70 in overtime. After trailing for 36 minutes, the Cats outscored EWU 34-23 in the fourth quarter and overtime to secure the win.
Montana State jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Eastern Washington scored 11 straight to lead 11-4. From that point, EWU held the lead until 29 seconds remained in the fourth quarter, and Taylee Chirrick hit a three-pointer to tie the score 57-57.
The teams played a back-and-forth overtime period, and when Eagles guard Ella Gallatin drained a three-pointer with 7.8 seconds to play, the game was tied at 70. The Bobcat guard Jamison Philip gathered the inbound pass, drove the length of the floor, and converted a driving layup with under 1.7 seconds to play to give MSU the winning margin.
"I feel we never gave up throughout the entire game, in the fourth quarter, and all the way into overtime," she said. "(The play call was) just get to the paint and when I got in there I knew I had to have confidence and believe. Everybody on the team told me that I'm meant to be in this moment."
That MSU made it to the closing seconds with an opportunity to win seemed like a long shot for much of the game. The Bobcats suffered through a difficult shooting night, failing to nudge their shooting percentage over 30 percent until overtime. Then in extra time, the team hit five of its eight shots, including a three-pointer, and four of six from the line. Eastern shot 3-9 from the field in overtime.
"We obviously were not sharp offensively," Binford said. "You look at our field goal percentage, our free throw percentage, it was not an offensive day for us. Eastern always does a great job defensively. Our offense was not clicking."
While Montana State's offense took nearly a full regulation game to get going, the team responded defensively to a sluggish start. "Defensively we looked a little bit tired out of the gate, to be honest," Binford said. "We had to regroup, and fortunately we were able to get enough extra possessions to overcome being really cold on the offensive end."
Eastern took advantage of MSU's early lethargy on defense, shooting 43.8 percent in the opening quarter and jumping to a 15-11 lead. That would be the only period the Eagles topped 40 percent shooting, and the Bobcats' 28 turnovers forced allowed MSU a 16-shot advantage (84 by the Cats to 68).
MSU trailed 29-20 at halftime and 47-38 after three quarters before making up the nine points in the fourth period. Taylee Chirrick led all players with 24 points, and Addison Harris added 23 to overcome an Eagles attack paced by all five starters scoring in double-figures.
While forcing 15 more turnovers than they gave up, the Cats were out-rebounded 58-50. Jaecy Eggers snared 17 for EWU, while Kourtney Grossman grabbed a dozen. Chirrick's eight rebounds led MSU, but Harris and Ella Johnson each snagged seven. Chirrick added six assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Montana State raises its record to 10-4 overall and 3-0 in Big Sky play with the win, while Eastern Washington is 7-8 and 0-2. Coupled with the Bobcat men winning in Cheney, both MSU's basketball teams are 2-0 in Big Sky play for the first time since 2001-02.
The Bobcats host Idaho at 2 pm Saturday in Worthington Arena, while EWU visits Montana.
#GoCatsGo
Team Stats
EWU
MSU
FG%
.368
.321
3FG%
.303
.167
FT%
.526
.591
RB
58
50
TO
28
13
STL
7
12
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
5
Pts
23
FGM
11
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
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