Big Sky Conference

Lady Griz fall at home to EWU, lose third straight

on

The Montana Lady Griz fought back from an atrocious first quarter and had multiple shots to take the lead late against Eastern Washington Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena, but couldn’t complete the comeback in a tough 75-72 loss.

With her team down 66-64 and on the comeback trail, Montana’s Madi Schoening missed a 3-pointer with 3:11 left.

The two teams traded buckets from there, and Schoening missed another 3-pointer down 68-66 with 2:14 left.

Eastern senior Delaney Hodgins, the preseason Big Sky Conference MVP, made a jumper on the next possession to stretch Eastern’s lead to 70-66, and the Lady Griz wouldn’t get the ball back again with a chance to tie or take the lead.

“We certainly have some things to figure out,” Montana head coach Shannon Schweyen said after. “We are certainly searching for some lineups and some people to step up and do things.”

Eastern Washington senior Delaney Hodgins/ by Brooks Nuanez

Hodgins finished with 24 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles. UM junior post Jace Henderson had 15 and eight boards for Montana.

The loss was Montana’s third in a row, and dropped the Lady Griz to 8-6 in conference play, 12-13 overall.

Eastern moved 8-5 in league play, leapfrogging the Lady Griz in the conference standings in the process. EWU is 13-12 overall.

Mekayla Isaak scored 22 seconds in for the Lady Griz to give them a 2-0 lead. It was to be their last lead of the game, and the rest of the first quarter couldn’t have gone much worse for Montana.

Violet Kapri Morrow quickly tied the game for Eastern Washington, and the visitors proceeded to go on a 20-4 run, taking a 20-6 lead with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

Problems were everywhere for Montana, but the most acute came on the offensive end. Henderson’s bucket not even two minutes into the game was the last field goal the Lady Griz managed in the first quarter, as the home team suffered through a drought from the field that stretched over eight minutes.

The poor shooting was mostly thanks to Eastern Washington’s defense. The Eagles ramped up the pressure in the half court, harassing ball handlers, forcing deflections and generally making every shot difficult.

“They’re a hard team to go against,” Montana point guard McKenzie Johnston said. “They’re constantly bringing pressure, and once you pick the ball up, they’re all over you.”

Symone Starks keyed the defensive effort, with five of Eastern’s total of 11 first-half steals. She and Hodgins would finish with five steals apiece.

The tough defense led to some easy buckets for the Eagles, who started the game 6-of-7 from the field.

Kapri Morrow was the main beneficiary, scoring nine of her 11 first-half points in the first quarter.

Eastern Washington head coach Wendy Schuller

The only saving grace for the Lady Griz came at the free throw line. Eastern’s aggressiveness on defense put the home team into the bonus early, and they took advantage by making five freebies in the last 1:17 of the first quarter to cut their deficit to 20-11 going to the second.

The comeback continued in the second quarter, and was more of the same. Eastern continued shooting well, but the Lady Griz finally matched their opponents from the field — and kept their advantage at the free throw line.

They would finish the half 14-of-20 from the charity stripe, while Eastern didn’t attempt a free throw in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles were whistled for 16 fouls to Montana’s two.

“They are aggressive,” Schweyen said about Eastern. “They trap you and press you. … That wasn’t surprising to me, because of the nature that they play, and if it wasn’t for free throws, we would have been getting buried. At least we were getting to the line.”

The free throw discrepancy keyed a comeback. Montana cut the lead to two on the highlight play of the first half, when Johnston went behind-the-back with the pass to find Taylor Goligoski for a fast-break layup with 51 seconds left in the half.

Montana sophomore point guard McKenzie Johnston/ by Jason Bacaj

“If they leave that open, that’s the go-to for me,” Johnston said about the pass. “[The defender] was kind of in the middle of us, and then once she stepped over like I was going to shoot it, [Goligoski] was wide open.”

That made it 31-29, but Uriah Howard made a 3-pointer on the other end and the Eagles went into halftime up 34-30.

Their defense may have carried them to that lead, but the Eagles’ hot shooting in the third quarter let them keep it.

Despite shooting just 6-of-15 from the field overall in the period, Eastern was a scorching 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, and always seemed to come up with the key 3-pointer to stop a Montana run.

That continued in the fourth quarter, as Montana fought back time and time again, only to have Eastern slam the door in its face with a big shot or crucial defensive stand.

A delirious stretch halfway through the quarter saw Hailey Nicholson score twice in a row and Schoening hit a jumper, all for Montana, to cut a 61-54 deficit to 61-60 with 5:39 left.

Mariah Cunningham answered for EWU, Henderson came right back with a bucket down low for Montana, and Starks swished a 3-pointer to make it 66-62.

Montana’s Madi Schoenig/ by Jason Bacaj

The Eagles maintained their slim lead from there until Schoening’s crucial missed shots with time winding down, and Hodgins sealed the game at the free throw line, making sure Montana’s comeback was for naught.

“They battled, and I look at the ending score, I’m proud of the way we kept fighting,” Schweyen said. “It’s hard getting knocked down like that and trying to regroup. I love the way that we compete. … I do feel like we have a chance to be playing our best basketball as we come into this homestretch.”

Starks and Kapri Morrow supported Hodgins with 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the visitors.

Schoening led the Griz with 16 points, while Johnston had 11 and Goligoski finished with 10.

Montana will be right back at Dahlberg for another crucial game Saturday, hosting Idaho at 2 p.m.

Eastern Washington will stay on the road, going to Bozeman to play Montana State, also on Saturday. Idaho drilled MSU 95-77 behind 17 made 3-pointers on Thursday night in Bozeman.

Andrew Houghton is a freelance sportswriter living in Missoula. Photos attributed. All Rights Reserved. 

About Andrew Houghton

Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Montana journalism school in December 2015 and spent time working on the sports desk at the Daily Tribune News in Cartersville, Georgia, before moving back to Missoula and becoming a part of Skyline Sports in early 2018.

Recommended for you