Big Sky Conference

MSU women’s season ends in Salt Lake City

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The Montana State women’s basketball team fell into a shooting slump in the second quarter and could never recover as the Bobcats’ season ended with a fourth straight loss.

MSU faced Utah of the Pac 12 at the Huntsman Center, the Utes’ home court in Salt Lake City, in the first round of the WNIT on Friday night. Montana State ended the first quarter trailing Utah 18-14 and Hannah Caudill’s baseline jumper with 8:46 in the second quarter tied the game. But the Utes ripped off a 19-3 run aided by MSU’s 3-of-17 shooting in the second quarter en rout to a 95-61 win in front of 1,239.

Montana State sprinted to a 12-1 start in Big Sky Conference play this season. But MSU lost to rival Montana in Missoula in February, triggering a stretch that included five losses in its final seven outings, including four straight defeats to end the season.

“This team fought to the end,” MSU 11th-year head coach Tricia Binford said. “That’s been their character all year. Obviously, the season didn’t end how we wanted, but this group, led by an outstanding senior class, accomplished a lot of things, including winning a Big Sky Conference championship, and that’s something they can always hang their hats on.”

The Bobcats earned the first outright Big Sky Conference championship in program history despite being swept at Northern Colorado and North Dakota. MSU ended the regular-season with a 14-4 league mark, a game ahead of Eastern Washington and Idaho for the championship and the tournament’s top seed. In the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament in Reno last week, Juliet Jones drilled a 27-foot heave at the buzzer to end MSU’s tournament championship hopes.

Montana State earned the Big Sky’s automatic bid to the WNIT and drew the Utes, a team that posted an 8-10 record in the Pac 12. Utah displayed its size and depth throughout the rout as 10 players played at least 12 minutes and no one played more than 40. Utah shot 50 percent, including hitting 14-of-29 3-pointers. The Utes owned advantages of 49-40 on the glass, 32-18 in the paint and 44-26 in bench production.

MSU converted just 11 of 45 shots in the first three quarters in falling behind 58-36 entering the final frame. MSU hit 10-of-22 in the fourth quarter but gave up 37 points on 12-of-17 shooting by the Utes as the hosts won going away.

“When you play an opponent that is big and athletic like Utah, you have to be focused on the details,” Binford said. “During their second quarter run we failed to get the details done.”

Utah limited Big Sky MVP Jasmine Hommes to 3-of-15 shooting. The scored nine points in 25 minutes to finish her career with 1,448 points, the fifth-most in Montana State history. Junior Peyton Ferris, the Big Sky’s Top Reserve for the second straight season, scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 21 minutes to pace MSU. Junior Riley Nordgaard added 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Senior power forward Alexa Dawkins scored eight points and blocked three shots in her final game as a Bobcat. Senior point guard Lindsay Stockton, who was born in Salt Lake City, missed both her shots but hit half of her eight free throws to score four points to go with six rebounds in the final game of her career.

Katie Kuklok came off the bench to hit six 3-pointers, including two straight to break the early tie and spark the separating second-quarter run. She finished with 18 points in 19 minutes off the bench. Paige Crozon hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points in 23 minutes. Emily Potter scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Joseta Fatuesi grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench.

Montana State’s season ends with a 21-10 record.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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