Analysis

Postseason Q&A: MSU women’s basketball head coach Tricia Binford

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For the first half of her career at Montana State, Tricia Binford helped the Bobcat women’s basketball team climb the proverbial Big Sky Conference mountain. For much of this decade, Binford has talked consistently about getting over the proverbial hump.

Last winter, Binford’s Bobcats put together a season for the ages and finally reached the summit of Big Sky women’s basketball. Behind a Big Sky MVP season from senior forward Jasmine Hommes and impromptu coaching from John Stockton, MSU posted a 21-10 record, including 14 Big Sky wins in 18 league contests to earn the school’s first outright Big Sky title. Montana State posted a 13-1 record at home and averaged 1,468 fans in 14 home games, third in the conference.

In previous years, the Bobcats would have had a chance to capitalize on their home court advantage during the postseason. But in March, the Big Sky neutralized its tournament for the first time, granting all 12 teams automatic bids and moving the location to Reno, Nevada.

After storming to a 13-1 start in league play, MSU fell to rival Montana in Missoula. The Bobcats swept its final home weekend behind a record-setting 33-point outing on 16-of-17 shooting by Peyton Ferris against Weber State and an unforgettable overtime victory against Idaho State. But the Bobcats faltered on their final road trip, losing at Northern Colorado and North Dakota.

2015-16 Montana State women's basketball team starting lineup (L to R) Delany Junkermier, Alexa Dawkins, Jasmine Hommes, Riley Nordgaard and Lindsey Stockton/by Brooks Nuanez

2015-16 Montana State women’s basketball team starting lineup (L to R) Delany Junkermier, Alexa Dawkins, Jasmine Hommes, Riley Nordgaard and Lindsey Stockton/by Brooks Nuanez

Still, a slew of other unpredictable endings around the league gave MSU the outright title. MSU took the top seed into the tournament and received a first-round bye.

In Reno, the Bobcats experienced the unthinkable. Idaho State went on a 12-1 run over the last 92 seconds of its second-round matchup with Montana State, a spurt capped by Juliet Jones’ 27-foot heave at the buzzer to eliminate the top seed from the tournament field. Montana State missed half of its 28 free throw attempts in the second half alone, including five of its final six attempts from the charity stripe in the 52-50 loss.

Despite the heartbreaking ending, MSU still earned a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament via its automatic bid as the BSC regular-season champion. The Bobcats drew Utah and returned to the hometown of MSU senior point guard Lindsay Stockton, who’s Hall of Fame father starred for the Utah Jazz for 19 seasons.

The Pac 12 foe proved to be too big, strong and long for the Bobcats. Utah limited MSU to 31.3 percent shooting and held Hommes, the sixth-leading scorer in school history with 1,448 points, to just nine. Offensively, the Utes drilled 14 3-pointers and shot 50 percent overall in a 95-61 rout, the worst loss of the season by 22 points.

Still, the Bobcats made history, winning the Big Sky for just the third time and hanging a banner all their own for the first time. Binford must find replacements for Lindsay Stockton, Jasmine Hommes, Alexa Dawkins and Michelle Seitz, the first three core members of Binford’s most heralded recruiting class to date. Perhaps most importantly, the Bobcats must find a replacement for John Stockton, a master mentor of fundamentals and a calming influence from the bench all last season.

Ferris, the Big Sky’s Top Reserve each of the last two seasons, will be a senior. As will Riley Nordgaard, a tough-nosed forward who earned BSC Newcomer of the Year last season. Hannah Caudill led the league in assists (5.4 per game) as a sophomore while backing up Stockton. Delaney Junkermier ranked in the top 10 in the league in 3-point shooting percentage for the second straight season as a sophomore. Annika Lai played 12.8 minutes a game and grabbed 79 rebounds in the process as a true freshman.

Binford also signed a talented class that included a late addition. Binford signed Sandy Creek (Colorado Springs, Colorado) combo guard Oliana Squires, Snohomish (Washington) High forward Madeline Smith and Redwood (Visalia, California) High post Madison Kast during the early period.

 

Former MSU women's basketball assistant John Stockton talks with the team

Former MSU women’s basketball assistant John Stockton talks with the team

During the late period, Montana State found a fit for its fourth available scholarship in Blaire Braxton, a former Seattle U commit from Colorado powerhouse Highlands Ranch. Seattle’s coaches were let go during the off-season and Braxton was granted a release by the NCAA to pursue other Division I opportunities without penalty.

On May 25, Binford sat down with Skyline Sports for an interview recapping her championship season and recapping the future. The interview begins when the conversation turns to Squires trying out for the Women’s U18 National Team. As a senior, the 5-foot-8 Squires averaged 23.8 points and 3.7 steals per game as the Lady Scorpions posted a 24-2 record, the final loss in overtime by one point in the Colorado 4A state semifinals.

Click here for the audio version of this interview (Coming Soon).

Binford: “I don’t know if we have talked about this, but Oliana Squires was chosen to go to the U18 national team trials which is in Colorado Springs, which is pretty much her backyard. I believe they invited 20-something kids and it was on ESPN a few weeks ago. They showed kids going to UConn (Crystal Dangerfield), South Carolina (Tyasha Harris), Duke, Stanford, and then there’s Montana State up on the screen. That was pretty exciting for the program. I think that may be the first — I talked to (Montana State sports information director) Tom Schulz to check — but I think that’s the first player we’ve had invited to that.

Squires was one of 27 players invited to tryout for the national team. The three-day tryout took place at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Northern Colorado head coach Kamie Ethridge is one of Suzie McConnell-Serio’s (Pitt) assistants. Squires was not among the 12 players named to the team.

“If she makes the team, she gets to play in the U18 games in Chile. If you go to USA Basketball, you can follow it. I’m going to follow it this weekend since I’m not allowed to be there. It starts Friday night. Most of the training camp goes Saturday and Sunday and Monday. I think it goes all the way through Memorial Weekend, which is unfortunate for her because it’s her graduation Saturday so I’m not sure how she is going to pull that off. But how exciting for her.”

Braxton, the 6-foot-1 little sister of Weber State’s starting center Zach Braxton, was a key member of a Falcons team that collected a 67-12 record during her high school career. As a senior, Braxton averaged 8.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.3 steals during a 20-2 campaign that culminated in a runner-up finish at the Colorado 4A state tournament.

Skyline: Tell me about the late recruit, Blair Braxton. She signed with Seattle U and their coaching staff got let go so she was back on the market?

Binford: “She was granted a release, which allows her to play right away. We recruited her last year. She was actually scheduled on her visit to our place after Seattle U but she committed on that visit. So we still had all her flights for her and her parents for them to come in.

“As soon as she got the release, we got in contact with her. Fortunately, we had already established a relationship having recruited her before. She’s a terrific fit and we are really blessed that she opened it and gave up an opportunity in the spring.”

Skyline: What kind of game does she have?

Binford: “She reminds me of Alexa (Dawkins) in many ways. She’s a little taller, a little bit thicker. They are both very fit, athletic athletes. She’s really good with her back to the basket. She has a really good nose for rebounding. She plays extremely hard, she is really good in an up-tempo game but she’s a traditional, back-to-the-basket post who’s really good at high-low action so that suits us very well.

“The weekend before she visited us, she and Oliana played in a 3-on-3 tournament against each other. They sent me a text of a picture together. I thought that was a good sign that those two knew each other. That was actually where Oliana was seen by USA because her team placed second in that 3-on-3.

“Blair comes from, Highlands Ranch is one of the most respected programs in Colorado. We’ve been watching her for a long time.”

Skyline Sports: Her brother is really good. Weber State being able to play him and (Big Sky MVP and Defensive MVP) Joel Bolomboy at the same time helped them win the league.

Binford: “Yes he is. She was recruited by all those schools and everything but there was a lot of connection with us and everything was a good fit.”

Skyline Sports: “Do you remember Shawn Dirden (former MSU men’s basketball assistant)?

Binford: “Yes.”

Skyline Sports: He coached Zach before he went to Weber. He has been high on Zach for a while. He had a great year last year (started all 34 games, averaged 6.9 points, 4.1 rebounds per game as redshirt freshman).

Binford: “Really, a breakout year. Fortunately for us, she wanted her own experience even though those two get along really well. We are excited about her.”

Kast, a 6-foot-1 forward, surpassed 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her varsity career at Redwood. As a senior, the Rangers posted a 20-6 record as Kast averaged 11.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 blocks and 2.4 steals per contest.

Skyline Sports: Madi Kast had a good senior year too.

Binford: “Madi Kast is going to be I think the surprise of the class. Everyone else is expecting these other three to have such high accolades. She really went under the radar in California. I was able to see her over the fall viewing period in October, which was extremely late. I just think she is a workhorse and she just wants it so badly that she finds ways to make an impact. I thought her most impressive statistic was not that she broke 1,000 points but that she broke 1,000 rebounds. That kid is just an animal as far as the effort of play, being in the gym.

“Cal-Stars, if you look at club basketball in California, everyone wants a kid from Cal-Stars. I think she is someone with a tremendous IQ and a tremendous upside. It will be interesting to see what she does.”

“And there’s Madeline Smith. She was the Washington Player of the Year. She was during the early period.

Skyline Sports: What level of basketball is that in Washington?

Binford: “That’s a great question. I was confused by the Player of the Year title because there’s another kid who’s going to Oregon State that was also Player of the Year but I think for the region Madeline was selected.

Smith was the Wesco 4A Player of the Year after averaging 15.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and two blocks per game as a junior. As a senior, she averaged 21 points per game during the state tournament, including 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting in the Washington 4A state championship game. Snohomish lost its first three games before winning 22 straight but lost in the state title game. As a senior, Smith averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. 

“She played for the Northwest Blazers. What I love about these four is they always want to be in the gym. That’s where kids can be very exciting to see what they can do at the college level. And they are all fantastic students. Madeline really wanted to come here for our engineering program. She’s top-notch there.

“She’s also really naturally a back to the basket type, a high-low type of action. Where as Kast is a little different than Blair and Madeline. She is more of a 3-4, more on the perimeter, has a little bit more range. I would say initially our needs are at the five. You have Peyton at the four. We have youth at the five. With what (sophomore) Hailey (Blodgett) did in the season and with our freshmen class and you have (sophomore) Ashton (Siegner) returning (from a knee injury), you have (junior) Amy Davis back. So there are a lot of options at that spot.”

Skyline Sports: Four seniors, four new players.

Binford: “When you look at opportunity for that class, Oliana is somebody that is going to be somebody who is hard not to play because of her scoring ability. She can really create a shot. She had 43 in her last game in the state semifinals. She doesn’t miss. Like, there’s a lot of kids that take a lot of shots to get to 40 points but if you look at her percentages…I went and watched her over our finals week and I was there for a tournament and she put up 30 both games I saw. I’m pretty sure she shot more than 75 percent from the field and more than 60 percent from three. Her dad said she was up to those percentages up to that point.

“I still think she should’ve gotten Player of the Year. She was still recognized but she had a heck of a season. We’ve got a ton of guard depth but Oliana is extremely talented.”

As a senior, Squires shot 60 percent from the floor and 45 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. She also shot 87 percent from the free throw line. She converted 46 percent of her field goals and 38 percent of her 3-point attempts during her four-year varsity career. She hit 201 3-pointers over her four seasons, including 75 as a senior. 

Skyline Sports: How has your recruiting strategy changed and evolved during your 11 seasons in the Big Sky?

Binford: “I don’t know if it’s been more about the league or more of a personal challenge to not getting complacent and challenging the staff that every recruiting class, we try to do better than the last. Not only to help the program get better but to also challenge our upper classmen to continue growing. I think if we are able to do those things and at least match and continue to excel, then the program will continue to get better. The benchmark, I feel like we raised it again with this class.

“The one thing that we probably changed this last year was expanded our regions. I thought Nate (Harris) did a terrific job of targeting the Midwest, spending a lot of time there. Katie (Burrows) had to take over the bulk with being understaffed, which was a lot on her plate being the rookie. That’s one of the reasons why we were very selective when we were looking for our opening. There was a lot of qualified coaches who brought us some different backgrounds and strengths but we really wanted somebody who could hit the ground running and take our recruiting up a notch. I really think Julian fits that.”

After MSU’s loss in the WNIT in March, Stockton’s tenure as MSU ended. Almost two months later, Binford hired Julian Assibey to her staff. After one season as an assistant at Colorado, Assibey will serve as Binford’s recruiting coordinator.

Skyline Sports: John wasn’t doing any recruiting so was that hard recruiting down a coach?

Binford: “The thought process was when Kellee (Barney) left and took that job, we felt that the No. 1 priority was taking care of the immediate team’s needs. I’ll be quite honest: recruiting, we had just finished our fall so we really felt that…not that we didn’t put any time into it but it wasn’t the No. 1 priority at the time. Having success with the season took care of recruiting in itself because recruits want to come to winning programs. That opened the door for Blair when she was available to show interest in our program, getting an opportunity to get back in with her. We had solidified those three and now we have been able to pick up the recruiting again.”

Skyline Sports: New assistant, you wanted to prioritize recruiting but do you feel like that’s a lot of pressure to replace a guy like John?

Binford: “That’s already his running nickname. He’s the guy who replaced John Stockton. But it’s totally different. From a standpoint of on-court developing kids and what our needs were, John was the perfect match. Our kids knew him, they trusted him and he was able to come in and hit the ground running being familiar with our program. We made the schedules match and now the next step is areas we wanted to fill.

“Julian is going to emphasize recruiting and we are going to put him in charge of point guard development. He is also going to assist Nate on the defensive side of things. We want to make sure he’s getting on the road, developing those relationships with club and high school coaches, getting out and seeing kids more. We are challenging that level up a notch. Coming from the Pac 12, he has a list of kids and resources and one of the things that I really loved is he is from Colorado (he also coached at Western State in Gunnison). That’s one area we have been heavily recruiting more.

“It’s already been fruitful. Some of the kids we are having conversations with Julian and when you meet him, his personality is so much fun, kids are drawn to him.”

Skyline Sports: You must’ve gone through a bunch of potential candidates for that job. Did you have some good applicants?

Binford: “We had some tremendous applicants. By the end of the search, I was able to make a ton of connections and relationships with people I wouldn’t have otherwise not going through the process. It’s the first time we’ve ever put our coaching searches out on social media and that in itself was a lot more time consuming. It’s the most interviews I’ve ever done looking for a coach.

“To be honest, Julian and I getting to this place so late in the ball game, he had some leads, he had some opportunities and I had actually talked to some people on his staff. He didn’t want to interfere with that because those were friendships of his and I didn’t really know about him because of these people. When I was to the point of asking again, Julian’s name came up. I just knew the first phone call that we had a chance to talk that he was the right fit.”

Skyline Sports: I know you guys were more used to it than any outsiders, but the experience of having an NBA Hall of Famer on your bench, what was that like for you?

Binford: “Surreal would probably not be the appropriate word. I will say it will be an experience we will never forget and it was a once in a lifetime experience. I know personally I’m going to have a consultant for life to make me better. We’ve already talked about that. I just think he is going to be a Bobcat for life. He has 14 other daughters now, he feels. He made us all better not only the players but the coaches. We are extremely grateful.

“People don’t know John with his sense of humor. He is still texting my entire staff giving everyone a hard time because that’s just the type of person he is.

“One of my favorite stories is when we first hired him, it hit Twitter right off the bat and was crazy. I knew it was going to be big but I didn’t realize it was going to be that big. Justin, my son, he had just come home from school. He said, ‘Mom, everybody at school is talking about you hiring John Stockton! Do you think he knows Peyton Manning?”

Skyline Sports: He seemed to do such a good job of being just coach Stockton.

Binford: “There was many days where I wanted to utilize him so much more but we wanted to respect the scenario and the situation. People would ask if I used him for recruiting. Boy, wouldn’t that have been amazing in itself? There would’ve been so much more for him to do but he wasn’t on salary. He just wanted to get back and forth. He’s so busy and he did pretty darn well with what we had him in charge of.”

Skyline Sports: That would be hard to recruit with the knowledge that he was not going to be here.

Has last season had a chance to sink in yet, the special nature of it but also the heartbreaking ending of it all?

Binford: “As we’ve been going around to the booster functions, I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘Hey great season, I’m so sorry about the end.’ The ending was definitely heart breaking but we have been able to meet with the kids before they left for the summer. Our last meeting, our first meeting, whichever way you want to interpret it, the message was this is the new benchmark. I think programs have to take steps. We are to the point where we are just embracing that next step of the program.

“We saw that last couple of weeks and how that unfolded. There were a couple of different factors. It was obviously a rough, tough road trip leading up to Reno yet other teams were playing well. We also found ourselves for the first time being the top dog in that experience. Our next step is taking that reputation and experience and expecting to be the best and playing to that and utilizing that as a strength, not necessarily something we are going to run away from. Embracing it is probably the more appropriate word right now and excited about that new position for the program.”

Skyline Sports: Lindsay and Jasmine did such a good job of embracing the moment of their final year. Where does that come from next year? Do you have someone in place who can be that senior leader?

Binford: Riley and Peyton No. 1. When we lost at Utah and we were talking in the locker room, I wish I could’ve tape recorded what Peyton said to the team. It was better than anything I could’ve said to the team as a coach. At that point, I thought, ‘We have a tremendous leader on our hands going into next season.’ She was so articulate yet so honest. She is going to be a tremendous leader because she is so respected for how tough she is and how consistent she is. But she has been the epitome of the pulse this team took on this year as far as selflessness. I don’t know how many times I used that word this year but Peyton was how that all started. Hannah came off the bench and learned how to do that well based on what Peyton did the previous year.

“Riley coming in and just being such an immediate, emotional type of player for us, she is going to really compliment Peyton in that regard. They are both winners, they are both competitors.

“I’m going to challenge Hannah to be that at the point guard position. I asked her to be a selfless teammate and take a spot coming off the bench but I think that kid is the best point guard in the Big Sky Conference returning.

“Delany played a ton of minutes, (senior guard) Margreet (Barhoum) has a ton of experience. We have Hailey, who was voted as our most improved team player at the team banquet. Then we have such a huge core in this freshmen class coming in.”

Skyline Sports: So much discussion about Reno and most coaches thought it was good for the league. But being the top seed and having it end like that, did that skew your interpretation of the neutral site? What were your thoughts on neutralizing the tournament?

Binford: “I think if you’re the top team, you definitely want to be able to host it and if you are any other team, you liked it being in Reno.

“Reno is for the 11 other teams to feel like they have a great tournament experience yet with what we were able to put together in (Brick Breeden) Fieldhouse, that would be a phenomenal experience for you if you were hosting. But not every school can say that and that’s why everybody wanted a neutral site. Montana State draws well, Montana draws well. If you are a school who doesn’t draw well and you win the conference and you are hosting, it’s not going to be that kind of atmosphere.

“We need to do better in getting more fans to Reno if we are going to keep it there. I thought the Big Sky Conference did a tremendous job of organizing it, it was first-class and overall went really well.”

Skyline Sports: Once people catch on, I think it will be something that can grow.

Binford: “It was a pretty great experience. We obviously just got the wrong end of the stick. But that’s life. Sometimes, you are at the odd end.”

Skyline Sports: Winning the league last year, a new benchmark for your program, how do you continue that momentum, not rest on your laurels, not get complacent and stay hungry?

Binford: “No. 1, you start with using the edge with the way last season ended. That’s your motivation to jump start the next year and to take off from that. There’s a new level of expectation every time you achieve something great. What are you expecting and demanding at this point? The internal challenge of each other is going to be really exciting to see what we can do year to year and as a coaching staff, from an execution standpoint to the next step.

“We were really consistent in some areas and I feel like we have some opportunities to have some things compliment on the defensive end because we have a really strong core in place with what Nate has been able to do there. I’m excited about that.

“We will play off our experience coming back. Peyton and Riley will be two of the most thought out scouting report kids on our team so we will have to tweak some things there.”

Skyline Sports: You certainly start with them.

Back to the seniors from last year. Jasmine has this great year and she wins MVP. What do you think her legacy is at Montana State?

Binford: “Legacy is as one of the best. Give her 10 years and she will be in the Hall of Fame. I think the Hommes name and reputation has been well earned. The legacy is that she is going to go down as one of the best players in program history.”

Skyline Sports: When she was up there giving that interview after that tournament loss, what were you thinking as a coach as she spoke with such class? You must’ve been very proud of her.

Binford: “My first reaction was I was devastated for them but so proud of what the character of Jasmine, how she always handled success and failure. She was always humble and I think she couldn’t have done a better job. Knowing her as a Christian and how she wants to witness to others, I just think she is a tremendous light and example for all of us.”

Skyline Sports: In that moment, to speak like that, it was one of the most poignant and impressive things I’ve seen from a student-athlete. It was amazing.

Talk to me about some of the successes of some of your former girls. I talked to (former All-Big Sky guard) Katie (Bussey) the other day. How much do you keep up with her?

After setting the Big Sky’s all-time record for 3-pointers in a career, Bussey earned a contract to begin playing professionally in Holland in 2012. Now she competes in the top league in Sweden and her team recently won the top championship in their level. A full story on Bussey is coming soon on Skyline Sports.

 Binford: “I keep up with her through text and Facebook and any time she is in Colorado, we talk. We keep in touch. She’s a kid of ours. I reached out to here another time when the coaching job came open again. I reached out to her last year too. We talk outside of just basketball. We talk about our families. I’m extremely proud of her.

“She’s a great example, Jasmine and Katie, you couldn’t ask for better role models for young girls as far as what you are capable of if you put your passion into something. Both of them have done it with just such class. Katie has really jumped off because she has the perfect personality for an import player to really make an impact in a club program.”

Skyline Sports: You are probably not surprised by her success on the court.

Binford: “No. She’s a gamer. She’s a kid who keeps getting better and better. I always tell our players, and I don’t know where I heard this myth or if this is even a myth but I keep hearing you don’t hit your peak performance until you are 28 for women. I felt like when I played, that’s really where I hit my best performance. I really feel like Katie is on the tip of the iceberg. She sends me links to watch her. She keeps getting better and better. She still loves the game and has fun with it. The crowd and the atmosphere there is pretty amazing so she has herself a great niche.”

Skyline Sports: The love of the game, that’s the thing you have to keep.

Binford: “As far as every kid I’ve ever coached in this program, I don’t know if anyone can live up to Katie’s passion for the game. Katie is absolutely 100 percent, if you are to describe a true love of the game, she has it. That’s probably why Katie and I connected so well as player and coach. We were so relatable.”

Skyline Sports: Every time I wanted to interview her when she was here, she would always want me to meet her at the gym at 7 a.m. and she would just be getting done with another workout.

How about Mandy Close? Your former assistant helped lead Oregon State to the women’s Final Four? That must’ve been pretty sweet to watch them do so well.

Binford: “(Former associate head coach) Amy (Starr) met up with her the night before they played at the Final Four. We keep in touch all the time. They are getting back in, she is getting married here in a few weeks so we will get to see them then. I can stay a little more consistently in contact with Mandy since she’s not international.

“That was really fun to watch them. I just fee like she was such a big part of that being the recruiting coordinator and watching what she does on the bench with those players. Another great mentor.”

Skyline Sports: And I have to ask you about Twitter. You finally have it. Do you think it’s an essential part of college athletics?

Binford: “It is essential because social media is everything. I listened to a webinar by the WBCA yesterday about the millennials. I think a lot of coaches make the mistake of being frustrated with this generation rather than embracing what the strengths are of this generation. It’s not how you and I were raised with social media at our fingertips. I think there is a lot of value to that. We can get our message out more instantly and get them familiar with our program. I think there’s some value to that. That’s what we are going to try to take advantage of.

“Now am I good at it? Not yet. I’m still trying to figure out what do I tweet about? Do they want to know what is going on at my household? Some things I might not want to tweet about. But it’s kind of fun. Hopefully I’ll get more consistent about it. Coach Harris was supposed to get me on that like a year ago so we will give Coach Burrows the credit (laughs). She oversees the rest of our social media. She’s fantastic about it.”

Skyline Sports: Last thing for you. Now entering Year 12, what do you think of the state of your program and how do you fit into the Big Sky next year and beyond?

Binford: “I would say I felt like we built the program the first two years and the program has always been solid. I felt like we were always competitive, toward the top of the conference. But to get the results portion of that and the expectation on top of it and having been there, I think it’s a really exciting place for the program right now. We have had the experience being there. The coaches now have a tremendous vision. I think that the players have bought into that vision and really pushing it to the next step. I’m really excited to see how the community helps us get to an even higher level.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

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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