Kyndall Keller started fast and finished strong to help the Lady Griz collect their first road win of the season on Tuesday afternoon.
Montana, two days after a hard-fought loss at No. 25 Gonzaga, raced out to a 16-4 lead and never trailed in defeating Seattle on its home court, 61-55.
The Lady Griz (2-2) led 31-20 at the half and took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
The Redhawks (2-4) spent most of the final period within 10 points and cut the lead to five, 53-48, with 5:04 to play.
That’s when Keller hit the biggest shot of her young career, a 3-pointer in front of Montana’s bench that made it 56-48. Seattle would not get closer than six the rest of the way.
Keller, who entered the game with five points through the season’s first three games, finished with 17 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
The 2019 Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Havre scored 14 of Montana’s 30 points in the second half.
“Kyndall was amazing today,” said coach Mike Petrino, who leaned heavily on the freshman late in the game, putting her on Seattle’s Bree Calhoun, who would finish with a game-high 23 points.
“Everyone will look at those threes, but we put her on their leading scorer near the end of the game when she had 22 points. After we made the change, we held her to one.
“Kyndall got it done on both ends, offense and defense, and she only had one turnover against that press. She grew up a lot today.”
Jordyn Schweyen added seven points, giving Montana a 26-2 advantage in bench scoring, but the game may not have been won without the starting five, who got the Lady Griz rolling early.
Hannah Thurmon hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 70 seconds, and Abby Anderson later added six straight points as Montana got out to an early 12-point lead.
Montana opened 9 for 16 in the first quarter, on a day when Sunday’s effort could have had an impact had the visiting team allowed it.
“Just a huge credit to our kids,” said Petrino. “We had a very physical game on Sunday against Gonzaga. We made a big deal of not being flat.
“We were big on having a good start, and I thought our start was great. You don’t win games at the start, you win at the finish, but that start put us in position to finish strong, so that was big.”
Down 11 at the break, Seattle came out with more energy and a more attacking mindset to start the third.
Everything was there for a comeback. The Redhawks forced 17 Lady Griz turnovers in the second half and took 35 shots to Montana’s 19 over the final 20 minutes.
With the lead down to three midway through the third quarter, 39-36, Keller hit a 3-pointer on Montana’s first possession after she entered the game for the first time in the second half.
She hit another one just over two minutes later to extend Montana’s lead back to nine, 47-38.
Montana made just three baskets in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over eight times, but Seattle couldn’t take advantage, not going 5 for 19 over the final 10 minutes.
It wasn’t pretty. It was stressful. But it was a win on the road, the first for a team that is still young and largely inexperienced, and still just four games into the season.
“Throughout the game, I kept reminding myself that I’d rather be ahead than behind, so stay together and keep moving forward,” said Petrino. “We made enough plays.
“Winning on the road is hard. Anytime you can have a good start and get ahead, that puts you in better position. We hit our lulls. Credit to Seattle. This is a hard place to play.”
Anderson finished with 12 for Montana, Thurmon hit three triples for nine points, and Sophia Stiles had another full stat line. She totaled eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Schweyen added seven in an efficient 11 minutes off the bench. All her points came in the first half.
“Our bench stepped up big,” said Petrino. “Jordyn hit big shots early, and Hannah got us going. In that first run, she hit some big threes to loosen us up and get us going.”
Seattle held Carmen Gfeller, who entered the game averaging 19.7 points, to six. Madi Schoening, who left the game late with an injury, was held scoreless but grabbed seven boards.
“It’s probably the first game all year we didn’t establish inside scoring consistently,” said Petrino. “We had some good shots that just didn’t go in for some players who normally score.
“Other kids stepped up. It was great to see our team step up with new people. That was great for us and a great team road win.”
Montana will close out its pre-Christmas schedule with a home game against Utah Valley on Monday at 2 p.m.
