The Bobcats are riding the most efficient offense in the Big Sky Conference with the third week of league play set to begin. It seems no coincidence that the Montana State women’s basketball team has shown a deft propensity for sharing the basketball with one of the greatest in the history of the game looking on.
Just before her team’s season was set to begin, MSU 11th-year head coach Tricia Binford learned Kellee Barney would be leaving her staff. Binford scrambled to find a replacement, eventually falling upon an NBA Hall of Famer to join the Bobcat women for the rest of the current campaign. John Stockton, the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and widely considered one of the greatest pure point guards in the history of basketball, joined the MSU coaching staff. His daughter, Lindsay, is a Montana State senior point guard.
MSU head coach Trisha Binford during practice
Although more factors than just Stockton have played into MSU’s 4-0 start in Big Sky play — the team is flush with veterans that have cultivated great chemistry and a talent level among the top of the league — Stockton has certainly played a role for a team that currently leads the Big Sky in assists per game (19.3).
“John has had great influence,” Binford said on Tuesday. “We have some drills we have introduced that he is running in practice settings. He calls it ‘passing under duress.’ I think he’s helped us get more mature as far as our decision making and not being rushed and how we handle pressure.”
“John has taught the guards a lot about passing, different ways to pass,” added MSU senior Jasmine Hommes, the reigning Big Sky women’s Player of the Week. “But it’s mostly because we share the ball so well that we are leading the league. It’s all of us contributing to that.”
Last weekend, Montana State handled two of the most pressure-packed defenses in the league and emerged with two victories. Against Sacramento State, Montana State notched 22 assists and 19 turnovers against the Hornet’s relentless press, a swarming defense that averages 15.9 steals per game. Sophomore Hannah Caudill’s 3-pointer from the corner with six seconds left lifted MSU to an 80-79 win in California’s capital.
MSU guard Hannah Caudill
Two nights later, MSU put on a scoring exhibition. Caudill, a sophomore from Spokane who leads the Big Sky in assists in a reserve role, dished out 10 assists as the Bobcats set a school record with 32 assists on 45 made field goals in a 106-59 win at Portland State. Five Bobcats scored in double figures as MSU scored more points on the road than any Bobcat team ever had.
“When you have experience and an offense that suits your team, the assists are going to come up,” said Binford, who’s team employs Hommes, Stockton and Alexa Dawkins as its seniors along with junior Peyton Ferris, who signed in the same recruiting class as the senior trio. “When you are facing presses, you have a lot more possessions so you have a lot more opportunities for assists. If you are able to break a press over the top, you are likely going to have something that is fed off a great pass.
“When you see our team performing well, our assists are high. When we are pressing, we put pressure on our own shoulders and we aren’t making the extra pass. That’s why we lead the conference in assists. We feed off each other and we love making each other look good but it’s also the highest percentage shot and we are playing with great composure. When we are rushed is when we force the issue” said Binford.
As Montana State enters its second home stand of the conference season with North Dakota and Northern Colorado coming to Bozeman, the 11-4 Bobcats have been the model of offensive efficiency. The Bobcats are second in the league in scoring, averaging 75.7 points per game on a Big Sky-best 44.3 percent shooting, nearly three percent higher than any other team in the conference. The Bobcats are shooting a league-best 35 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. MSU’s +16.1 scoring margin is the best in the league and MSU’s 19.3 assists per game are seventh in the nation.
MSU point guard Lindsey Stockton on-ball defense
“We have so many different threats on our team so it’s hard for other teams to stop any certain person on our team,” said Hommes, the team’s leading scorer at 14.9 points per game. “When we do share the ball so well, it’s hard for teams to play defense for 30 seconds when we have five players who can score on the court.”
Lindsay Stockton is a proven commodity, a team captain in her second year as Montana State’s starting point guard. This season, she is averaging 7.7 points and 3.6 assists per game, fifth-most in the league, in 25 minutes per outing. The development of Caudill, like Lindsay Stockton a product of Gonzaga Prep, has been a key to MSU’s early-season surge. In 24.4 minutes per game Caudill is averaging 7.0 points and a league-best 6.2 assists per game.
“(Caudill) has always been a great passer, we all knew that when she came in as a freshman,” Hommes said. “I think her confidence has boosted up quite a bit too. She is a great player coming off the bench and not skipping a beat when she comes in for Lindsay. She does such a great job with us posts and guards of making us look good with her great passes.”
While Stockton’s fundamental coaching and Montana State’s maturation individually are key factors in the hot offensive start, Binford points to the team’s defense as the reason MSU is off to a 4-0 start in league play. The Bobcats are holding teams to 33.9 percent shooting, the best mark in the league and 59.6 points per game, the second-best average in the Big Sky.
MSU forward Jasmine Hommes on-ball defense
“Everything has been falling off our great defense,” Binford said. “We are getting stops and we are controlling the tempo on the offensive end. We are playing more unselfishly on the offensive end and we are getting those kind of rewards from our defense.”
North Dakota brings a bruising squad to Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Thursday to give MSU a different test. Senior power forward Mia Loyd, the preseason Big Sky Player of the Year, leads UND. But the Fighting Hawks are not off to the start many expected. North Dakota comes to Bozeman with a 5-10 record, including 1-3 in Big Sky play. Still, MSU refuses to rest on its successes and will not take anyone lightly.
“Every team is going to be a test and every team brings something different,” Hommes said. “All the teams in the Big Sky are strong. This is a great league we are in. The next game is the most important game. North Dakota is what we are going to focus on now.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
