As Montana State officially began its first Big Sky Conference title defense in a generation, Nate Harris had an outburst.
The Bobcat women’s basketball team was in the midst of its first practice of the 2016-17 campaign. MSU won 21 games last season, including 14 in conference to earn the first outright league banner in Montana State history. But this year’s Bobcats won’t feature tone-setting spitfire point guard Lindsay Stockton or smooth-shooting power forward Alexa Dawkins or, perhaps most importantly, silky center Jasmine Hommes, last winter’s BSC Most Valuable Player.
As Harris coached a roster that will need elevated contributions from just about everyone, including seven players who are either newcomers to the program or sat out last season, the intensity needed to pursue another conference title lacked, the communication poor and urgency nowhere to be found, causing MSU’s associate head to stop the drill again.
“If this is the type of defense you expect to be able to play at this level, we better score 95 points a game if we hope to beat anybody on our schedule,” Harris emphasized sternly to the Bobcat players.
Montana State head women’s basketball coach Trisha Binford/by Brooks Nuanez
Learning what it takes to compete on the Division I level is the first objective for Tricia Binford’s new squad as the reigning Big Sky Coach of the Year enters her 12th season at the helm. Montana State officially opened practice on Monday afternoon in Shroyer Gym on the MSU campus.
“That was the thing I noticed the most out of our first practice: having so much more newcomers in your practice scenarios than your experienced kids — we had two experienced kids not in practice today — I think that showed as far as our sense of urgency in drills and how hard you need to practice,” Binford said. “But it was Day 1. Our goal out of the 30 is that our practices are the best to be the best team. We didn’t accomplish that today but I need to give a little bit of grace to believe that they will pick it up and I believe they will.”
Montana State returns a solid core led by three seniors, including recently elected captains Peyton Ferris and Riley Nordgaard. For the second straight year, Ferris earned the Big Sky’s Top Reserve honors. The 5-foot-9 power forward from Twin Bridges averaged 15 points per game off the bench, shooting a Big Sky-best 58-percent from the field to also earn second-team All-Big Sky accolades. Nordgaard, a 5-foot-10 forward who sat out two years ago after transferring from Division II Augustana, burst onto the scene, averaging 11 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds while shooting 42.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line and serving as MSU’s defensive catalyst throughout. She earned Newcomer of the Year honors from the league.
“We’ve always adapted to a new identity and I feel like we have a ton of experience returning,” Binford said. “I do feel like Peyton is a tremendous leader and she will pick up a lot in the post for us. Riley is coming off a season where she really impacted the league. I think that allows her as a senior to carry more weight on her shoulder.
“And we return one of the best point guard, I believe, in the Big Sky Conference, Hannah (Caudill) leading the Big Sky in assists. (Junior) Delany (Junkermier) started for us as the two last year. And you have (senior) Margreet Barhoum who is also a seasoned veteran. With them covering the experience portion, it’s about how quickly our newcomers pick up things.”
Montana State guard Hannah Caudill /by Brooks Nuanez
During Monday’s session, Caudill was absent with an undisclosed injury that Binford said is not serious. The 5-foot-7 junior from Spokane led the Big Sky with 5.4 assists per game in 25 minutes off the bench backing up Stockton. Annika Lai, a 6-foot-1 wing who played in all 30 games and averaged 13 minutes per contest as a true freshman last winter, was at practice but did not participate. She wore a walking boot on her left foot but Binford said she hopes to return before MSU’s season-opening exhibition on November 3.
Other new faces that Binford expects to lobby for playing time include: junior guard Rebekah Hatchard, sophomore forward Ashton Siegner and five freshmen. Hatchard, Siegner and redshirt freshman Madisyn Shaide, a Missoula Big Sky product, all sat out last season. In the off-season, Binford added guard Oliana Squires, forward Madison Kast and posts Madeline Smith and Blaire Braxton as true freshmen.
“I don’t think we are farther ahead from a conditioning standpoint,” Binford said. “Some of our upper classmen had an opportunity to go home this summer, which we supported but we did require all our freshmen to be here. Both Peyton and Maddy Shaide were here this summer. It allowed our freshmen to pick up the offense and be led by one of the best leaders in our program in Peyton.”
The off-season also saw the departure of junior-to-be Hailey Blodgett, a 6-foot-3 role player who will graduate early and pursue career opportunities, and sophomore-to-be Amy Davis, a 6-foot-1 power forward from Bozeman. Because of the attrition in the middle and Ferris’ undersized frame, the Bobcats will rely heavily on Braxton, a 6-foot-2 center from Highlands Colorado, and Smith, a 6-foot-1 forward from Snohomish, Washington in the post from the outset, Binford said.
“Blair is somebody who will surprise a lot of people. Blair has a tremendous rebounding ability. I think Madeline has a lot of that offensive strength in her game. Over the course of her career, she has a lot of similarities to Jasmine on that end. Putting the two of them together, playing to their strengths early on, I think we can pick up some slack at the five.”
Squires, a 5-foot-8 guard from Colorado Springs, Colorado that made it to the final 20 players in the tryouts for the U-18 United States national team, will play a key role in the rotation right away, Binford said. Kast, a 6-foot-1, forward from Visalia, California, will redshirt.
“Oliana Squires is somebody who is going to get a ton of minutes as a freshman,” Binford said. “She’s extremely talented and she’s got a support system with some experienced guards to allow her that time to develop. Blair and Madeline don’t have that luxury. The five is the spot where we need to pick those things up.”
Montana State forward Peyton Ferris /by Brooks Nuanez
Montana State’s season included 13 wins in its first 14 conference outings and 13 home victories in front of one of the Big Sky’s most supportive crowds. But the ending did not play out how MSU might’ve envisioned. The Bobcats lost to rival Montana in Missoula to spark a slide that hit rock bottom with five losses over their last seven games.
MSU lost its final two regular-season games on the road but backed into the outright league title because of other results in the league. The Bobcats took the No. 1 seed into the first neutral site tournament in Big Sky history in Reno, only to face off with surging Idaho State. The Bengals won seven of nine down the stretch, one of the two losses an 82-80 defeat to MSU in Bozeman.
ISU took the No. 9 seed in and beat Northern Colorado in the opener. In the first game of the quarterfinals, Juliet Jones’ half-court heave at the buzzer eliminated the Bobcats. The heartbreak didn’t stop there. MSU earned the Big Sky’s automatic bid into the WNIT but saw its season end on the wrong side of a 95-61 blowout at Utah.
Binford said the disappointing ending fueled the fire of players like Ferris and Nordgaard. But it’s the players that don’t remember last winter well that will be the key to MSU’s renewed success.
“This group has a lot of different dynamics they draw from,” Binford said. “It will be different for under classmen than for our upper classmen. The way it ended drives a lot of our upper classmen, but it is a brand new season so for me, I like to focus on the identity to this group. We have to challenge ourselves to get a little more edge about us.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
