On one hand, Montana State wants to repeat recent history. On the other, the Bobcat women’s basketball team wants buck the trend that has plagued the end of recent seasons.
When Peyton Ferris was a true freshman in 2013, the Bobcats raced to a 7-0 start in Big Sky Conference play only to lose nine of their last 12, including a first-round loss in the Big Sky Tournament to Eastern Washington. The following season, MSU again started hot, posting a 7-1 league record only to finish 10-10 in conference. The Bobcats again exited the Big Sky Tournament in the first round, this time with a loss to rival Montana.
In 2015, the Bobcats won five of their final six regular-season games only to bow out in the first round of the tournament, this time falling victim to Sacramento State. Last season, Montana State spurted to a 13-1 start in Big Sky play to help cement the first outright Big Sky title in school history. But the Bobcats lost five of their last seven games, including a heartbreaking 52-50 loss on a half-court buzzer-beater to Idaho State in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
MSU has a second straight regular-season title in its sights — the Bobcats are half a game behind North Dakota (13-2) at 12-3 in the league standings with three games to play — and MSU has a chance to surge into the tournament beginning Saturday afternoon with rival Montana in Bozeman. Montana State stubbed its toe at Portland State last week, losing 69-65 to snap a seven-game losing streak. But instead of folding and suffering a road sweep, the Bobcats rallied, scoring 62 points in the second half at Sac State to post a 104-82 victory.
The Bobcats have a 22-game home winning streak dating back to last season. MSU has not lost a Big Sky home game at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse since February of 2015. Montana State finishes with three straight at home beginning Saturday with the Lady Griz before closing next week on Wednesday against Idaho State and Friday against Weber State.
“We have to be tough,” said Ferris, now a fifth-year senior and top candidate for the BSC MVP this season. “It’s going to be a tough couple of weeks. The Griz are going to come out and give it their all again. Idaho State is a team that I’ve only beat once in my career and they are always a tough battle. They are someone you can’t take lightly. Weber is a tough team too, almost beat North Dakota. We are in a great position. We can’t dwell on the past of how we could’ve been in a better position. We have to take care of our part from here on out, hope for the best.”
Although the Bobcats have been the premier team in the Big Sky the last two seasons, the Lady Griz have still be a thorn in MSU’s side. A 70-66 loss to UM in Missoula last season sparked the downhill spiral that ended the careers of former standouts like last season’s Big Sky MVP Jasmine Hommes.
In the first matchup against the Lady Griz this season, the Bobcats needed a 9-0 run over the last two and a half minutes to send the contest in Missoula to overtime. Behind the clutch play of Ferris and junior Delany Junkermier, the Bobcats strung together a 15-0 run between the end of regulation and the beginning of overtime to help MSU earn a 75-69 victory.
The Bobcats are determined to not let their old nemesis foil their aspirations to hang another championship banner. Montana, the league’s perennial power for nearly four decades under Robin Selvig, is a shell of its former form under first-year head coach Shannon Schweyen. The loss to MSU was UM’s 11th straight league defeat. The Lady Griz broke through with home wins over Southern Utah and Northern Arizona only to get pounded by Sac State and Portland State last week on the road. UM enters Saturday’s matchup 2-13 in league, 5-21 overall.
“It’s hard to not look at their record but we knew it would be a tough game because rivalry games are always very hard,” said Junkermier, who scored 13 points including a game-tying 3-point play in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. “You get the best out of every single person during those games, especially the Montana kids. We knew going into it but maybe some of us were a little bit surprised how many shots they were making.”
Montana hit nine straight shots to begin the fourth quarter and turn a close affair into a Lady Griz runaway for a brief moment. But Ferris, who finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds and five locked shots, sparked the 9-0 run that also included a clutch 3-pointer from junior point guard Hannah Caudill.
“The biggest thing from that game is we realized we can come back from any deficit,” MSU 12th-year head coach Tricia Binford said. “You have to play to the final whistle.
“I think for us, the bigger picture is finishing the stretch run of conference. We want to build confidence by playing well going into the tournament. Getting a win is important for our fans and representing our state.”
Schweyen’s first season at the helm has been marred by adversity, particularly on the injury front. The Lady Griz lost preseason Big Sky MVP Kayleigh Valley for the season to a torn ACL before the season began. All-Big Sky center Alycia Sims tore her ACL the first game of the season.
As a result, Montana has played a rotation almost exclusively made up of freshmen. First-year players scored 59 of UM’s 69 points the first matchup against Montana State. Still, Binford sees a team that has improved throughout the season, pointing to Hamilton native Taylor Gogiloski’s consistent scoring throughout and Helena product McKenzie Johnston’s more confident play as of late.
“Their action, their sets are very, very similar and they are switching a lot of screen actions very similar,” Binford said of the parallels to the way Selvig coached his teams. “They have been collapsing on our post play very similar. From that aspect and how you prepare for them has not changed a whole lot. I think Shannon has done a very good job of putting them into some action that puts them into very good positions and puts you in tough positions. They showed that at their place.”
Junkermier talked on Tuesday about how hard Montana “came at us” in Missoula, something the Bobcats are preparing for this week. For Ferris and senior Riley Nordgaard, Saturday will mark the last time they play the Lady Griz. With a chance to surge into the tournament for the first time in recent memory at stake, Ferris and the Bobcats are ready to embrace the opportunity.
“It’s a great time to have this rivalry,” Ferris said. “Coming off last week, we were able to bounce back at Sac State. Having this going into our last week of our regular season, it’s an opportunity for us to get some momentum and come out and utilize that momentum and get a run going into the last week into the tournament.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
