The Bobcats almost bounced back in memorable fashion on Friday night.
Montana State had a winning streak that lasted for 18 victories and 344 days ended when MSU lost 72-58 to BYU in Provo, Utah on Thursday. Less than 24 hours later, Darian White looked like the best player on the court as a visitor in Pac 12 country and her Bobcats went toe to toe with Utah in Salt Lake City.
The visitors went on an 18-6 run to end the first half ahead 35-33. Montana State pushed the advantage to five points twice in the third quarter and did not let the Utes take the lead until eight minutes, 21 seconds remained in the game.
Utah mounted just one run, but that spurt was the only one the Utes needed. Three different Utah players hit 3-pointers — the Utes went 12-of-27 from downtown overall — during a 15-0 run that turned a 55-55 tie into a 70-55 Utah lead with five minutes to play.
Montana State missed 10 of its final 11 field goal attempts and lost the fourth quarter by 10 points, leading to a 73-63 defeat at the Huntsman Center on Friday night in Salt Lake City.
“I really liked how we responded to a tough outing against BYU,” said MSU 16th-year head coach Tricia Binford in a press release. “We came out strong and played a much cleaner game. We got some good looks and were able to have an interior presence. It was also great to see Darian take control. I thought she was the best player on the floor.”
White, last season’s Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year, raced all over the court in an impressive 35 minutes filled with energy. She snared three steals, including one she converted into a lay-up to spark MSU’s second quarter run. That lay-in gave her 15 points at halftime and she finished with 21 for the game. But the 5-foot-4 dynamo did not earn a single free throw attempt, although MSU shot 20 from the stripe, sinking 17.
Fellow Bobcat sophomore Madison Jackson earned most of those trips to the free throw line, drawing six fouls and sinking all nine of her freebies on the way to scoring 11 points.
K.J. Limardo, one of five freshmen who saw the floor Friday, added 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 30 minutes of action. She hit a pair of 3-pointers but Montana State finished just 4-of-17 from deep and shot just 31.8 percent overall.
Zuzanna Puc hit a 3-pointer at the 8:21 mark to spark Utah’s late run.Dru Gylten followed that up by hitting a triple of her own, marking just her second made field goal on a night the Utah junior point guard dished out a career-high 13 assists.
One of those assists went to Peyton McFarland to push the hosts’ lead to double figures for the first time in the second half. The next went to Kemery Martin for a 3-pointer to make the lead 70-55. Four of Gylten’s assists came in the final nine minutes as Utah, a team picked to finish in the middle of the Pac 12 pack, put the defending Big Sky champions away.
“For three quarters I thought we kept things pretty simple,” Binford said. “The fourth quarter got away from us. We lost our legs a little bit, but I’m proud of our effort. We have some things to build on and we’ll continue to grow and gain confidence.”
While Montana State was coming off its first loss in nearly a calendar year, the Utes were coming off an 85-79 victory at No. 15 Oregon State. MSU has now lost consecutive games for the first time since November 23 and November 25 of 2019 when the Bobcats fell 60-50 at South Dakota State and 71-60 at Minnesota, respectively.
The Bobcats play at Portland on December 17 before wrapping up its non-conference slate by hosting South Dakota State on Monday December 21.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
