The Big Sky Conference’s road to Reno has reached its stretch run. With three weeks remaining in league play, the Montana and Montana State basketball teams face the final single-game week of the season.
The Grizzlies host the Bobcats in 2016’s second round of the age-old rivalry on the hardwood. The women open the double-header at Dahlberg Arena with a 2 p.m. matinee tip. The men play at 7 p.m.
[restrict paid=”true”]The women’s game features a suddenly surging Lady Griz team facing a Bobcat squad looking to continue its pursuit of the Big Sky regular-season championship. Montana State won the first matchup in Bozeman, 61-52, to seal the first four-game losing streak in a generation for Montana.
Montana’s four-game skid marked the first time since the 1998-1999 season and just the second in head coach Robin Selvig’s 38-plus seasons at the helm that UM dropped four straight. Since the loss at MSU, Montana has rallied for wins over Sacramento State, Portland State, at Southern Utah and at Northern Arizona. UM enters the rivalry game with a 15-9 record, including an 8-5 mark in Big Sky play, putting the Lady Griz a game behind Weber State in the loss column and fifth in the league standings. The top four teams receive first-round byes in the 12-team Big Sky Tournament in Reno, Nevada the second week of March.
UM senior McCalle Feller, a Lewistown native who’s 17.8 points per game are second on the Lady Griz and third in the Big Sky, scored 22 points in UM’s 90-83 win over Sacramento State before suffering an injury that has kept her on the bench since. A Montana assistant confirmed that Feller will play on Saturday.
In Feller’s absence, UM senior Hannah Doran has risen to the occasion and senior forward Kayleigh Valley has continued to shoulder a good deal of the scoring load. In three starts since Feller’s injury, Doran has averaged 12.3 points and eight rebounds per game. Valley continues to lead the conference in scoring at nearly 21 points per game, a figure that has bumped to 24.6 points per outing with Feller on the shelf.
The Montana State women enter the game on a six-game winning streak and have won 12 of 13 in conference play. The Bobcats (19-5) have already won as many games as they ever have in Tricia Binford’s 10-plus seasons at the helm and MSU’s 12 conference victories are the most under Binford. MSU’s lone conference loss as an 81-69 defeat at Eastern Washington; the Eagles are 11-2 in league play, a game behind MSU for the top seed in the tournament.
Montana State senior point guard Lindsay Stockton suffered a minor head injury in MSU’s 74-64 win over Portland State and missed the Bobcats’ historic 116-99 victory over Sacramento State. She returned to score 19 points and dish out seven assists in MSU’s 83-72 win at Northern Arizona.
In Montana State’s win over Montana in Bozeman, junior reserve forward Peyton Ferris scored 16 points to lead a balanced scoring attack, a trend for the Bobcats all season. Ferris, a former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Twin Bridges, is averaging 14.0 points per game on a Big Sky-best 58.7 percent shooting.
Senior center Jasmine Hommes (15.4 points per game) and junior forward Riley Nordgaard (10.7 points per game) are also double figures scorers for MSU. Nordgaard also leads the Bobcats in rebounds (7.4) and is fourth in the league in steals per game (2.6).
The Lady Griz feature seven players from the state of Montana. Feller, senior point guard Haley Vining (Great Falls CMR) and junior Alycia Sims (Stevensville) are Lady Griz starters with Treasure State roots. Redshirt freshmen Jace Henderson (Billings Senior) and Maddie Keast (Missoula Sentinel) and true freshman McKenzie Johnston (Helena Capital) are also Montana natives who will play in the game.
Ferris is one of four Bobcats from in-state. Senior forward Alexa Dawkins and sophomore forward Amy Davis are Bozeman natives while freshman guard Madisyn Shaide is from Missoula (Big Sky).
The men’s game pits a Montana squad looking to clinch a second straight Big Sky regular-season crown against a Montana State team looking to snap an 11-game losing streak to the Grizzlies. MSU’s last win against Montana doubles as it’s last win in Missoula, a 73-67 triumph on February 27 of 2010.
Montana State put together a must-have three-game winning streak entering the rivalry game. MSU posted wins over Sacramento State, Northern Arizona and Southern Utah in succession; the trio has combined for seven league victories, the same number as Montana State has in Brian Fish’s second season. MSU went 4-14 in league play, 7-23 overall in Fish’s first campaign.
“We just want to build on it, keep it going,” MSU senior point guard Marcus Colbert said following MSU’s 80-73 win over Southern Utah to complete the second conference home sweep of the Fish era. “We have guys who are producing, giving us good minutes and if we can keep that going, keep everyone progressing, we should be all right these last five games.”
The Bobcats set a Big Sky record by making 25 3-pointers in the 101-58 win over Northern Arizona and carried the momentum into the Southern Utah win for the first half, entering the locker room with a 14-point lead.
The last five games will determine whether Montana State is a contender for a top-four seed and a first-round bye or if the Bobcats will be relegated to playing in the first round on Tuesday of the nearly week long tournament. After playing at Montana, the Bobcats play at Weber State and Idaho State before closing out the season with Northern Colorado and North Dakota at home.
MSU is tied for sixth with UND at 7-6 in league play. Each squad is a game behind Idaho (8-5) and two games back of Idaho State (8-4) in the loss column. Montana State leads the league at 11-2, a game better than Weber State. UM and Weber have each won nine Big Sky Tournaments, most in the league. Eastern Washington, currently in third at 9-4, earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last spring.
“This time of year, it really just comes down to game day,” Fish said. “You practice and you prepare but it’s all about who’s ready. We are down to nine healthy bodies right now. We are going to have some mental stuff. But really it comes down to it’s no longer October or November.”
Behind the unbelievably efficient play of senior Martin Breunig, Montana is marching toward its ninth Big Sky regular-season title. Breunig, a 6-foot-8 former transfer from Washington, has made 30 of his last 35 field goal attempts, including a 12-of-14 performance in a 29-point outing in Montana’s 85-67 win over Northern Arizona on Saturday.
Breunig is averaging 21.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game during Big Sky play. He is shooting 71.1 percent from the floor. On Saturday, he became the 29th Montana player to surpass 1,000 points in his career.
Junior point guard Walter Wright (12.4 ppg), freshman guard Michael Oguine (10.3) and junior guard Brandon Gfeller (10.0) all average double figures scoring for Montana. Oguine and Wright combined for 45 points in UM’s 80-72 win over Montana State in Bozeman.
Montana State’s roster features two in-state products: senior forward Danny Robison (Billings West) and freshman walk-on Cooper Olson (Westby). Montana’s roster features seven Montana products: junior Riley Bradshaw (Corvallis), junior Aaron Misipeka-Ward (Florence), junior Zachary Camel (Polson), redshirt freshman Bryden Boehning (Glendive) and Gavin DeJong (Manhattan) and freshmen Jared Samuelson and Trevor Spoja, each Billing West alums.
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
