Cat-Griz Hoops

Freije leads Bobcats to OT win over Lady Griz in Missoula

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Despite sitting out last season, Fallyn Freije was voted as the Big Sky Conference’s preseason MVP in women’s basketball.

On Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena, Freije looked every bit like Montana State’s most valuable player as she bailed out her struggling teammates to help MSU gut out a comeback win to remember in a hostile rivalry environment.

Freije has played in Dahlberg Arena three times before. But each time, it was as a power forward for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. When UND left the Big Sky, Freije stayed, transferring to Montana State. She sat out last season yet still earned the respect of those around the league by being voted as the league’s preseason MVP.

Saturday, Montana State missed 75 percent of its shots over the first 38 minutes of the game. The Bobcats trailed by eight at the end of the first quarter and by double figures for most of the next two frames. But MSU never stopped battling for loose balls, crashing the glass or playing defense.

And when the visitors needed big buckets during crunch time, they turned to Freije. The 6-foot-1 combo forward converted a pair of buckets in the final five minutes of regulation as MSU mounted a 10-0 run to erase what once was a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter. And Freije took over in overtime, scoring 10 of her game-high 27 points during bonus time to lift Montana State to a hard-fought 66-61 victory in front of 3,617.

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Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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