THE MATCHUP
A win over Big Sky doormat Portland State on Thursday got the Montana Lady Griz back in the win column after a two-week COVID break. They followed up with a much tougher test against Northern Arizona, which came in tied with Montana with a 4-2 conference record and earlier gave Big Sky leader Idaho State its only conference loss.
THE RESULT
Northern Arizona led for most of a cold-shooting first half, but two free throws by Nyah Morris-Nelson gave Montana a 27-25 lead at halftime. Haley Huard’s 3-pointer midway through the third quarter broke a 34-34 tie and kicked off a 7-0 run for the Lady Griz, who never trailed again in a 66-60 win. Northern Arizona’s Nina Radford made three 3-pointers in the final three-and-a-half minutes, including two in the last 18 seconds, but Montana went 8 of 10 at the free-throw line in the final minute to clinch the win.
Northern Arizona had 23 more field-goal attempts than Montana, 76 to 53, thanks to 18 offensive rebounds and 15 Lady Griz turnovers. The Lumberjacks shot just 30.3% from the field, and Montana attempted 28 free throws to the visitors’ nine.
THE STANDOUTS
Montana junior forward Carmen Gfeller finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, both game-highs. She went 12 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Sammy Fatkin finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Haley Huard, fresh off a career-high 18 points against Portland State, poured in 11 more.
Northern Arizona’s Khiarica Rasheed, a former Big Sky preseason MVP, finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Lumberjacks point guard Regan Schenck had 13 points, six rebounds and a game-high four assists.
TWO THOUGHTS
- Gfeller missed two free throws with 23 seconds left and an eight-point lead, leading to a Radford 3-pointer five seconds later that cut it to a two-possession game. Northern Arizona put Gfeller back on the free-throw line right after, and she swished both to put the game away. The two freebies she missed in the final minute were her only misfires all day as she went 12 of 14 from the charity stripe. “That’s frustrating, I don’t like missing free throws,” Gfeller said. “I just knew that I would probably get the opportunity to do that again with how Kat (Tsineke) and I were subbing, and make the next ones count.”
- Northern Arizona has had one of the most talented rosters in the Big Sky the last few years, anchored by Rasheed, an all-Big Sky first-team selection in 2020. Rasheed, Radford, point guard Regan Schenck, stretch post Emily Rodabaugh and wing Lauren Orndoff give NAU a great core. The Lumberjacks’ win over an (admittedly shorthanded) Idaho State earlier in the season showed they can compete at the top of the conference. But all that’s led to is three straight second-round exits in the Big Sky tournament. Saturday’s game was a microcosm of that puzzling underachievement as self-inflicted shot selection hurt NAU. After Abby Anderson’s jumper early in the fourth quarter made it 50-41, giving Montana its biggest lead of the game and turning up the volume in Dahlberg Arena, NAU’s response was…a leaning pullup jumper at the free-throw line by Nyah Moran, the ‘Jacks’ sixth-leading scorer, just 13 seconds into the shot clock? Not a bad shot, but in that situation you have to work to find something better, right?
QUOTABLE
“Defense wins, right? (Northern Arizona) had to hit two 3s at the end there to get to 60. I told the team at half, ‘Look, great first half. If we can hold them between 50 and 60, we’re going to have a great chance to win,’ and we did. Proud of our defense, it’s what you go to when you want to win.” – Montana head coach Brian Holsinger
“We had just played against a zone (Portland State), and when you play against a zone, a lot of it is very stagnant. You’re standing around a lot. You go from zone to man, now you have to move. We were really stagnant to start the game, a lot of standing around when we should be moving. You probably heard me screaming, ‘Cut! Move! Cut!’ We weren’t very sharp.” – Montana head coach Brian Holsinger
“This was a big turnaround for our team. We knew that (Northern Arizona) would come in and play a good game. That’s NAU, that’s what they do. I think it’s really a big surge of confidence going into Monday. … They definitely gave us a run on the rebounds. We didn’t expect them to come out and rebound like they did, especially on the offensive end. There came a point in the third or fourth quarter when it was like, it’s now or never, and we needed to get those boards, we needed to finish strong, and I think we did that.” – Montana forward Carmen Gfeller
BOX SCORE (CLICK)
SOCIAL
WHAT’S NEXT
Montana (12-4, 5-2 Big Sky Conference) travels to Bozeman for a crucial rivalry game against Montana State on Monday. The two teams are tied for third in the conference with 5-2 Big Sky records, and both are on three-game winning streaks.
Northern Arizona (7-8, 4-3) plays at Eastern Washington on Monday.
