Game Recap

Lady Griz secure first four-game winning streak since Selvig era

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It’s been since the pioneer of the program stepped down that the Lady Griz have experienced such success. 

Legendary Montana women’s basketball head coach Robin Selvig won 865 games and 21 conference titles in his 38 seasons at the helm. He led his team on winning streaks of dozens of games at a time. Since his retirement following the 2015-2016 season, the UM women’s hoops team has not won four straight games. 

That is until Thursday night in Missoula. 

The Lady Griz had a steady performance to post a 65-53 win over Eastern Washington at Dahlberg Arena. 

“It was a good, hard-fought win. Whenever we play Eastern, it’s a physical game that exhausts all your energy. It’s two teams battling out there,” UM interim head coach Mike Petrino said in a press release. 

The victory moves UM to 8-5 in league play, 11-7 overall. The Lady Griz sit alone in fourth place in the Big Sky. The loss drops EWU to 5-10 in league, 6-14 overall. 

The Lady Griz inched to a 19-17 lead after the first quarter and a 35-29 lead at halftime. UM won all four quarters of the game despite shooting 37.5 percent from the floor, including 4-of-15 from beyond the 3-point arc. 

Athletic and smooth junior post Abby Anderson scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the hosts. She finished 12-of-14 from the free throw line on a night UM went 19-of-23 from the stripe. Her effort on the glass also helped buoy a 41-33 rebounding advantage for the lady Griz. 

“I thought we did a good job defensively,” said Petrino, whose team has held 16 of its last 17 opponents to a shooting percentage below 40.

“We had a couple breakdowns but overall did a really good job defending their actions and trying to do our best to challenge their shots. We played consistent, solid defense.”

Madi Schoening, Montana’s lone senior, finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Sophia Stiles had 12 points and three steals for the Lady Griz.  

EWU freshman Maisie Burnham led EWU with 14 points. 

“Conference wins at this time of the season are great. They’re exciting,” Petrino said. “Now we have a quick turnaround. We’ll have a morning practice and get on the bus.”

The teams will play in Cheney at 1 p.m. (MT) on Saturday.

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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