As Juliet Jones’ shot tore through the net at the Reno Special Events Center, Peyton Ferris collapsed into a pool of emotion.
Although bleeding from a cut above her left eye and limping from a hip injury suffered moments before, Ferris’ tears had nothing to do with her pain. When the Idaho State buzzer-beater found its mark and ended top-seeded Montana State’s Big Sky Tournament run after just one game, Ferris broke down, pulling her jersey over her head and burying her head in her hands.
[restrict paid=”true”]The junior star forward could think of just two things: MSU had unfinished business and the All-Big Sky junior forward couldn’t imagine playing another game without her three senior teammates.
“What happened happened,” Ferris said retrospectively before the Montana State women’s practice on Thursday. “There was a lot of expectations and we made a lot of mistakes down the stretch of that game. The last shot was killer. But you have to take the positives out of the situation we are in. I’m looking forward to go down and play Utah. I like our chances.”
Montana State won its first outright Big Sky Conference regular season title in program history leading up to the BSC tournament. But MSU faced red-hot ISU in the quarterfinals. The Bengals’ physical style threw off the Bobcats as usually fluid and good-shooting Montana State missed six of eight free throws down the stretch as Idaho State ended the game on an 11-2 run over the last 92 seconds, including Jones’ game-winning buzzer-beater.
Because of the Big Sky title, the Bobcats at least earned the league’s automatic bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. MSU wanted its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1993 but the Bobcats will settle for the next-best thing.
“This is the first time in our careers that we got to post-season play,” said Ferris, the Big Sky’s Top Reserve each of the last two seasons. “It’s an honor to be able to play more games with our seniors. I can’t imagine it ending in Reno and not being able to play with them again. We are very excited to have this opportunity and I think we have a good chance down there and we go down there with high expectations.”
Montana State will play the University of Utah in Salt Lake City at the Huntsman Center on Friday night. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
“It’s great to play an extra week and get that experience No. 1, to get that experience playing during this time of the year,” MSU 11th-year head coach Tricia Binford, the Big Sky Coach of the Year, said before her team’s practice on Tuesday. “We are super excited about this opportunity. Our team earned this. We feel like we are going to be very competitive on Friday.”
Montana State travels to SLC to play a Utah team that posted an 11-5 home record en rout to a 16-14 overall record. The Utes finished 8-10 in the Pac 12, good enough for seventh in the league. Utah lost to Cal in the Pac 12 Tournament first round but will play one more time in Lynne Roberts’ first season. Utah’s last game will be 15 days in the past by the time Friday’s tip occurs.
“Basketball season is really long, you start with so much adrenaline and momentum in September and October and here we are in the middle of March and we’re still going,” Roberts said. “The last time we played in the Pac-12 Tournament was two weeks ago, which feels like a long time ago, so I know that coaches and players are eager to play again. It feels like it’s been too long and this time period from when your conference tournament ends and postseason begins is a long time and to stay motivated and stay hungry is challenging, but our team is doing a good job. We’re excited to be playing. We appreciate the chance to host and we’re looking forward to it.”
Since the beginning of February, Utah posted a 4-4 record, sweeping Colorado, losing to WNIT team Oregon and NCAA Tournament team Oregon State during the span.
Montana State is 6-4 since the beginning of February. The Bobcats have lost four of their last six after a 12-1 start to Big Sky Conference play, including losing to ninth-seeded Bengals. MSU’s top seed was wiped out due to the first-game loss while ISU advanced to the championship. Idaho State lost to Idaho, a team Montana State beat in its lone matchup with the Vandals this season.
“It took a couple of days to get over the disappointment of our loss but it’s a great chance for us to keep playing this game we all love,” said MSU senior Jasmine Hommes, the Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player. “It’s not hard to refocus. It hurts for awhile and it’s going to keep hurting. But we’ve been playing this game long enough that this is a great opportunity for us and we need to bounce back.”
Emily Potter, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from Winnipeg, leads the Utes. During her second season, the towering forward averaged 15.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in earning All-Pac 12 and All-Pac 12 Defensive honors. Potter is bolstered by Paige Crozon, a 6-foot-1 junior who averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in earning honorable mention All-Pac 12 honors. Senior Danielle Rodriguez is the catalyst, averaging 9.9 points and 4.1 assists per game, also earning honorable mention All-Pac 12 honors.
“They are big, they are well coached and they have a fantastic point guard,” Binford said. “We expect everything to go through their point guard. She pushes the tempo for that team. She’s really fast and very tenacious.
“We will have our hands full but they will have their hands full as well.”
The game in Salt Lake City provides Montana State a shot at redemption less than 400 miles away from Bozeman. Hommes said she likes the proximity and that her team is used to travel by now, having spent 13 straight days on the road during the completion of the regular season and the conference tournament.
The game also marks a homecoming of sorts for MSU senior point guard Lindsay Stockton and MSU assistant coach John Stockton. Lindsay was born in Salt Lake and lived the first 10 years of her life there while John was playing the second half of a Hall of Fame NBA career as an all-time great point guard for the Utah Jazz.
“Maybe I have to get a bodyguard for the bench, I don’t know, we will see what happens,” Binford joked when asked about any extra attention John’s return to SLC might mean. “It will actually probably be harder for the University of Utah to adjust to it than the Bobcats.”
When her team reconvenced in Bozeman, Binford said she wondered how her team would react to falling short of its ultimate goal, a trip to the Big Dance. She wondered how her team would respond during their first WNIT prep practice on Sunday.
“The first practice on Sunday, that was a big question mark for me,” Binford said. “I wanted to know how they would bounce back and come back from it. We opened up and talked about the things we have earned that no one can take away. I was really proud and impressed with how we responded on Sunday’s practice.”
On Monday night, Binford had her team over for dinner to receive the news of their WNIT seeding together. After a lengthy weight, the Bobcats found out they would be playing a Pac 12 opponent in a hostile environment.
“We are disappointed because we were cut short of our potential and just how it ended, we missed free throws down the stretch, which is very uncharacteristic of us,” Ferris said. “But taking that and drawing from it, we have a chance to end on a better note. We have to play better than last game and go as far as we can. Win or lose, we have a chance to redeem ourselves.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
