THE MATCHUP
Montana State’s women’s basketball team suffered its worst loss of the conference slate a week ago when the Bobcats got ran through by Northern Arizona, eventually falling 79-50. But MSU bounced back for an 80-60 win over Northern Colorado less than 48 hours later to enter the middle of February still atop the Big Sky Conference standings.
MSU played host to a Weber State team that came to Bozeman with just a single league victory against 10 Big Sky losses.
THE RESULT
Montana State found itself down 28-26 at halftime before senior point guard Darian White took control of the game. MSU held Weber to just nine third-quarter points and scored 49 in the second half, including 33 in a dominant fourth quarter to post a 75-60 win.
Montana State is the first Big Sky women’s hoops team to reach double-digit league victories this season; MSU is now 10-3. WSU, which lost 12 straight games earlier this season, is now 1-11 in conference play.
THE STANDOUTS
White shook off an 0-of-6 shooting start that included scoring just one point to finish with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting. She went 9-of-13 from the free throw line as MSU went 23-of-29 from the stripe. Grace Beasley came off the bench to score 12 points despite fouling out.
Daryn Hickok, a preseason All-Big Sky selection, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds before fouling out for Weber State.
SOCIAL
QUOTABLE
“We were not a very disciplined team for three quarters. We had no energy and were too emotional. We lacked focus.
“I thought we finally started picking things up on the defensive end in the third quarter, and that sparked our offense. Our point play, especially Darian, took things up a notch in the fourth. However, we need to work on being better prepared mentally from the opening tip.”
Montana State head coach Tricia Binford
WHAT’S NEXT
Montana State hosts Idaho State on Saturday in Bozeman. The Bengals posted a 54-53 win over Montana in Missoula on Thursday. MSU beat ISU 60-57 in Pocatello, Idaho earlier this season.
