The Big Sky Conference women’s basketball title race came down to the final evening of the regular season. And on Monday, Sacramento State blasted Portland State, Northern Arizona outlasted Weber State while front-running Montana State lost on Senior Night in Bozeman to set up a three-way tie atop the league standings with the conference tournament less than a week away. The three-way first-place tie marks the first time that has occurred in Big Sky Conference history.
Northern Arizona clinched a share of its first regular season title since 1998 by gutting out a 66-57 win over Weber in Ogden. That result went final first, helping NAU move to 13-5 in Big Sky Conference play.
Eastern Washington’s huge improvement in Joddie Gleason’s second season as head coach continued as EWU earned a 78-65 win over Montana State in Bozeman. Despite Darian White scoring 27 points and snaring 13 rebounds in her final game at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, MSU shot just 34 percent and struggled to keep up with the high scoring Eagles. EWU put four players in double figures scoring, led by Aaliyah Alexander’s 21 points to move to 11-7 in conference play and sew up the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament.
Montana State sewed up a share of its fifth conference title since 2016 with a 61-34 win at Portland State on Saturday but couldn’t secure the outright title despite White, a three-time All-Big Sky selection, becoming just the third Bobcat woman to score more than 1,700 points in her decorated career.
“Our biggest strength heading into the tournament is the takeaway from this game,” Montana State 18th-year head coach Tricia Binford said. “No one in the postgame locker room felt good about our performance. We’ll use it as motivation. Winning a regular season Big Sky title is hard, and the kids need to recognize that. We will regroup, learn from our mistakes, and move on. We still have a lot of things we want to accomplish.”
Sacramento State’s regular-season finale against Portland State tipped an hour later from the Nest in California’s capital. With a chance to share the first league title in school history, Sac State ripped PSU 80-54. Kahlaijah Dean continued her MVP candidacy by pouring in 18 points and dishing out 10 assists while hulking center Isnelle Natabou is well on her way to All-Big Sky honors for the second year in a row.
NAU earns the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed following its record against the tri-champion group, which included sweeping Montana State. The No. 2 seed was awarded following a set of tiebreakers that came down to MSU’s and Sacramento State’s record versus Montana. The Bobcats swept the Lady Griz while Sac State split with Montana, including beating UM 63-58 on Saturday. MSU earns the No. 2 seed for the second season in a row and enter the Big Sky Tournament as the defending champions.
Montana defeated Idaho 85-82 on Monday night in Missoula to snap a three-game losing streak and secure the No. 5 seed. Idaho will receive the sixth seed and the first round by that goes along with it.
First Round – Saturday, March 4 (all times Mountain)
Game 1: #9 Northern Colorado vs. #10 Weber State – 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2: #7 Portland State vs. #8 Idaho State – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Second Round – Sunday, March 5
Game 3: #1 Northern Arizona vs. Game 1 Winner – 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 4: #2 Montana State vs. Game 2 Winner – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Third Round – Monday, March 6
Game 5: #4 Eastern Washington vs. #5 Montana – 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 6: #3 Sacramento State vs. #6 Idaho – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Semifinals – Tuesday, March 7
Game 7: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Championship – Wednesday, March 8
Game 9: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner – 3:00 p.m. (ESPNU and ESPN+)
