Lady Griz come through on the road
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — On the back end of the Big Sky Conference’s longest road trip and coming off a disappointing result on Thursday, the Montana women’s basketball team showed every ounce of its mettle on Saturday afternoon in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Trailing by four early in the fourth quarter, the Lady Griz put up a 31-point final period and outscored Northern Arizona down the stretch to win 89-84 at the Walkup Skydome, their eighth win in their last nine games.
“You come on the road, we got delayed yesterday on our flight, barely had a practice last night, then we came out and just gutted it out,” said coach Brian Holsinger, whose team is 11-4, 3-1 in league. “We had some adversity, but we stepped up and hit big shots. I’m proud of them.”
Mack Konig (24), Carmen Gfeller (18) and Dani Bartsch (11) all were in double figures and all had critical stretches that allowed Montana to hang around against the Big Sky’s highest-scoring team.
Konig scored 10 of her career-high 24 points in the third quarter, which allowed Montana, down two at the half, to go into the fourth quarter facing the same manageable deficit.
Gfeller scored 12 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, which set up Bartsch to hit back-to-back 3-pointers that broke the game’s 11th and final tie, 73-73, gave Montana a 79-73 lead and sent the Lady Griz to their sixth victory in seven games away from home this season.
“This team knows how good it can be. When we buckle down and we stay focused and we’re locked in, we do a pretty good job,” said Holsinger. “I’m really, really pleased.”
Gina Marxen added 12 points and MJ Bruno hit maybe the shot of the game, a high-arcing 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:10 left after the Lumberjacks (10-6, 2-1 BSC) had cut Montana’s lead to a single point.
“Shout out to MJ. That was a gigantic 3-pointer in the corner. People stepped up. Big-time win by the Lady Griz,” said Holsinger.
With three road games down and two more still to go, Montana will play at Montana State (8-9, 2-2 BSC) next Saturday in Bozeman, then head to Ogden to face Weber State (5-12, 2-2 BSC) on Monday, Jan. 22.