WATCH LISTEN LIVE STATS NOTES
MOSCOW, Idaho- The University of Idaho women's basketball team will travel to Missoula, Montana to take on the Montana Lady Griz Saturday at 1 p.m. in a quick turnaround following a loss to Montana State Thursday night.
The Vandals (13-7, 8-7) are coming off a narrow loss to Montana State, 56-62, in Cowan-Spectrum Arena. Montana (12-9, 7-5) enters the contest following a 77-56 win at home over Eastern Washington on Thursday.
The Lady Griz enter the matchup at 7-5 overall in Big Sky play and in fourth place in the conference standings.
The Vandals sit in second place in the Big Sky standings behind Montana State with an 8-3 conference record. The Vandals the first round of Big Sky games with an 8-2 record before falling to the Bobcats in the second meeting of the season.
The Vandals and Lady Griz played down to the wire last time out as Idaho walked away with a 52-51 win in Moscow.
Saturday's game will be streamed live on Pluto TV Channel 537. You can listen to the game on KMAX 840 AM or at
govandals.com/listen. Live stats can be found
here.
SCOUTING IDAHO
Idaho enters its 12
th conference game of the season Saturday against Montana.
Gina Marxen leads the Vandals in scoring this season with 14.1 points per game and in assists with 4.1 per game. Marxen dished out a team-high five assists against Montana State and has had at least five assists in her last five games. The sophomore from Sammamish, Washington leads the Big Sky in three-pointers made (65) and three-pointers made per game (3.3). In addition, Marxen leads the Big Sky in minutes played per game with 37.2. Marxen totaled a team-high 20 points and five assists against Montana State. She is also third in the Big Sky with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.1. Marxen entered the Idaho record book last night against Montana State. Marxen's fourth three-pointer in the game marked the 130
th three-pointer of her career, moving her in to 10
th place on the Idaho all-time career three-pointers made list.
Beyonce Bea is right behind Marxen, averaging 12.3 points per game. The freshman from Washougal, Washington is playing an average of 34.2 minutes per game this season, more than any freshman in the conference. Bea scored 10 points against Montana State and has scored in double-figures a team-high 14 times this season.
Lizzy Klinker rounds out a group of three players averaging double-figures this season with 11.0 points per game and had 12 against Montana State. Lizzy was a big part of the win last time out against Montana with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
Natalie Klinker leads the Vandals on the boards this season with 7.0 per game. Natalie totaled a team-high seven rebounds last time out against Montana State. Against Montana earlier this season Natalie scored a career-high 17 points while also totaling 11 rebounds, to lead the Vandals.
Idaho continues to lead the Big Sky defensively in field-goal percentage defense, three-point percentage defense and scoring defense. The Vandals lead the conference in scoring defense allowing just 58.2 points per game. If the tough defense continues Idaho's 58.2 points per game would set an all-time school record surpassing 58.7 points per game from the 1979-1980 season. Idaho held Montana to just 51 points in their previous meeting this season, nearly 18 points below their average per game.
SCOUTING THE LADY GRIZ
Montana State (12-9,7-5) will host the Vandals on Saturday afternoon in Missoula.
The Lady Griz feature two players scoring in double-figures this season. McKenzie Johnson is scoring 13.2 points per game for Montana ahead of Emma Stockholm who is scoring 11.0 per game.
Stockholm also leads Montana's effort on the boards with a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game.
The Lady Griz have been a middle-of-the-pack rebounding team overall this season with 37.7 per game, however the squad ranks second in rebounds allowed per game, only allowing 35.0 to opposing teams.
Montana leads the Big Sky with a 1.27 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season as a team led by Johnson who has posted a 2.2 mark herself.
Since meeting the Vandals earlier this season the Lady Griz are just 3-3. Montana fell to Idaho State following the loss to the Vandals. The Lady Griz picked up a pair of wins over Portland State and Weber State before falling to Montana State in overtime.
LAST TIME OUT VS MONTANA
Idaho and Montana last met on Jan. 18
th in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals topped the Lady Griz 52-51.
Natalie Klinker led all scorers with 17 points for the Vandals while Emma Stockholm chipped in 16 for Montana. Klinker scored the go-ahead bucket with 2:18 to go in the game, giving Idaho a 52-51 lead. The final two minutes were filled with tough defensive play as Idaho forced four missed shots by the Lady Griz in the final minutes.
SERIES HISTORY
Montana holds a 13-42 advantage over the Vandals all-time, including a 3-25 advantage in Missoula. Two of those three road wins have come in the last three years as Idaho took down Montana 67-56 on the road on Feb.17
th, 2018 and 86-59 on Jan. 5
th, 2017. Last season Montana edged Idaho in Missoula 82-79.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Gina Marxen was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week earlier this season as well as the Big Sky Player of the week by Collegesportsmaddness.com.
Lizzy Klinker earned recognition by Collegesportsmaddness.com as the Big Sky Player of the Week earlier this season.
Abby Anderson was named the Big Sky Player of the Week for Montana on Dec. 31
st, 2019. Anderson averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds during two games that week.
WINNING 200: Head Coach
Jon Newlee recorded his 200
th win at Idaho and the 359
th of his career against Eastern Washington last night in a 69-60 win. Newlee is the all-time winningest head coach in the history of Idaho Women's Basketball.
FOLLOW: Fans can follow the Vandals all season long on Twitter and Instagram, @VandalsWBB and with the Voice of the Vandals, Doug Taylor, at GoVandals.com/Listen. The game will air on PlutoTV channel 537. Visit GoVandals.com/Tickets for more information on season and individual game tickets.
