MOSCOW, Idaho – The Vandal women's basketball team looks to close out the Big Sky Conference regular season with three games this upcoming week. Idaho will hit the road to take on Montana State and Montana before returning home for a Monday night matchup against Portland State. The games will be broadcast on ESPN+. As always, the games will also be broadcast on the radio at AM 840 KMAX or GoVandals.com.
ABOUT IDAHO: The Vandals (13-14, 6-9) ended last weekend 0-2 hosting Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona. The Vandals currently sit at seventh in the Big Sky and need at least two wins this weekend to best Idaho State (7-8 BSC) for the sixth overall seed and the first-round bye.
Idaho scored the least amount of points all season in the Thursday night 57-38 loss to Northern Colorado. Kennedy Johnson led Idaho with 18 points and nine rebounds on the night. As a squad, Idaho struggled shooting 26% (13-50) from the field and 22.2% (4-18) from three.
Nearly every Northern Colorado player who entered the game scored, resulting in 17 points off their bench. The Bears out-hustled the Vandals with 10 steals to Idaho's three and 19 points off turnovers to nine. Idaho split their series with Northern Colorado in the regular season after tonight's loss. The last time Idaho shot less than 35% from the field was earlier this season against EWU (30.6%) in January.
Saturday's loss (60-55) against Northern Arizona was a closer affair that came down to the final quarter. The last quarter started with the 'Jacks taking their second lead of the game since the first quarter. Johnson immediately used that as motivation to tie the Vandals back up from a layup. From there, both teams were stuck at a 45-45 point lock for over two minutes. Northern Arizona went on a 7-0 scoring run, scoring five points within 45 seconds to run away with the win.
Idaho's top performer of the game was once again Johnson with 18 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. In Saturday's game, the Vandals held the lead for over 24 minutes. When Idaho faced Northern Arizona earlier this season, the Vandals never once held the lead.
ABOUT MONTANA STATE: The Bobcats (15-13, 9-6) split the weekend on the road at Portland State and Sacramento State.
After torching the net at a 50% clip in the opening half on Thursday night, Montana State hit an icy 22.6% rate in the final twenty minutes as Portland State rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to record a 60-55 win over the Bobcats on Thursday night in Viking Pavilion.
Montana State held a 34-25 advantage at intermission after connecting on 14-of-28 from the field, which included a five-of-nine effort from beyond the three-point arc. Madison Hall's triple at the buzzer sent the Bobcats into halftime with a nine-point cushion. MSU held the lead until Esmeralda Morales connected on her first three-pointer of the game with 5:10 remaining giving the Vikings its first advantage of the second half and a lead it wouldn't relinquish down the stretch.
On Saturday, the Bobcats allowed Sacramento State to hit six-of-ten from beyond the three-point arc in the opening half, including four triples by sharpshooter Solape Amusan the Montana State defense clamped down lifting the Bobcats to a 55-51 win over the Hornets on Saturday afternoon at The Nest.
Marah Dykstra led three Bobcats in double figures with 13 points, while hauling down six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Natalie Picton and Hall had 11 points apiece.
ABOUT MONTANA: The Lady Griz (19-7, 11-4) went undefeated on the road at Portland State and Sacramento State this past weekend.
On Thursday night, the Hornets gave the Lady Griz a run for their money taking it down to the final moments. The Lady Griz won despite shooting 32.7 percent, going 11 for 37 (.297) from the 3-point line and getting outrebounded for only the sixth time all season.
The Lady Griz had more turnovers (9) in the first half than made baskets (6). That led to a 26-18 halftime deficit – Montana's lowest first-half output of the season – despite holding the Hornets to 32.1 percent shooting over the opening 20 minutes.
On Saturday, the Lady Griz won their fourth straight game at Portland State. Montana led 33-18 after the first quarter, 44-36 at the half, and did just enough to keep it a comfortable margin through the entire second half. It wasn't the dominant win it felt like it might be early on, but it was a victory on the road in February and that's what matters at this time of year.
Montana's starters led the way, with four of the five scoring between 13 and 19 points. Dani Bartsch had 19 on 8-of-13 shooting, Carmen Gfeller had 17 points and 12 rebounds, her 11th career double-double, Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw had 15 points and five assists, and Gina Marxen hit four 3-pointers on her way to 13 points. She added eight assists.
ABOUT PORTLAND STATE: The Vikings (7-21, 2-14) split the weekend at home, picking up their second conference win of the season vs Montana State on Thursday followed by a loss to Montana on Saturday.
The Vikings went down 42-31 with 4:42 remaining in the third quarter but then took over the game from there, outscoring the Bobcats the rest of the way. The 11-point second-half deficit is the biggest the Vikings have made up since overcoming a 12-point deficit in a 74-72 overtime win over Montana on Feb. 23 last season.
The Vikings fell to 22-56 all-time against the Lady Griz following Saturday's loss. Morales tied former teammate Jada Lewis for third in career three-pointers made, hitting her 206th three-pointer during the fourth quarter of the game. Morales has 82 three-pointers this season, seven short of Michele Hughes' single-season school record of 89 from the 1989-90 season.
