The Montana Lady Griz pounced quickly on the U C Santa Barbara Gauchos, grabbed an early 10-2 lead, and surged to an 88-70 win behind 20 points from forward Johanna Closson in the first game of the 28th Annual Lady Griz Holiday Classic Friday.
Montana post Tamara Guardipee added 15 points and took command of the paint over the shorter Gauchos, scoring most of her points on short jumpers after lobbed assists from guards Mandy Morales and Laura Cote.
Morales -- who returned to action after a several-game absence to recuperate an injured 
foot -- had five assists and scored 10 points in 18 minutes of action, but re-aggravated her foot midway through the second half and did not return to the floor.
Cote, showing steadily improved play, added four assists and scored 9 points in 25 minutes. But it was Cote’s defense, along with the defense of guard Sonja Rogers, that thwarted UC Santa Barbara’s passing game in the early stages of the game.
PHOTOS: Laura Cote (top photo) drives for two of her 9 points against Ariana Gnekow on a second-half fast break. Middle: Johanna Closson scores over Gaucho defenders Lauren
Pedersen and Gnekow. Closson led the Lady Griz with 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Bottom: Tamara Guardipee scores two in the paint against Gaucho Kat Suderman.
The Lady Griz grabbed an 11-point lead early in the game, and maintained it through much of the first half before the Gauchos mounted a short rally to climb within six three minutes before halftime.
But Montana, which built the lead back to nine by halftime, jumped the Gauchos again -- at the start of the second half -- and quickly built a 20-point lead they maintained from there.
Though the Gauchos blunted Montana’s outside game somewhat -- holding the Lady Griz to only 4-for-12 from three-point range -- they couldn’t stop Montana’s dominant inside play. The Lady Griz made 27 points in the paint, and had success on driving-penetration-and-assist plays by Morales and Cote.
Closson and Guardipee were the main beneficiaries, supported by freshman reserve forward Sarah Ena, who scored 13 points, notched three assists and grabbed four rebounds in only 10 minutes of action.
The Gauchos -- shut-out most of the night by a swarming Lady Griz defense that forced them into 21 turnovers -- were boosted by 21 points from reserve Meagan Williams, who made 4-of-6 from three point range and made several points off of drives to the bucket from the tip of the key.
No other UC Santa Barbara player scored more than nine points.
The Lady Griz -- although they only out-rebounded the Gaucos 32-31 -- collected 12 steals from their zone and chalked up an efficient 20 assists compared to only 16 turnovers against a swarming, trapping Gaucho defense.
Santa Barbara’s full-court pressure exacted a toll, but not on Montana. The Lady Griz went to the line early and often in both halves, scoring 22-of-30 shots from the line, compared to only 5-of-7 for the Gauchos. The Lady Griz shot 57.4 percent from the field for the game.
Closson burned the Gauchos on a variety of post-ups, quick pivot bankers and baseline jumpers in the game’s early stages on several nice assists from Morales, who returned to action after a several-game absence to recuperate an injured toe.
Rogers had a quiet game, but made two treys at critical junctures in the game and finished with 8 points. Lauren Beck added 9 points and frosh Dvera Tolbert scored 4 points on two nice second-half post moves. Dana Conway -- who started in the absence of forward Britney Lohman -- didn’t score, but grabbed six rebounds and three steals in 20 minutes of action.
The Lady Griz move to 9-3 while the Gauchos are now 4-6 on the season.
U C Santa Barbara plays Mississippi (5-5) in the second game of the classic at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Lady Griz will match up against Mississippi at 7 p.m.
