Laura Cote celebrated her last regular season home-game in grand fashion Saturday.
The Montana senior guard scored 10 points over a 2-minute, first-half span and sparked the Montana Lady Griz from a 4-point, 22-18 deficit to a lead they would not relinquish in an eventual 76-54 runaway over the Idaho State Bengals before a packed house at Dahlberg Arena Saturday.
The delighted partisan throng of 5544 celebrated in raucous glee as Cote – normally the first player off the bench (she started along with senior teammates Johanna Closson and Dana Conway), lit the fuse on the firecracker Montana rally with back-to-back treys in the span of 19 seconds, a driving jumper in the paint, and two free throws.
"Cote was awesome," said Montana Coach Robin Selvig. "In the first half she was huge. She’s just playing great basketball now at both ends of the floor. She banged two threes in the first half and I think that’s what got us going."
Cote would score only five more points from there, but those first 10 were enough to send the Bengals reeling in a tense battle for first place between Big Sky Conference leaders. Montana now holds a two-game
lead over ISU, with three road games remaining in
conference play.
Two Idaho State seniors also had banner nights. Guard Andrea Lightfoot, who scored 26 and Natalie Doma, who became the leading rebounder in conference history during the game and scored 12, paced the Bengals. But no other Bengal scored more than three. In fact, beyond the combined 38 points from Lightfoot and Doma, all the rest of the Bengal team could muster was 16 of the team’s final 54 points.
Conway scored five points – including a long trey during the final seconds of first-half play – and Closson scored 10 points and had five assists.
PHOTOS: Top, Laura Cote drives past guard Jenna Brown. Middle, Mandy Morales is fouled by Bengal defender Andrea Videbeck. Botttom, Montana forward Sarah Ena drives for the first two of her six second-half points.
Gritty Montana point guard Mandy Morales – who continues to battle foot and lower leg problems – shrugged off leg cramps to lead the Lady Griz with 18 points, two assists and 2 steals in 24 minutes of play.
But it was Lady Griz second-half defense and rebounding – recognizable trademarks of Selvig’s best teams – that served as the catalyst for the 22-point victory.
"I just thought we did a great job on the defensive end tonight, and we kept at it," said Selvig.
"Doma’s a great player," Seivig added. "She didn’t have a big night. And I thought we did a good job on her and she didn’t make as many shots as she might."
The Bengals left the court at halftime down only five, at 35-30, having out-rebounded the Lady Griz 18-16 while keeping pace in scoring with a 40-percent average compared to Montana’s 42.4 percent.
Everything went downhill from there for the Bengals. Montana’s pugnacious man-on defense held ISU to a miserly 33.3 percent second-half shooting average, and outrebounded the visitors from Pocatello by eight, 36-28. The Lady Griz defenders also snared six steals, notched three blocked shots, and forced 13 Bengal turnovers.
The sheer dominance of Montana’s defensive floor play was enough to trigger two second-half runs, the first of which put the game on ice early.
Sparked this time by six points on nifty drives into the paint by Closson, the Lady Griz five-point halftime margin bulged quickly to 16, at 51-35 over the first five minutes of second-half play.
Minutes later – after a brief scoring standoff – Montana reserve forward Sarah Ena subbed-in and promptly scored six points in 24 seconds, which was punctuated neatly by Cote’s third trey and – when the clamor subsided – Montana held a commanding 22-point, 63-41 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in a game that was effectively in the bag.
Montana’s dominant second-half play was capped by an efficient passing game on offense. The Lady Griz notched 17 assists against only eight turnovers.
Montana shot 58.6 percent from the field in the second half, upping its game total to an even 50 percent, matching the 50 percent (8-for-16) from three-point range.
Montana bench players accounted for 22 points (compared to ISU’s six), and the Lady Griz scored 11 points off of fast breaks.
Besides Montana’s seniors and Morales, six other Lady Griz players scored. Sonya Rogers scored 8, Britney Lohman and Ena scored six, Conway scored five while Tamara Guardipee and Lauren Beck scored four.
Montana’s battle for the conference crown won’t be easy. The Lady Griz face a tough Northern Colorado squad Thursday. Then, after a visit to Eastern Washington, visit Portland State, now in second-place at 9-4, in a game that may well determine the site of post-season play.
"We haven’t got anything yet," said Selvig. "This is a championship type atmosphere. It’s a huge game at this point in the schedule. But we’ve got three road games left against tough teams with a two game lead."
The Bengals return home for three straight, hosting Sacramento State, Northern Arizona and Weber State.
