I’ve followed the Lady Griz for 25-plus years as a fan and even covered them for the Missoulian during a four-year stretch in the late 1980s.
I have watched numerous outstanding Montana guards of course. Kelli Pilcher stands out most prominently for me. But so do Kyla Sisco, Cheri Bratt, Katie Edwards, Julie Demming and Barb Kavanaugh.
But I don’t believe I watched a group of guards as collectively talented as the five who took the court during the five games of the 2008 Big Sky Tournament finals that culminated with junior Mandy Morales claiming the tournament MVP award in the wake of Montana’s 101-65 championship-game win over the Montana State Bobcats.
This season could truly be called the, 'Year of the Guard' in the Big Sky Conference.
An MVP case could be made for any of the five, only one of which (Montana’s Laura Cote) was a senior this year.
PHOTO: Montana's Mandy Morales and Montana State's Erica Perry battle for control of the ball in Montana's 101-65 tourney championship win.
Three are Lady Griz, and that is evidence enough to explain why Montana won both the regular season and tourney titles for 2007-08.
Senior Laura Cote was arguably the Big Sky’s outstanding sixth-player, capable of changing games with her intensity, shooting accuracy and defensive prowess, which she put on display during Montana’s championship game win over Montana State. Cote averaged 8.3 points per game during the years, but more importantly, shot 43 percent from three point range, making 28-of-64 during the season. And how about a sixth-player, non-starter making the all-tourney team? Her 29 points, three assists and eight rebounds is proof enough that she deserved the recognition.
Junior Sonya Rogers – who also scored 29 points in tourney play – finished the season as the national leader in three point shooting percentage accuracy at 48.6 percent, was Montana’s second-leading scorer at 12.5 per game, and led Montana with 70-of-144 three point shots during the season. Her incredibly quick-release shot, often triggered from a single quick-turn-spring-and-shoot motion was always exciting, particularly when she was hot, best displayed this year during Montana’s first win over the Bobcats when Rogers made 5-of-6 treys and scored 32 points.
An then there’s junior Mandy Morales who – despite a battle with painful and nagging foot injuries during the season – finished as the Lady Griz scoring leader at 16.4 points per game. Morales racked up 124 assists against only 65 turnovers during the year, and made an astounding 83 percent of her free throws (107-128), many of which sealed important Montana wins in the final minutes. As her coach, Robin Selvig, noted in post-championship game comments, Morales – who scored 55 points, dished 14 assists and had 11 rebounds in two tourney games – is just getting back to form now after battling her painful injuries. If any single player can spark the Lady Griz to a first-round NCAA tourney win, it’s a healthy Mandy.
But two other classy Big Sky players – Portland State’s sophomore point guard Claire Faucher and Montana State’s sophomore point guard Erica Perry – were equally impressive during season and tourney play.
Faucher was the Vikings’ second-leading scorer during the year with 13.6 points. But her most impressive accomplishment was her astounding record 274 assists during the year. That’s 140 more than Morales dished out, and amounts to an 8.8 per-game average during the season. Though Faucher’s shooting percentages were not that impressive, everything about her floor game is, including her 4.5 rebounds per game (third on the team) and her 7.1 steals per game. Look for Faucher to be a force in the Big Sky over the next two seasons.
Perry’s league and tourney performance was equally impressive. Though she scored at a modest 8.0 per game rate during the season, Perry led her team during the tourney with a total of 38 points, 18 assists (6 per game) and eight steals. During the
season Perry dished out a total
146 assists against 78 turnovers, good for a 4.7 assist average per game. Perry’s quickness triggers her quick penetration into the key for dishes to her front court teammates and will make the Cats a team to beat over the next two years.
PHOTOS: Laura Cote drives against PSU's Claire Faucher in the tourney semifinal game. Below: Sarah Ena posts up against PSU's Kelsey Kahle.
Each of these players, and Montana State’s Krislyn Wallace and Idaho State’s Natalie Doma, who were named to the all-tourney team, made their own contributions to a truly entertaining tourney.
And, judging by the performances of these and many other underclass players, better things are yet to come.
I was also impressed with the play of underclass players Kelli Valentine of Portland State, Sarah Ena of Montana and Courtney Stoermer of Northern Colorado. The quality of players in the Women’s basketball division is sufficient, in my opinion, to rank the women’s conference higher on a national scale than the men’s basketball teams. I guess we’ll see how the Lady Griz and the Idaho State Bengals do against formidable opponents this week.
Lastly I thought it important to call attention to a glaring, and unacceptable, omission of two outstanding players on the Big Sky women’s All Tourney team: Northern Arizona’s Laura Dinkins and Northern Colorado’s Danielle Hagen, both seniors who played their last games.
Dinkins scored 28 points, snared 14 rebounds and had two assists in 32 minutes of play during her team’s 84-78 first-round loss to the Bobcats. And Hagen’s 37-point, seven rebound effort during her Bears’ 82-69 loss to the Vikings was equally impressive to the efforts of ISU’s Doma and MSU’s Wallace. Omitting these two exceptional players, merely because their teams lost first-round games, was inexcusable. In future tourneys the Big Sky should make a point of at least awarding honorable mention status to players who log outstanding games in their teams’ first-round losses. Anyone who says that Dinkins and Hagen did not play all-star games was simply not watching the first-round games.
As Selvig and two other coaches – Portland State’s Sherri Murrell and Montana State’s Tricia Binford noted during post-game comments, the Big Sky Women’s Basketball Conference is getting both better on a national scale, and more competitive internally. That just makes for better basketball at more games in every venue.
For Montana Lady Griz fans, who far outnumber the fans at any other Big Sky venue, that makes for a lot of very good basketball to anticipate for next season.
