In two semifinal games that delivered all the drama, action and emotion of championship college basketball - and sterling performances from three outstanding underclass point guards – the Montana Lady Griz and Montana State Bobcats capitalized on the minor flaws of their foes to advance to the championship of the Big Sky Conference Women’s Tourney, scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at Montana’s Dahlberg Arena.
MSU sophomore point guard Erica Perry repeatedly shredded the Idaho State defense with 15 points on deadly slicing drives to lead the Bobcats past the Bengals, 83-72 and move her team into an all-Montana championship final.
The other semifinal match was a battle of the wit, quickness and scoring punch of Montana’s junior point Mandy Morales, who scored 31 points and led her Lady Griz to a 94-80 victory over Portland State and its equally talented super-soph point, Claire Faucher, who scored 27 in a losing cause.
Despite the Lady Griz-Vikings’ point-guard standoff, it may have been the spirited second half play of another Montana underclass player – freshman forward Sarah Ena – that broke a tense deadlock and enabled Montana to surge to the win over the game’s final five minutes.
PHOTO: Montana frosh forward Sarah Ena (left) scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds and sparked the Montana Lady Griz to critical late second-half surge over the Vikings. Defending is Vikings post Erin Yankus.
The Bobcats overcame the 34 points and 19 rebounds of all-conference Idaho State senior Natalie Doma by getting balanced double-digits scoring from five players.
Montana State 83, Idaho State 72
Idaho State senior Natalie Doma finished her college basketball career with a style typical of her play, scoring 37 points and grabbing 19 rebounds to lead all players. But it was the balanced scoring of five Montana State players – led by 17 from forward Krislyn Wallace – that more than offset Doma’s effort.
The Bobcats made an impression midway through the first half, stretching a 16-13 lead to a 15-point 28-13 lead in the span of four minutes.
The Bengals were never able to pull even, though they made several short second-half runs.
The Cats responded to every Bengal run with solid defensive play and an opportune early offense, most often created on Perry’s quick drives into the paint.
Besides her offensive leadership, Perry blanked the Bengals' normally potent senior guard, Andrea Lightfoot, who missed her only two shots and had an otherwise quiet game.
PHOTOS: Anne Phippard (left) gets squeezed by Doma and another Bengal. Sophomore point guard Erica Perry drves on Andrea Videbeck.
Besides Doma’s 37, only Michelle Grohs, with 12, and Jenna Brown, with 10, scored more than eight.
The Bobcats held the Bengals to only 25 percent shooting in the first half, a mark that rose to only 33 percent on the game.
Meanwhile, Montana State made 51 percent of its field goals on 34-of-66 shooting.
Besides Perry’s 15, forward Nubia Garcia had 12, forward Rebecca Mercer had 15 and reserve Anne Phippard scored 11.
Though the Bengals outrebounded the Bobcats 40-31, they turned the ball over 22 times and had 10 fewer shots than the Bobcats, who had 10 steals for the game.
Montana 94, Portland State 80
In what would become the highest scoring game in Big Sky Conference tournament History, the Vikings and Lady Griz – led by the sparkling play of their two talented point guards – combined for 97 first-half points, with a one-point, 49-48 advantage by the Vikings at the break.
Though Faucher made only 4-of-14 shots (7-of-23 for the game), all four makes were from three-point range and kept Montana defenders on their heels and toes. Morales meanwhile sank three treys and converted five of her nine shots. The two heady point guards finished the first half tied with 17 points apiece.
“That’s two great teams going at it.” said Portland State coach Sherri Murrell. “It was a point-guard-to-point guard matchup in the first half. It was threes to threes.”
The second half did little to blunt the two point guards’ effectiveness. Faucher finished with 28 and Morales 31. Both players had seven assists and only two turnovers Both were perfect from the free throw line (Faucher made 8-of-8) with Morales (12-of-12) holding a four-point edge after being sent repeatedly to the line over the game’s final minutes.
It all amounted to a brilliant standoff. And so that’s where Ena and several other Montana reserves spelled the difference in the game.
PHOTOS: Montana junior point guard Mandy Morales (above) is stopped by Portland State's Kelsey Kahle. Below, Montana's Britney Lohman is stopped by Viking players Kelli Valentine (left) and Katia Hadj Hamou.
The scrappy freshman forward contributed valuable – and productive – minutes in each half and finished with 13 points. Equally important was the heady floor play and 14 points from senior reserve guard Laura Cote, who converted several critical drives down the center of the paint during the same stretch of play.
Cote and Ena’s play was the major of two significant developments that swung the tide to Montana. Montana reserves ended up with a whopping 30-14 scoring margin from bench players and – during a critical mid-second-half stretch when both Ena and Cote were on the floor, the Lady Griz finally broke the scoring deadlock and surged to a significant – albiet not large – lead they would hold firmly until the final two minutes when the flood gates broke.
“We’ve got kids that have played well for us off of the bench consistently all year,” said Montana coach Robin Selvig. “I’m basically getting 10 kids time. That’s been one of our strengths.
“There are some teams we might have worn down,” said Selvig. “They’re (the Vikings) not one of them.”
The other development – and one that may well haunt the Vikings through the postseason – was an intentional foul by starting forward Katia Hadj-Hamou that occurred at the 12:13 minute mark with the score deadlocked at 62.
Hadj-Hamou had just missed a three-point shot and – as the players reversed flow toward Montana’s end in the full-court in transition, the Viking forward suddenly tripped Ena as the two ran side-by-side. During the hectic seconds after the foul, Faucher ran up to Hadj-Hamou and pointed to her her own temple in a well-known visual coaching sign.
But the damage was done.
After a brief game delay, during which Hadj-Hamou was benched by Murrell, Ena converted both free throws.
Two minutes later the Lady Griz led 70-64.
The sudden change of momentum rattled PSU players and the Vikings would get no closer than four points from there out.
Another two minutes later Montana led 77-68, forcing the Vikings to foul for possession of the ball, a strategy which backfired as Montana shooters sank 13-of-14 freethrows to maintain solid distance.
Murrell downplayed the foul, pointing instead to a loss of team focus.
“That intentional foul just changed a lot of things,” said Murrell. “But really, basically what it came down to was that we lost concentration, and when we lost concentration we didn’t box out. We had some bad mismatches and bad errors, so really, the lack of concentration is much needed in big games, and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
Selvig credited the momentum climax to toughness.
“I just think we needed to be a tougher team,” said Selvig. “I said, don’t get frustrated because they were scoring so much.
“I don’t know, we just kind of were relentless and they kind of missed a few shots and then we kind of kept going,” said Selvig. “And got away from them.”
Up to that point the game was a classic give-and-take collision of two confident, classy and talented college basketball teams.
“I woke up this morning thinking, ‘championship game,’ ” said Murrell. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind, or a doubt in my players’ minds, and I was really pleased that they left it all on the court.”
“We beat an awfully good team tonight and I’m pretty proud of our effort,” said Selvig.
Montana ended up shooting 47 percent from the field and outrebounded the Vikings by a whopping 45-30 mark. The teams combined for an astoundingly low 17 turnovers, while Faucher and Morales each dished-out seven assists.
Other Montana players to reach double digits included Britney Lohman (14), and Sonya Rogers (13).
The only other Viking player to reach double-figures was Kelsey Kahle (14), although three players scored eight and Hadj-Hamou had nine.
Faucher said she’ll be ready to get back on the court in six months.
“Well, I don’t think that anybody thought that Portland State would come out and have a year like this,” said Faucher. “People are going to know about us now... Nobody’s going to walk into a gym expecting a win against us anymore. We were one step closer this year and I think that’ll definitely fuel the fire... I’m excited to see what we can do in another six months.”
But Murrell quickly interjected: “Can I just say one thing? I think that Portland State should get a NIT bid. Print that for me,” she said.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
“I’m really excited to play them (Montana State). They’re a great team and it was kind of hard to lose to them. That was the first time that I had ever lost to the Cats or that anyone in our program has, so we’re really excited to play them.” – Montana senior guard Laura Cote.
“This game meant a lot to me. You know, I haven’t been to a championship game. So, all our players stepped up good today.” -- Montana junior point guard Mandy Morales.
“My freshman year we went three and 24. I would say there was no intimidation factor playing Portland State. And, that’s definitely changed. No one will ever walk into our place ever again and think they have the game in hand.” – Portland State senior Delaney Conway.
