The Montana Lady Griz won the 2008 Big Sky Women’s Championship Saturday with a 101-65 romp over the Montana State Bobcats at Montana’s Dahlberg Arena before 5016 fans.
Trailing by 12 points in the opening minutes of the game, Montana got the spark it needed from reserve senior guard Laura Cote, who knocked down three treys while point guard Mandy Morales converted her own treys from long distance.
By halftime the Lady
Griz had claimed a 19-point 49-30 lead with a threatened blowout, the promise
of which Montana delivered early in the second half. The Lady Griz held leads between 18-to-36 points over the span of the entire second half.
Cote made 4-of-5 treys for 16 points while Morales shot a perfect 6-of-6 from long range to pace Montana with 24 points.
Cote, who scored 30 points and sparked critical Montana rallies in Montana's two tourney wins, was named to the all-tourney team while Morales was named the tourney MVP for her combined 55 points and 14 assists in Montana’s two tourney victories.
PHOTOS: Senior Laura Cote was named to the tourney All-Tourney team. She's pictured here post-game with her 'personal' fan club (sorry, no names), with Mr. "C" identified as her fiance. Below, Morales goes up for two of her game-high 24 points in second half action.
Senior forward Johanna Closson scored 15 points, making 5-of-10 shots from the field while junior guard Sonya Rogers scored 16 on 3-of-6 from long range.
Montana shot 54 percent from the field on the game, and a blistering 62.5 percent from three point range.
Montana State senior post Krislyn Wallace made 17 points while sophomore point guard Erica Perry scored 11 on 4-of-13 shots from the floor. Both made the all-tourney team. Forward Rebecca Mercer added 11 points.
Montana advances to the first round of NCAA tourney action, which begins next week. First round seeding and locations will be announced at 5 p.m. Monday, March 17.
Montana guards Sonya Rogers and Laura Cote sparked the Lady Griz from an early 11-3 deficit to tie the game at 16-all. Cote's three pointer with 11:01 remaining in the first half gave the Lady Griz the lead for good, at 19-16. The Lady Griz outscored the Bobcats 30-15 over the final 9 minutes of the first half and took a 49-31 lead at the break.
TOP PHOTO PANEL - Left: Sonya Rogers drives for a shot against the Bobcats' Rebecca Mercer in first-half action. Rogers scored
16 points and made 3-of-6 shots from three-point distance. Right: Laura Cote fights for possession of the ball in first-half action. Cote – who was named to the all-tourney team –
made 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three point range and grabbed five rebounds.
SECOND PHOTO PANEL - Left: Brittney Lohman fights for a loose ball against the Bobcats' Jenny Herringer in first-half action. Lohman scored eight points and had eight rebounds in Montana's victory. Right: Senior forward Johanna
Closson scores two against Bobcat defender Nubia Garcia. Closson scored 15 points on 50-percent, 5-for-10 shooting for the game.
THIRD PHOTO PANEL - Freshman forward Sarah Ena (left) drives past Bobcat Erica Perry for two of her five points in the championship game. Ena pulled-down four rebounds in five minutes of play and - combined with 13 points in Friday's semifinal game, scored 17 points in the two tourney games. Right: Sophomore guard Lauren Beck drives past Mercer in second-half action. Beck scored two points in six minutes of play.
BOTTOM PHOTO PANEL - Lohman goes up in heavy traffic to score two against Bobcat Nubia Garcia. Lohman scored the bucket on a rebound and putback and converted the freethrow for three of her eight points. Right - Lady Griz center Tamara Guardipee posts up in semifinal-game action. Guardipee's bucket with 1:51 remaining in the game put the Lady Griz over the 100-point mark in the championship game. It was the first time in conference history that a team scored 100 points and bested their previous mark of 94, which Montana set in their Friday win over Portland State.
The lady Griz scored a total of 195 points in their two tourney victories.
Besides MVP Mandy Morales and first-team selection senior Laura Cote of Montana, other Big Sky players named to the all-tourney team include: sophomore Erica Perry and senior Krislyn Wallace of Montana State, sophomore guard Claire Faucher of Portland State, and senior center Natalie Doma of Idaho State.
