But the Lady Griz, turning to a version of Small Ball, throttled up their zone defense and eventually pulled away for a 70-59 nonconference victory in front of 2,983 fans at Dahlberg Arena.
Sophomore point guard Mandy Morales matched her career high with 27 points and senior center Sara Gale speared a career-best 14 rebounds as Montana (4-1) bounced back with authority from an 83-43 drubbing at No. 6 Ohio State last weekend. The Lady Griz found themselves down by nine almost before the national anthem had finished echoing through the rafters, but clawed back into contention and then pulled away from Wyoming (6-2) in the last 10 minutes of the second half.
The visitors from the Mountain West Conference finished with 13 3-pointers, but made just 5-of-19 in the second half after drilling 8-of-12 en route to a 33-30 halftime lead.
The scored was knotted 44-44 when UM coach Robin Selvig went to a small defensive lineup, inserting 5-8 junior Laura Cote - normally a guard - at the bottom of the zone alongside the 6-2 Gale and 6-1 Britney Lohman, with the 5-9 Morales and 5-7 Sonya Rogers up top. Wyoming made just 6-of-20 shots the rest of the way against the “Frenzied Five” as UM outscored the Cowgirls
26-15.
“Laura Cote's been playing so well, we're looking at a way to get her more minutes,” Selvig said. “That group gave us a lot of energy, and some quickness. Wyoming is hard to defend. They have so many kids who can shoot the three, and they do it with a quick release. We extended the zone, and then we tracked down rebounds.
“Sara (Gale) had a huge game on the boards, and we picked up some long, loose rebounds. That's always important when you're defending a team that shoots a lot of threes.”
Wyoming prides itself on its tough man-to-man defense, but Morales created all sorts of problems with her dribble quickness and ability to leap, gather and score against taller defenders. She finished 8-of-17 from the field, including a pair of treys, and made all nine of her free throws.
No one else reached double figures, but Cote and 6-2 Tamara Guardipee had nine points apiece, and eight Lady Griz hit the scoring column compared with just four for Wyoming.
Morales went scoreless the final seven minutes and was forced to leave because of a leg cramp with 3fi minutes remaining. (She returned to the court in the final 36 seconds.) But back-to-back 3-pointers by Cote and Rogers ignited UM's late surge, and the post players did their part. Lohman scored on a put-back and a driving scoop, while Gale - the team's lone senior - tossed in a short hook and fed Cote for a backdoor layup.
“I felt we did a better job of running our offense and looking for different options,” said Gale, who had four points and two blocked shots to go with her board work. “It's important that Mandy (Morales) can make those plays, but it's also important that we work together and know we can run the offense.”
The Lady Griz opened in man-to-man defense, but Selvig scrapped it when Wyoming, using dribble penetration and kick-out passes, buried three open 3-pointers in the first few minutes.
“More than their shooting, the zone helped us neutralize their penetration,” Selvig said. “We weren't closing anybody out. Then you try to get over to help, and it leaves someone wide open and, BOOM.”
Smooth forward Hanna Zavecz, adept on the perimeter or driving to the hoop, showed why she's an All-MWC player, leading the Cowgirls with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Forward Justyna Podziemska (17) and guards Jodi Bolerjack (12) and Dominique Sisk (11) also scored in double figures.
NOTES: Montana finished with a 42-29 rebounding edge, 26-14 after intermission. ... Morales also scored 27 points last season in a win over Miami (Fla.). ... Gale's previous rebounding high was nine. ... Bolerjack, who came in shooting 64 percent from the arc, was just 4-of-11 from long-range. ... UM made 24-of-26 free throws, while Wyoming got to the line just five times, making four.
WYOMING (59)
Min FG-A FT-A Rb Pf A TP
f-Zavecz 27 7-10 3-4 2 3 4 19
f-Podiemska 36 6-15 0-0 3 5 4 17
c-Dissen 28 0-1 0-0 3 2 0 0
g-Bolerjack 40 4-13 0-0 5 3 0 12
g-Sisk 33 4-7 1-1 6 4 2 11
Vanderjagt 11 0-0 0-0 3 1 0 0
Kraft 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Vandiver 7 0-2 0-0 3 0 0 0
McGuffey 15 0-8 0-0 1 0 0 0
Cline 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Totals 200 21-57 4-5 29 19 10 59
MONTANA (70)
Min FG-A FT-A Rb Pf A TP
f-Closson 16 3-5 0-0 6 0 0 6
f-Conway 24 0-8 4-4 1 1 1 4
c-Guardipee 17 2-6 5-6 3 1 0 9
g-Morales 34 8-17 9-9 6 0 3 27
g-Rogers 36 2-5 2-2 1 0 0 7
Cote 22 3-5 2-2 3 0 2 9
Lohman 22 2-4 0-1 5 3 1 4
Gale 18 1-3 2-2 14 1 1 4
Snead 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Beck 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 200 21-54 24-26 42 6 8 70
Halftime score: Wyoming 33, Montana 30.
3-point goals: Wyoming 13-31 (Zavecz 2-2, Podziemska 5-10, Bolerjack 4-11, Sisk 2-4, Kraft 0-1, Vandiver 0-2, McGuffey 0-1), Montana 4-11 (Conway 0-2, Morales 2-4, Rogers 1-3, Cote 1-2).
Turnovers: Wyoming 14 (Podziemska 4), Montana 10 (Morales 5).
Blocked shots: Wyoming 6 (Zavecz 2, Podziemska 2), Montana 3 (Gale 2).
Steals: Wyoming 3, Montana 5 (Conway 2).
Officials: Debbie Kotani, Lisa Baptista, Shawn Cather.
Attendance: 2,983.
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