Yet no matter how many games the Lady Griz win, they can't seem to escape a gut-wrenching final chapter. In 2006-07, a pair of postseason losses left Montana feeling unfulfilled after a record-setting regular season. In 2007-08, a humbling loss to Vanderbilt in the NCAA tourney cast a shadow over two Big Sky Conference titles.
“You have this big poof and the wind is taken out of your sails, but then you start thinking about next year,” said Montana 30-year coach Robin Selvig, just three wins shy of No. 700. “That's sports. Even the drilling we got (against Vandy), there's value in that. Mandy (Morales) played well, Dvera (Tolbert) did some nice things...
The best part about Montana's 2007-08 campaign is the team went 25-7 and lived up to expectations in spite of significant obstacles.
Those expectations were sky-high in November when the Lady Griz welcomed back their top seven players from a
27-win season (27-4). Unfortunately for Selvig, it wasn't as simple as sending proven players back on the court.
Injuries dogged the Lady Griz. Forward Dana Conway couldn't properly prepare for her senior campaign because of foot problems, and Morales wasn't herself for most of the winter because of ongoing foot problems.
Unable to properly prepare herself, Conway lost her spot in the starting lineup. Morales was forced to sit out six games, starting with a contest at Wyoming on Nov. 29.
The Cowgirls were ranked No. 25 at the time and they posted a 65-54 win over the Lady Griz. But something happened on that night that set the tone for the rest of Montana's season.
“When Mandy went down you think about re-evaluating and wonder what should be your goals,” Selvig said. “But we played Wyoming tough without Mandy, down one with 10 minutes to go.
“Then we got a real big win at Portland, and they had just come off beating Oregon. Then we had a home stretch against teams that didn't have very good years, but it gave us a chance to gain confidence and experience. That was a real key stretch in the season.”
The Lady Griz reeled off 10 straight home wins. Then after stumbling at Idaho State, they won 10 of their next 11 to secure their second straight Big Sky regular-season title.
“Down the stretch I thought our defense really improved,” Selvig said. “Our zone was good to us early, but by the time we got into league it wasn't as good to us. We went to man in most games and it worked.”
Montana played host to the Big Sky tournament, but being the No. 1 seed wasn't necessarily ideal. Montana State's upset of Portland State late in the regular season dropped the Vikings to the No. 4 seed. That meant the Lady Griz had to hit the floor running in their semifinal against a Portland State team that beat them just seven days earlier.
The Lady Griz rallied to beat the Vikings, then buried Montana State in a regionally-televised final. Montana secured a spot in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2005.
“The was a lot of pressure because we had a great year (in 2006-07) and probably should have been in the NCAAs and we lost a game,” Selvig said. “If we were to slip up again you've got two years of pretty good teams that didn't get the rewards of a great season.
“I was thrilled we were able to get in the NCAA (tourney).”
The minute Selvig saw who his team was paired against in the Big Dance, he knew it was going to be an especially tough task. Vanderbilt plays a confounding brand of defense that enabled it to beat nationally-ranked teams like Duke and Georgia and to push defending national champ Tennessee.
“I didn't like the draw,” Selvig said. “Not so much because we had the No. 4 seed, it was their style of play and their defense. This was based on what I remembered from three years ago playing them.
“I look at every other team and say, ‘OK, I don't fault the ladies for what happened,” he added, referring to Montana's 75-47 loss to Vandy in their NCAA tourney game in Albuquerque, N.M. “We could have shot better. All of the things that we did so well during the season didn't happen. But West Virginia shot 29 percent against them as well.”
The 17th-ranked Mountaineers were Vandy's second-round victim, losing 64-46 on Monday night. At least the Lady Griz can look back at their NCAA game and say they scored more points against the Commodores than West Virginia.
No one was better in postseason play for Montana than Morales. She averaged 22 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists in three tournament games, earning Big Sky tourney MVP honors along the way.
But Montana's 2007-08 season was a success story because of its wealth of talent. Selvig had a stable of 10 players he wasn't afraid to use in crunch time. There were many times when the Lady Griz wore down opponents that may have matched their starting talent but couldn't match their depth.
Eight players averaged four points or better. Morales led the way at 16.2, followed by Sonya Rogers at 12.4, Johanna Closson 9.8, Britney Lohman 8.9, Laura Cote 8.1, Tam Guardipee 5.5, Sarah Ena 5.1 and Lauren Beck 4.0.
Lohman, the Big Sky's defensive player of the year, paced Montana in rebounds with 169 and blocks with 28. Closson led the Lady Griz in steals with 37.
Rogers set a team record for 3-pointers with 72, breaking Lauren Cooper's mark of 71 in 2001. Rogers ranks second all-time in 3-point shooting accuracy for a season (.486).
Montana will miss the talent and leadership of seniors Closson, Cote and Conway. But four starters and seven of the top 10 Lady Griz players from 2007-08 will be back next November.
Combine them with a strong recruiting class that includes guards Ashley Ferda of Whitefish (5-foot-6) and Tianna Ware (5-10) of Bakersfield, Cal., and guard/forward Ali Hurley (5-11) of Anaconda, and Selvig has reason to be excited.
“I like the freshmen coming in,” he said. “Things will be much more open now at the start of the season. Girls that didn't play a lot this season could also be very much in the hunt (for playing time). Even though we have some givens, there's lot of things that could happen.”
Among the current Lady Griz who may see considerably more playing time are sophomores-to-be Tolbert and Jessa Linford (6-1) of Seeley Lake. Linford has exceptional quickness and a sweet shooting touch, and will work hard along with her teammates to build up more strength in the weight room.
Montana has its sights set on an 18th trip to the NCAA tournament next season. If the Lady Griz make it back, you can bet they'll be better prepared physically and mentally.
That's the silver lining of this year's experience in the Big Dance.
Sports writer Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.
Lady Griz final statistics
Record Overall Home Away Neutral
All games 25-7 17-0 6-6 2-1
Conference 13-3 8-0 5-3 0-0
Nonconference 12-4 9-0 1-3 2-1
Player GP-GS Mins. FG-A Pct. 3FG-A Pct. FT-A Pct. Reb. PF A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg.
Mandy Morales 26-26 779 135-293 .461 44-122 .361 108-129 .837 4.6 40 129 69 18 31 422 16.2
Sonya Rogers 32-31 946 128-273 .469 72-148 .486 68-81 .840 2.9 48 46 46 1 20 396 12.4
Johanna Closson 32-32 857 114-254 .449 21-48 .438 66-75 .880 5.3 62 50 50 9 37 315 9.8
Britney Lohman 30-30 824 93-212 .439 10-34 .294 71-101 .703 5.6 88 47 61 28 36 267 8.9
Laura Cote 32-8 739 86-204 .422 28-66 .424 58-68 .853 3.1 56 55 58 13 27 258 8.1
Tamara Guardipee 32-30 501 69-175 .394 0-17 .000 37-46 .804 4.8 51 27 38 27 14 175 5.5
Sarah Ena 32-0 346 53-134 .396 0-0 .000 56-74 .757 3.1 60 20 45 6 7 162 5.1
Lauren Beck 32-0 496 44-108 .407 6-21 .286 33-43 .767 2.4 29 29 35 17 25 127 4.0
Dana Conway 32-3 467 47-110 .427 19-50 .380 6-14 .429 2.2 26 19 26 3 11 119 3.7
Dvera Tolbert 29-0 241 41-77 .532 0-1 .000 7-18 .389 2.0 26 10 10 6 12 89 3.1
Jessa Linford 15-0 79 12-22 .545 0-0 .000 2-5 .400 1.0 6 6 7 3 2 26 1.7
Shadra Robison 16-0 79 8-17 .471 0-0 .000 4-12 .333 1.2 7 2 6 1 1 20 1.3
Stephanie Stender 15-0 71 5-15 .333 1-6 .167 5-5 1.000 0.2 3 1 4 0 5 16 1.1
Totals 835-1894 .441 201-513 .392 521-671 .776 40.5 502 441 464 132 228 2392 74.8
Opponents 707-1941 .364 234-715 .327 394-525 .750 35.9 597 421 495 81 201 2042 63.8
Attendance Games Totals Avg.
Home 17 66,890 3,935
Away 12 16,129 1,344
Neutral 3 10,857 3,619
Total 32 93,876 2,934
By the numbers
72
Number of 3-point goals by junior guard Sonya Rogers, establishing a Lady Griz record. As of Tuesday, Rogers also leads NCAA Division I in 3-point shooting percentage at 48.6.
17
Number of games the Lady Griz won at Dahlberg Arena this season in going undefeated at home for the first time in 12 years.
3
Number of wins Montana coach Robin Selvig needs to reach No. 700.
1,400
Number of career points by junior Mandy Morales. She is tied with Katie Edwards for fourth on the Lady Griz all-time list and should finish her career in second, trailing only Shannon (Cate) Schweyen with 2,172.
.880
Free throw percentage by Johanna Closson (66 for 75). She set a school record, passing Lauren Cooper, who played from 1996-2001.
17
NCAA tournament appearances by the Lady Griz in the past 30 years.
Lady Griz game-by-game results
Nov. 11 at Boise State, L, 64-70
Nov. 15 Montana Tech, W, 79-54
Nov. 19 at Gonzaga, L, 71-87
Nov. 23 UNLV Tourney, Las Vegas
Nov. 23 vs. Oregon State, W, 57-42
Nov. 24 vs. Richmond, W, 86-81
Nov. 29 at Wyoming, L, 54-65
Dec. 5 at Portland, W, 67-63
Dec. 8 Cal State Northridge, W, 87-52
Dec. 15 Idaho, W, 77-52
Dec. 18 Washington State, W, 74-54
Dec. 19 Montana-Western, W, 70-37
Dec. 28 UC Santa Barbara&, W, 88-70
Dec. 30 Mississippi&, W, 84-77
Jan. 4 Montana State*, W, 78-65
Jan. 10 Northern Arizona*, W, 77-55
Jan. 12 Sac State*, W, 82-52
Jan. 17 at Idaho State*, L, 77-90
Jan. 19 at Weber State*, W, 62-53
Jan. 26 Northern Colo.*, W, 73-69
Jan. 31 Portland State*, WOT, 77-73
Feb. 2 Eastern Wash.*, W, 77-59
Feb. 8 at Montana State*, L, 87-91
Feb. 14 at Sac State*, W, 75-63
Feb. 17 at Northern Ariz.*, W, 87-58
Feb. 21 Weber State*, W, 74-61
Feb. 23 Idaho State*, W, 76-54
Feb. 28 at Northern Col.*, W, 66-55
March 6 at Eastern Wash.*, W, 62-48
March 8 at Portland State*, L, 62-72
March 14 Portland State!, W, 94-80
March 15 Montana State!, W, 101-65
March 22 vs. Vanderbilt$, L 47-75
&Lady Griz Classic
*Big Sky Conference game
!Big Sky Conference tourney
$NCAA tourney in Albuquerque, N.M.
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