A night after the Montana women's basketball team gave Selvig his 700th career coaching victory at the school, 10th-ranked Maryland helped Montana's 31-year coach to a less-enjoyable milestone - loss No. 200 - as the Terps handed the Lady Griz a respectable 71-58 setback in the teams' second tournament game Thursday at the Caribbean Challenge.
Atlantic Coast Conference-powerhouse Maryland (5-1), which began the season ranked third in the country before dropping in the poll after a season-opening loss at Texas Christian, never really ran away from the Lady Griz (3-1). Its largest lead was 56-39 midway through the second half, but the Terps made a point of denying Montana sharpshooter Sonya Rogers, the nation's most accurate 3-point shooter a year ago. They limited Rogers to 0-for-4 shooting from the floor, including an 0-for-2 night from beyond the arc. She finished with four points, all coming from the charity stripe.
“They are a legit top-10 team probably and we were toe-to-toe with them for the whole night,” Selvig said in a postgame KENR radio after the Lady Griz shot 22-for-60 from the floor as a team and just 5 of 14 from 3-point range.
The Terps were led by senior guard Kristi Toliver's 13 points. Forward Marissa Coleman and guard Marah Strickland each scored 11 for Maryland, which outrebounded Montana 38-25. Freshman center Lynetta Kizer pulled down a game-high 12 boards.
The Lady Griz, coming off an emotional 59-57 overtime victory Wednesday evening over Illinois, saw senior guard Mandy Morales toss in 10 of her 15 points in the second half to lead all scorers. Senior forward Britney Lohman added 10 points for Montana, while Jessa Loman Linford and Tianna Ware came off the bench to score eight apiece.
“We definitely were in the game the whole time and that's encouraging,” Selvig said. “There were some definite bright spots, of course you would have like to have taken that one down to the wire. We're just not making enough shots, but its not easy to get shots. For us to beat them, we need to be a little hot from 3 instead of them.”
The 3-ball was what the Terps used to take their first sizable advantage of the evening. After Rogers hit a pair of free throws to pull Montana within 11-10 just 5:38 into play, Maryland connected from beyond the arc four times in its next five possessions, the last two by Toliver that put the Terps ahead 23-12.
The Lady Griz cut their deficit to 25-22 on a Lohman trey - she finished 2-for-2 from long distance - but Montana could get no closer the rest of the way.
Maryland's lead was just 36-28 at the half, but the Terps began the second stanza on a 7-2 run to bump their advantage to 13 and the Lady Griz never got closer than 10 the rest of the evening.
Selvig, who used all 12 players in a steady rotation of substitutes throughout the contest, felt the defeat was something the Lady Griz could build upon.
“I thought there were a lot of good things tonight,” Selvig said. “We battled. I think we're making progress. I think this is a game that's going to help us down the road.”
Notes: Montana senior center Tamara Guardipee made her season debut after sitting out the team's first three games due to a hip injury. In seven minutes, Guardipee was 0-for-2 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, grabbed three rebounds and collected three personal fouls ... The Lady Griz forced Maryland into 19 turnovers while committing only 15 themselves ... The Terps shot 52.9 percent from 3-point range on 9-of-17 shooting ... Selvig's 100th career defeat came on March 18, 1995, when the Lady Griz lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to another top-20 team, Purdue.
MARYLAND (71)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Liles 35 3-8 4-6 7 2 2 10
f-Coleman 33 5-14 1-2 8 2 7 11
c-Kizer 25 1-6 7-10 12 1 0 9
g-Strickland 35 4-10 0-0 2 3 1 11
g-Toliver 27 5-8 0-0 1 3 3 13
Wly-Gatewood 6 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 2
Barrett 19 2-2 0-0 4 1 1 6
Oyefuwa 6 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0
Mingo 14 4-4 0-0 2 2 0 9
Totals 200 25-54 12-18 38 15 14 71
MONTANA (58)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Ena 20 1-5 0-0 4 1 2 2
f-Lohman 28 4-9 0-0 3 3 2 10
g-Morales 31 6-11 2-3 2 0 2 15
g-Rogers 29 0-4 4-4 0 1 0 4
g-Beck 27 1-8 0-0 6 1 0 2
Nance-Johnson 18 3-8 0-1 2 2 5 6
Stender 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Loman Linford 14 4-7 0-0 1 0 0 8
Atkinson 4 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Ware 11 3-6 0-0 4 0 0 8
Guardipee 7 0-2 2-2 3 3 0 2
Robison 6 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 1
Totals 200 22-60 9-12 25 13 11 58
Halftime score: Maryland 36, Montana 28.
3-point goals: Maryland 9-17 (Toliver 3-5, Strickland 3-7, Barrett 2-2, Mingo 1-2, Coleman 0-1), Montana 5-14 (Lohman 2-2, Ware 2-3, Morales 1-4, Rogers 0-2, Nance-Johnson 0-3).
Turnovers: Maryland 19 (Kizer 7), Montana 13 (Ena 4).
Blocked shots: Maryland 5 (Coleman 3), Montana 3 (Lohman, Beck, Loman Linford).
Steals: Maryland 9 (Liles 4), Montana 6 (Morales 2).
Officials: Kim Hobbs, Mark Hardcastle, Bobby Karmon.
Attendance: 312.
Montana Lady Griz vs. South Dakota State
Friday, 5 p.m. (MST), Caribbean Challenge at Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico
Radio: KENR 107.5 FM.
TV: none.
Web: none.
Records: South Dakota State of the Summit League is 5-1 after a 62-60 win over Illinois on Thursday in Cancun, Mexico. Montana is 3-1 after a 71-58 loss to 10th-ranked Maryland on Thursday in Cancun, Mexico.
Series: First meeting.
Up next: Montana will play at Oregon (4-1) on Dec. 4, at 8 p.m. (MST).
Probable starters
Montana
3-Mandy Morales, 5-9, sr. 15.8 ppg
10-Sonya Rogers, 5-7, sr. 9.0 ppg
14-Sarah Ena, 5-11, so. 9.0 ppg
22-Britney Lohman, 6-1, sr. 8.5 ppg
45-Lauren Beck, 6-0, jr. 7.3 ppg
South Dakota State
22-Ketty Cornemann, 5-11, jr. 6.8 ppg
40-Maria Boever, 6-1, jr. 9.2 ppg
44-Jennifer Warkenthien, 6-0, sr. 10.5 ppg
14-Kristin Rotert, 6-0, so. 8.8 ppg
42-Ashlea Muckenhirn, 5-8, sr. 5.5 ppg
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