After struggling through much of the first half and falling behind by as many as 13 points near the midpoint of the second half, Montana rallied behind senior guard Sonya Rogers and a tightened defensive effort to pull out a hard-fought 68-63 victory over the Pioneers before a sparse crowd of 293 at Hamilton Gymnasium.
Rogers was 7 of 13 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line to lead all scorers with a season-high 24 points as the Lady Griz improved to 8-2 and extended their winning streak to five. Sophomore forward Sara Ena added 13 points for Montana, which began a stretch of three games in four days leading up to an abbreviated holiday break.
“The major difference was that in the second half, we played better defense,” Selvig said in a postgame interview on KENR radio. “We were talking, we were communicating... It was embarrassing in that first half for a while. We played zone, we switched to man, but we were just a step slow.”
A big stop on the defensive end in the final two minutes of play helped the Lady Griz finally overcome their deficit. With Denver leading 60-58, Pioneer sophomore guard Britteni Rice drove the baseline for a layup. Though the shot fell, Lady Griz sophomore forward Jessa Loman Linford drew the charge with 1:47 left to play.
“We don't win without it,” Selvig said of Loman Linford's defensive stand. “I told her that and I told the team that. This was a great, great win for us because honestly, we struggled for quite a while.”
A pair of free throws by Lauren Beck on the other end tied it 60-60 before an Ena three-point play put Montana ahead for good. The Lady Griz, who connected on 23-of-28 free throws, were 5-for-6 from the line the rest of the way.
Denver (5-5) took control in the first half behind Kaetlyn Murdoch, a freshman forward, after falling behind 20-19 on an Ena putback. Murdoch closed the first half with 11 points and finished with a double-double off the bench, collecting 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Pioneers closed out the opening 20 minutes on an 11-4 run, sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Andie Mason and another by senior guard Celena Otero. They put an exclamation point on the first period when Jenny Vaughan got a rebound and bucket at the buzzer.
“(Denver) played really well the first half,” Selvig said. “But they were the more aggressive team. I told our girls, they got the loose balls, they got the second rebounds and we were just kind of ankle deep in the floor. It seemed like we just didn't have the energy.”
A Rogers layup closed Montana's deficit to 40-38 just over three minutes into the second half before an 11-2 burst gave Denver its largest lead of the game at 53-40.
Despite a rare off night from Morales, who was just 1-for-7 from the floor and finished with eight points, the Lady Griz managed to claw their way back and gut out the win.
“We did well enough offensively,” Selvig said. “We shot our usual 38.9 percent for the game. That's what we do. But we played strong and we got to the foul line down the stretch.”
The Lady Griz return to Dahlberg Arena to face Gonzaga in a game that was moved to 4 p.m. Friday so as not to conflict with UM's appearance in the FCS national championship football game. They'll host Montana State-Northern at 7 p.m. Saturday.
MONTANA (68)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Ena 25 6-11 1-1 9 3 0 13
f-Lohman 29 2-7 4-6 2 2 1 8
f-Beck 26 2-9 4-4 7 1 0 8
g-Morales 38 1-7 6-7 7 1 5 8
g-Rogers 40 7-13 7-7 3 3 3 24
Nance-Johnson 10 1-2 1-2 1 0 1 3
Stender 6 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0
Loman Linford 15 1-3 0-0 6 0 1 2
Robison 11 1-2 0-0 2 3 0 2
Totals 200 21-54 23-28 37 13 11 68
DENVER (63)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Robinson 34 3-8 3-3 10 4 2 9
f-Akotaobi 17 0-5 2-2 1 2 2 2
f-Bents 8 2-3 0-0 1 5 0 4
g-Otero 22 2-8 1-1 1 0 2 6
g-Rice 29 3-10 1-1 0 5 4 8
Vaughan 27 3-7 1-1 3 3 3 7
Murdoch 34 6-9 3-4 10 4 1 15
Mason 27 4-11 0-0 1 2 0 12
Leichliter 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0
Totals 200 23-61 11-12 28 25 15 63
Halftime score: Denver 38, Montana 30.
3-point goals: Montana 3-11 (Rogers 3-5, Lohman 0-1, Morales 0-2, Beck 0-3), Denver 6-21 (Mason 4-10, Otero 1-4, Rice 1-4, Akotaobi 0-1).
Turnovers: Montana 14 (Ena 3, Beck 3, Nance-Johnson 3), Denver 11 (Rice 4).
Blocked shots: Montana 5 (Lohman 3), Denver 4 (Otero, Rice, Vaughan, Murdoch).
Steals: Montana 5 (Rogers 2), Denver 10 (Robinson 4).
Officials: Rick Morris, Robert Strong, Ernie Solis.
Attendance: 293.
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