The Lady Griz shot 62.5 percent from the field (40 for 64) in a 95-75 win over Montana State at Dahlberg Arena. The program record is 64.9 percent, set against Boise State in 1992.
The fact Montana doesn't have a strong post presence makes Saturday even more remarkable. Not to mention the Lady Griz starters shot 66 percent (35 for 53).
“More than anything Saturday was kind of a relief. Especially for some of our outside shooters. For Sonya (Rogers) to shoot lights out and Mandy (Morales), it's just a feeling of pride when your teammates can live up to their potential like that.”
Selvig stressed in an interview Tuesday that Montana State is no pushover.
“I obviously feel good about how we played,” he said. “They're a very good basketball team and we played real well. We passed it and we shot it.”
With Montana leaving Wednesday for its longest Big Sky Conference road trip of the season (distance-wise), the goal is to keep the ball rolling offensively. The Lady Griz play at Northern Arizona Thursday and Sac State Saturday.
“We hope it won't be just a blip and we can use Saturday as momentum,” Lohman said. “It just gives you confidence to know you can shoot like that. If our defense and offense are that good we'll be tough to beat.”
All in the Family
Grizzly senior Jordan Hasquet not only moved into the top 10 on UM's career scoring list in Saturday night's win over Montana State, he's now breathing down his mother's neck as well.
With his 17-point performance against the Cats, Hasquet now has 1,246 points, which moved him past Lou Rocheleau (1,235 from 1946-49) and into 10th place.
Hasquet's mother, Doris Deden-Hasquet, scored 1,248 points in her career (1980-84) with the Lady Griz. The younger Hasquet will get a chance to move past his mom Thursday when the Griz host Northern Arizona.
Hasquet's climb up UM's ladder had slowed before he faced the Cats. In the four games leading up to Saturday night, Hasquet was 8-for-26 (31 percent) from the field, 2-for-12 from 3-point range and 1-for-3 from the line while averaging 4.7 points a game.
“I've been in a little bit of a slump, as you might have noticed,” said Hasquet, who was 6-for-12 from the field against the Cats. “I can still shoot better than that, I just have to keep putting them up. That's the only way to get out of a slump, but it felt a little better tonight.”
Men's second-half scorcher
After the first half of Saturday's Cat-Griz game, it looked like the first team to score 50 might win.
The Griz managed a 27-22 lead at the break and the teams combined to shoot 29 percent from the field.
“That's kind of how these rivalry games go at times, you know?” Hasquet said. “Guys are going to step it up and lock down on defense. We know each other so well, it's hard to run plays at times.”
Coach Wayne Tinkle thought the Griz were in for a slugfest.
“I saw that and thought, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be a good old-fashioned Bobcat-Griz game. It going's to end up 54-50,'” Tinkle said.
Behind Hasquet and Anthony Johnson, who scored 31 points, the Griz rebounded to shoot 64 percent in the second half.
“You could just see when they started making shots and we started scoring, the weight of the world came off everybody's shoulders and we relaxed a little bit,” Tinkle said.
Worry-free road trip
Last season was especially difficult for the Lady Griz from the standpoint that all three of their Big Sky road trips came after Christmas break. That meant on top of all the demands of travel and games, the women had to find time to study and cover for missed classes.
“It was awful because we were away forever when school started,” Lohman said.
That's why the Lady Griz consider this week's road trip a blessing.
“We're grateful we can get this out of the way before school starts,” Lohman said. “We have Wednesday practice at 8 a.m., then hopefully get there (to Flagstaff) to have a shootaround at 2.
“Then when you consider Mandy (Morales) and Jessa (Loman Linford) will have to get to the training room by 7 a.m. (on Wednesday), then the next night we have a game and the next morning we leave the hotel at 6 (a.m.) ... That just makes it really physically challenging.”
Injury update
Lady Griz post players Tam Guardipee and Shadra Robison both practiced Tuesday and will be available for Thursday's game at Northern Arizona. Robison suffered a left ankle sprain in Montana's win over Hampton on Dec. 30 and did not play against Montana State.
Guardipee, who has been slowed by a hip injury since preseason workouts, has averaged more than seven minutes of playing time in Montana's last three games. That's a big jump from the first four games she was available when she averaged about 2fi minutes per game.
On the tube
The Lady Griz game at Northern Arizona Thursday will be broadcast live to Dish Network subscribers on channel 9411. Montana State's game at Northern Arizona on Saturday will also be available live on channel 9411.
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