Montana followed up its sizzling 62.5 percent shooting against Montana State with a 51.1 percent effort (24 for 47) at Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks had no answer on either end in dropping a 74-49 Big Sky Conference decision before a sparse crowd at Walkup Skydome.
Montana's starters hit 19 of 33 shots. Sarah Ena, who sat out practice earlier in the week with a knee injury, led the way with 15 points. Mandy Morales and Britney Lohman added 13 apiece and Sonya Rogers and Lauren Beck nine apiece.
“It was an ugly night in terms of shooting for them,” Montana coach Robin Selvig told KENR 107.5.
“This team is a dangerous team, but they never really got any fire in their eyes. Sade (Cunningham) ended up 1-for-9, but we did a nice job on her. They had some turnovers first half and the second half they took a few better shots but the lid was on.”
Cunningham, Northern Arizona's senior leader at point guard, scored her only points on a 3-pointer with 6:13 left in the game. Her showing was an about-face from Sunday when she netted 19 points in a loss at Portland State.
“This is a dead place, there wasn't 60 people here and 40 came to see us, which we appreciate,” said Selvig, whose team is on a five-game win streak. “You have to try to get an atmosphere going and I'm sure the fans can hear everything I'm saying. But we seemed to be the team having more fun.”
Northern Arizona played the Lady Griz tough early. The opening 12 minutes featured five ties and 10 lead changes.
Then the bottom fell out for the Lumberjacks. Lohman, who turned in the best all-around performance with nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists, hit a pair of free throws at 8:23 to make the score 18-17 and give her team the lead for good.
It was the start of an 11-0 run that essentially squashed Northern Arizona's confidence. The Jacks trailed 36-24 at halftime, in part because of 10 turnovers and an 8-1 disadvantage in points at the foul line.
“First half we really did a good job defensively and found enough offense,” said Selvig, whose team was led by Ena and Morales with nine points apiece in the first half. “We played man and zone and the basic key was they were never able to get anything going.”
The Lady Griz went on a 15-3 run in the seven minutes following the break, stretching their lead to 51-31. Lohman keyed the surge with seven points, two defensive rebounds and a steal.
“She (Lohman) really did a good job tonight,” Selvig said.
Montana's lead ballooned to 30 points, 63-33, on a jumper by Tianna Ware with 8:20 remaining. Northern Arizona then went on a 15-3 run against a Lady Griz lineup of mostly reserves, making the score 66-48 with 3:25 left
Selvig re-inserted his five starters and Montana cruised to its 25-point win.
Forward Lauren Hoisington, a sophomore transfer from San Diego State, paced the Jacks with 15 points and eight rebounds. Guards Jenna Galloway and Janelle Matthews added nine points apiece.
Rebounding was the only area in which Northern Arizona held an advantage. The Jacks grabbed 39 boards to Montana's 38.
The Lady Griz will shoot for another road win on Saturday at Sac State. The game starts at 1:05 p.m. (MST).
Notes: Thursday marked the third time in four games Montana has shot better than 50 percent from the field ... Montana has won seven straight games in Flagstaff ... Rogers had a string of seven straight games in double figures scoring come to an end ... Montana's bench personnel accounted for 15 points, five coming from Stephanie Stender ... The Lady Griz are ranked No. 6 in the latest mid-major poll released by ESPN.com. That's just one spot below Gonzaga (12-4).
MONTANA (74)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Ena 20 5-7 5-6 4 4 1 15
f-Lohman 28 5-7 2-2 9 2 3 13
g-Beck 26 3-6 3-3 3 1 2 9
g-Morales 28 4-7 3-4 3 3 3 13
g-Rogers 29 2-6 4-4 1 1 2 9
Nance-Johnson 14 0-1 2-4 1 0 2 2
Loman Linford 16 1-7 0-0 5 1 0 2
Stender 12 2-4 1-2 3 1 0 5
Robison 6 0-0 0-2 1 2 0 0
Guardipee 7 0-0 0-0 2 3 2 0
Ware 6 2-2 0-1 0 1 0 4
Atkinson 8 0-0 2-2 2 1 0 2
Totals 200 24-47 22-30 38 20 15 74
NORTHERN ARIZONA (49)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Hoisington 27 4-9 7-9 8 3 0 15
f-Schafer 18 2-13 2-2 6 3 0 7
g-Cunningham 38 1-9 0-0 1 2 5 3
g-Galloway 34 3-8 2-4 7 1 1 9
g-Matthews 36 3-12 2-4 2 3 3 9
Pratt 17 0-3 0-1 2 2 0 0
Huntington 13 1-3 0-0 1 3 0 3
Spaich 3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1
Amos 9 1-2 0-0 4 5 0 2
Boer 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 200 15-60 14-22 39 22 9 49
Technical fouls - UM 1 (coach Robin Selvig).
Halftime score: Montana 36, Northern Arizona 24.
3-point goals: UM 4-10 (Lohman 1-2, Morales 2-3, Rogers 1-4, Stender 0-1). NA 5-24 (Schafer 1-4, Cunningham 1-5, Galloway 1-3, Matthews 1-7, Pratt 0-2, Huntington 1-3).
Turnovers: UM 14 (Lohman 3). NA 18 (Hoisington 4).
Blocked shots: UM 5 (Lohman 4). NA 1 (Cunningham).
Steals: UM 6 (Lohman 2, Morales 2), NA 4 (Matthews 2).
Officials: Mary Whatford, Mark Munoz, Laura Sundheim
Attendance: 371
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