The best 16 minutes of Montana’s young season had Oregon searching for answers Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Griz basketball team used hot shooting and stifling man defense in the second half to take a 75-74 lead on the Ducks with four minutes to go. But Oregon looked to 6-foot-4 center Nicole Canepa in crunch time and she cashed in on her size advantage, tallying a career-best 18 points in an 86-81 win before 2,746 fans at Dahlberg Arena.

“We battled well – I didn’t know if we could play with them,” said Montana coach Robin Selvig, whose inexperienced squad fell to 0-3. “... They made 3-4 plays down the stretch and we didn’t.”

The game marked Paul Westhead’s first trip to Dahlberg Arena as coach of Oregon (2-0). The former NBA and WNBA skipper tipped his cap to Montana’s coaches and players.

“Robin does a great job with his team, and they began to really settle down in the second half and shoot the ball,” he said, alluding to Montana’s 18-for-32 shooting after the break. “I kept thinking, ‘Why can’t you stop this?’ But they kind of spun us around.

“I tried to change defenses and to be honest nothing really worked. Our presses bothered them, but other than that anything in the halfcourt we tried to do they seemed to be able to handle us.”

Montana could do little right on the offensive end in the first half in shooting 23.8 percent (10 for 42). The run-and-gun Ducks had problems of their own with 12 turnovers against Montana’s man defense, but they did manage to build a 38-32 halftime lead with 39 percent shooting (16 for 41).

“We shot so poor the first half, you’re not going to hang with a good team generally speaking,” Selvig said. “They cause a lot of turnovers and we had some airhead ones. They turned into layups and in a close game that probably was the difference.”

Montana, which leaned heavily on post forwards Katie Baker and Sarah Ena in the first half with 10 and eight points respectively, did an about-face in the second half. It took just nine minutes for the Lady Griz to match their first half field goal total, using hot shooting by Baker, Lauren Beck and Shaunte Nance-Johnson.

With 13:10 to go Montana took its first lead since the opening stages of the game on a pair of Beck free throws. Oregon went back up by six on a pair of treys, but again Montana responded.

A 3-ball by Stephanie Stender, 6-for-6 shooting from the line and Beck’s 10-foot jumper with four minutes left gave the Lady Griz their 75-74 lead.

Then they slipped. Montana failed to score on three straight possessions, turning the ball over twice. Oregon was back on top 80-75 with 2:50 left thanks to two field goals by Canepa and one by Nia Jackson after she stripped Stender in the backcourt.

“(Canepa) made some big plays,” said Westhead of his reserve center, who scored eight of Oregon’s last 14 points, six coming on field goals with under four minutes left.

“It’s interesting. She was out there with four starters and it seemed like 10 times the ball ended up in her hands, and some of that wasn’t by design. You’re trying to get a senior the ball. But Nicole was in the right place and was very poised.”

Canepa, a junior, was one of six Ducks in double figures scoring. Forward Amanda Johnson had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds and guard Taylor Lilley added 15 points despite struggling from behind the arc (3 for 12).

Ena, making her first appearance after sitting out Montana’s first two games with a sore ankle, led Montana with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Beck added 17 points, Baker 15 and nine rebounds and Stender 15 points, 10 coming in the second half.

“It’s a tough one to lose but at the same time we showed some heart and aggression down the stretch and that’s what preconference is all about,” Ena said. “It’s a bummer, but we learned a lot of things.”

Selvig didn’t mince words about Ena’s importance to his team.

“It’s nice to get her back,” he said. “But give Oregon credit. They have a lot of playmakers and they made enough plays.

“The 6-4 girl hurt us. They started going down there and we couldn’t ... we did get some turnovers out of them but they pretty much started going to her and that hurt us.”

Westhead sees plenty of potential in the Lady Griz.

“I wouldn’t want to come up here as a steady diet,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be playing this team more than once.”

NOTES: Nance-Johnson hit just 2 of 10 shots and banged up her knee, but tallied a team-high five assists ... The Lady Griz held a 49-46 rebounding edge over the taller Ducks ... The Lady Griz are 0-3 for the first time in program history.

OREGON (86)

    Mins    FG-A    FT-A    Reb    PF    A    Pts

f-Johnson    30    7-13    0-0    15    3    0    17

f-Kenyon    27    5-10    1-2    7    2    1    11

g-Lilley    35    5-14    2-2    4    3    5    15

g-Cocks    38    5-13    0-0    3    2    6    11

g-Jackson    29    4-12    4-5    1    4    4    12

Fallin    7    1-1    0-0    3    -0    0    2

Holliday    5    0-0    0-0    1    4    0    0

Saffold    5    0-0    0-0    1    2    0    0

Canepa    24    8-16    2-4    9    2    0    18

Totals    200    35-79    9-13    46    22    16    86

MONTANA (81)

    Mins    FG-A    FT-A    Reb    PF    A    Pts

f-Ena    27    6-13    6-6    10    3    1    18

f-Baker    33    6-18    3-4    9    4    1    15

g/f-Beck    35    5-13    7-8    7    1    2    17

g-Nce-Jnsn    29    2-10    2-3    3    2    5    6

g-De Boer    18    1-6    1-2    4    2    0    3

Smith    15    1-2    0-0    3    0    1    3

Lomn Linfrd    12    1-3    0-0    4    0    1    2

Stender    23    5-8    2-2    5    3    0    15

Robison    8    1-1    0-0    0    0    0    2

Totals    200    28-74    21-25    49    15    11    81

Halftime score: Oregon 86, Montana 81.

3-point goals: OU 7-26 (Johnson 3-6, Kenyon 0-2, Lilley 3-12, Cocks 1-5, Jackson 0-1), UM 4-13 (Beck 0-4, Nance-Johnson 0-2, De Boer 0-1, Smith 1-2, Stender 3-4).

Assists: OU 16 (Cocks 6), UM 11 (Nance-Johnson 5).

Turnovers: OU 18 (Lilley 4, Canepa 4), UM 17 (Ena 5).

Blocked shots: OU 3 (Johnson 2), UM 8 (Baker 3).

Steals: OU 11 (Jackson 6), UM 4 (Baker, Beck, Nance-Johnson, Smith).

Attendance: 2,746

Officials: Bob Scofield, Darla Foutz, Lorena Ahumada.

Sports writer Bill Speltz can be reached at 523-5255 or bill.speltz@lee.net.