Montana wins Big Sky Tournament semi-final against No. 2 seeded Northern Colorado in Portland on March 11, 2011. This Lady Griz victory at the Stott Center set up a showdown with No. 1 seed Portland State, which ran over Eastern Washington 73-62 in the other semifinal. Last year, the Vikings were the fifth seed and won three games in a row to take the tournament.
It was what UM coach Robin Selvig called “a nice, gutty effort.” Despite committing 24 turnovers, the Lady Griz held on thanks to a 38-28 rebounding edge and solid free-throw shooting (19 of 24) to win the game 55-46.
In the first half, the Lady Griz fell behind early, spotting the Bears a 17-7 advantage nine minutes into the game. But again, as they have done more than a few times throughout the season, the Lady Griz came back scoring 10 unanswered points, finished by a jumper from freshman point guard Lexie Nelson with a little over five minutes left in the half. This put UM in a lead they would never lose throughout the game.
Katie Baker scored a game-high 16 points to pace the No. 4-seeded Lady Griz (17-14) including 10 perfect free-throws. Jordan Sullivan ended the game with seven points and a team-high four assists. De Boer finished with 10 points to round out double-figure scoring for the Lady Griz.
In the quarter-final game, senior Lady Griz guard Stephanie Stender recorded a career-high 18 points. Tonight she posted a double-double, 10 rebounds and 11 points, to lead the Montana women's basketball team into the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game. With Stender’s help, Montana stretched out the lead to 43-31 with just over eight minutes to play.
Northern Colorado responded with a 13-2 run, eventually pulling within 45-44 on a 3-pointer by Courtney Stoermer with three minutes remaining. But here came Stender again. She drilled a short jumper on a quick feed from Kenzie De Boer to push the lead back to three.
De Boer was fouled and made the free-throw; then Stoermer buried another shot for UNC to close the gap to 48-46 at 1:19. But UM freshman Jordan Sullivan cut through the lane for a bank shot at 58 seconds that gave the Lady Griz a four-point cushion.
From there, Baker hit her four shots from the free-throw line and Stender added another for the final point of the game and an end to the dogfight.
Northern Colorado never gave up, but Montana was able to hold on down the stretch and put the game away in that “nice, gutty effort.” UNC finished the season 17-13.
UM's defense held Northern Colorado's leading scorer, Lauren Oosdyke, to seven points, half her season average. Kim Lockridge came off the bench to lead the Bears with 11 points, followed by D'shara Strange with 10.
Box score Montana Lady Griz 55 – Northern Colorado Bears 46
· Click here for the University of Montana Lady Griz 2010-11 game schedule
· See the Big Sky Conference website - Women's Basketball- for more information on the conference
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