Montana's Sarah Ena (14) forces a shot over Northern Arizona's Melissa Spaich (30) last Saturday in Dahlberg Arena. The Lady Griz pulled out a win over the Lumberjacks 54-48, giving them a 6-2 conference record. Montana will try to improve on the road this weekend at Weber State and Idaho State. (Greg Lindstrom/Montana Kaimin)

Lady Griz continue search for road identity

by Troy Warzocha | February 5, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

After holding serve in Missoula, the Lady Griz are eyeing a season sweep over Weber State and Idaho State as they open the second half of conference play on the road this weekend.

Thus far Montana has only one triumph on the road and the importance of victories away from its friendly confines are not lost on the Lady Griz.

“(Road victories) are extremely important,” said senior guard Shaunte Nance-Johnson.  “Those are tough games.”

Last weekend, the Lady Griz secured consecutive home victories over Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona, extending their season-high win streak to four.  Montana currently holds the longest such streak in the conference and will look to build on it against the cellar-dwelling Wildcats (1–7, 7–14 overall) and fourth-place Bengals (4–4, 9–12).

In their first meeting with the Wildcats, the Lady Griz came back from a five-point halftime deficit to eventually win the game 73–67, with four players scoring double-digit points.  Shelved true freshman forward Katie Baker led all scorers with 24 points. But it was junior forwards Sarah Ena and Stephanie Stender who sparked the comeback as Ena scored 10 points and Stender scored 13 points in the second-half.

Stender also nailed a 3-pointer with 3:16 left to seal the deal for the Lady Griz as they were able to close out the game from the free-throw line the rest of the way.

The Wildcats are back at home after getting knocked around on the road by Eastern Washington, Portland State and Sacramento State the last two weekends.  Weber State lost each game by an average of 17.3 points and hasn’t won a game in nearly a month.

Despite their struggles, the Wildcats still have three players who average more than 10 points per game and have topped the 60-point threshold in seven of their eight conference games thus far.

While Weber State’s record is less than desirable, that doesn’t mean the Lady Griz have forgotten about the scare the Wildcats gave them in Missoula earlier this year.

“We have no worry but Friday night,” said coach Robin Selvig.  “Every game’s a tough one for us and there’s no way we’re thinking past Weber State, actually.”

“With Weber, even though there’s not a lot of people that show up for games, they’re just tough in general,” Nance-Johnson said.

Idaho State is another hungry team looking to stop the bleeding, coming off an extended road trip where it finished 1–3, beating only lowly Weber State. After a 3–1 start, the Bengals suddenly found themselves at 4–4 and fighting for a spot in the postseason conference tournament.

Like the Wildcats, Idaho State played the Lady Griz close until Montana blew the game open with a 13–0 run late in the second half and held on for the 63–55 win in Missoula.

Once again, Baker led the Lady Griz, scoring 23 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end.

In order for the Lady Griz to secure their sixth straight victory against the Bengals, they will have to put the clamps on senior forward Oana Iacovita, who at 6’1” can cause matchup problems in the post.  Despite being held to 10 points in the first meeting against Montana, the Romanian is the third-leading scorer in the Big Sky, averaging 17.1 points per game. 

Iacovita also averages 7.9 rebounds per game, which is sixth in the conference.

This time around, the Lady Griz won’t have Baker to rely on, but they do have the conference’s top defense and a deep bench that has contributed consistently since Baker’s season-ending injury against Eastern.

One player who has stepped up with extended playing time is senior center Shadra Robison.  The Billings-West product turned in a stellar performance last weekend against Northern Arizona, scoring a season-high seven points and recording a game-high seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

“(Robison) has been a huge reason we’ve been able to weather losing Katie (Baker) and still be a competitive team in this league,” Selvig said.  “Shad has done a great job this year.”

Outside of her height and improving athleticism, Nance-Johnson is most impressed with Robison’s toughness through multiple bangs and bruises, including a broken (and re-broken) nose, foot and back injuries.
“Shad is a lot like Shaquille O’Neal,” Nance-Johnson said. “She’s just a tough cookie and a great teammate.”

Winning on the road requires grit. Fortunately, the Lady Griz have it in spades.

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