Lady Griz annihilate Cats to win trip to NCAA Tournament

Montana’s final home game of the season couldn’t have been any more perfect.

Led by electrifying offense and the sensational play of their hobbled star, the Montana Lady Griz punched their ticket to the Big Dance Saturday night with a convincing 101-65 win over Montana State before 5,016 peoples at Dahlberg Arena.

After defeating powerful Portland State Friday evening, Saturday night’s performance was an exclamation point to a perfect 17-0 season at home for the Lady Griz, who will make their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2005. Montana was beaten in the Big Sky Conference tournament semifinals on its home floor last year after winning the regular season title.

“Two years in a row to win a very tough league and not make it to the dance would have been too bad,” said Montana coach Robin Selvig who, along with securing his 698th career victory Saturday night, also delivered his team to the NCAA Tournament for the 17th time in his 30-year tenure.

Montana hit on all cylinders against their in-state rivals, as Mandy Morales scored 24 points, Laura Cote and Sonya Rogers each had 16 and Johanna Closson added 15. On a night when the Lady Griz broke the century mark for points, they also shattered the league tournament record for 3-pointers made, hitting 15.

But it was also the second night in a row that Selvig’s club had to battle back from early adversity. The Lady Griz were gut-checked Friday night by the run-and-gun play of Portland State, who controlled the tempo in the first 10 minutes and led by five with just over 13 minutes left in the game. Behind Morales’ 31, though, Montana ignited a second half tear and never took its foot off the gas pedal, hanging 94 points on the Vikings in a semifinal win.

Then it carried over to Saturday’s title game.

The Lady Griz opened the first five minutes cold, missing eight of their first nine shots, and the Bobcats, who had won six straight entering the contest, silenced the home crowd by opening up an 11-3 lead. Then Montana woke up and smelled the tournament roses, dazzling the crowd with a one-after-another barrage of 3-pointers. Cote drilled three, Morales had two and Dana Conway and Sonya Rogers also stroked trifectas to propel Montana on a 25-10 run to close the first half and end any upset threat after a sluggish start.

“They got ahead and we did a good job of keeping our heads, realizing we’ve been down before and we always fight back,” said senior forward Johanna Closson. “I think we did a really good job of keeping cool. Once we get going sometimes it’s really hard to stop us.”

The Lady Griz, who shot 54 percent from the field in the game, proceeded to pour it on Montana State in the second half, led by the spirited play of Morales. The junior guard played sniper all night, and did so with swagger, holding up her shooting hand after each of her 3-pointers. Plagued by injuries all season, the former Big Sky Player of the Year received an overwhelming standing ovation from the sea of maroon and silver in the final minute of the game.

“It was awesome,” Morales said. “With the crowd standing up and cheering for us – they pretty much won the game for us, got us going. It’s just a wonderful atmosphere to play in front of.”

Morales, who tied a tournament record after going 6-for-6 from downtown, was named Tournament MVP after averaging 27 points, seven assists and five rebounds in two games, only a week after spraining her ankle at Portland State.

“Really, I didn’t feel it that much this game,” Morales said of her injury, modestly adding that her shooting performance caught her own attention as well.

“I was pretty surprised when I saw that,” she said of going 6-for-6 from behind the arc. “I thought I missed one. I guess I was feeling it a little bit, but it’s pretty much my team that gets me the ball and sets screens for me. I’m just blessed to be on this team.”

Although riding sky-high after Saturday’s championship win, Selvig is putting to rest any notion that this is as good as it gets for his club.

“We’re not going to the NCAAs to get it out of the way,” Selvig said. “We have a team that can beat people.”