Montana State women hold off Montana for another home Brawl of the Wild win

The Montana women’s basketball team nearly erased that deficit in Saturday’s game at Worthington Arena. But host Montana State held on, thanks to solid shooting and excellent performances from a pair of players in what was most likely the final Cat-Griz game of their careers.

MSU forward Bad Bear led all players with 23 points, and senior point guard Darian White added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the 75-73 win.

“Every win feels good,” Bad Bear said. “But this win — especially being the Griz, our rival — felt really good. It was just a really fun game.”

The Bobcats (19-8, 12-3 Big Sky Conference) haven't lost to the Grizzlies (13-13, 9-6) at home since 2014.

“You’ve got to be mentally prepared, physically prepared. You’ve got to be super focused, and this team has grown in that every day we step on the floor,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “At practices right now, they’re as hungry as ever. I think that we’re extremely locked in, and that’s what it takes for a game like this.”

An exciting, back-and-forth first quarter ended in fitting fashion. A Carmen Gfeller layup put UM up 19-18 with 10 seconds left. White quickly drove down the floor and drilled a 3-pointer as time expired — her eighth made 3 of the season.

MSU led for all but 1 minute, 25 seconds of the first half, but there were 10 lead changes and five ties. The Cats’ largest lead was six points, while the Griz never led by more than one. Both teams shot 41.7% from the field in the half, but MSU attempted 11 more field goals thanks to advantages of 6-2 in offensive rebounds and 3-7 in turnovers.

The Cats started to pull away a few minutes into the second half, and they finished the third quarter on an 11-2 run. They built on that 50-40 lead in the opening half of the fourth, going ahead by as many as 14 points in the fourth.

UM pulled within three at the 1:13 mark, thanks largely to its full court press and strong 3-point shooting (11 of 27 for the game, compared to 4 of 16 for MSU). But the margin went back up to five after a jumper from Lexi Deden.

UM freshman Mack Konig made it a two-point game with a 3 on the following possession, and Deden split free throws to keep it a one-possession game.

Griz freshman Libby Stump missed a layup with 15 seconds left, and White drained two free throws to extend the margin back to five. Bad Bear did the same with three seconds to go. The Billings Senior graduate knew she sealed the game — barring a miracle — after making the first foul shot.

“I felt almost exhilarating,” Bad Bear said, adding, “I remember I knocked one down, and (White) came up and was, like, ‘Hey, we got it. We got this one, and we’re good.’ It just felt really good.”

UM’s Sammy Fatkin, who finished with nine points and seven rebounds, hit a half court shot as the buzzer sounded.

“Loved our fight at the end,” said UM coach Brian Holsinger. “We continue to hurt ourselves, more than anything. I want to give credit to them. They’re an experienced team, and they killed us inside. That’s the game, to be honest.”

MSU’s players doused Binford with water in the locker room after the game. MSU president Waded Cruzado also got squirted with water, and Leon Costello joined the celebration of another home rivalry win and a Cat-Griz sweep this season (the Cats won 72-63 in Missoula on Jan. 21).

“This family here is really special,” Binford said. “We want to celebrate the opportunities that we have to celebrate with the people that are behind us and support us. No prouder moment for our coaches that we get to do that with our leaders. I’m just extremely proud of our team today on both sides of the floor.”

Bad Bear made 9 of 11 field goals, both of her 3-point attempts and all three of her foul shots. She also grabbed four rebounds and three steals. She’s “not sure” if she played a better game in her career, she said.

“She keeps getting better and better,” Binford said, adding, “She really facilitates our offense through the post play, which is very unique — to have a point guard and a post facilitating and finding players like she is.

“She’s impacting the game in every facet. We’re talking about her points, but I thought her post defense today was incredible.”

Deden, a Missoula Sentinel graduate, scored 17 points (8 of 15 from the field) with four boards and two blocks. She and Bad Bad bear were the two biggest reasons why MSU outscored UM 44-24 in the paint.

“We’ve got to coach better. Last year, we were really hard to score on inside. This year, we’re not,” Holsinger said. “We’ve had to double and dig and do things that, honestly, I haven’t done rarely my whole career. So tonight, we took our chances by not doubling and not digging at the start, and they killed us inside.”

Stump led the Griz with 20 points (8 of 16), Konig scored 15 (3 of 5 on 3s) and Gina Marxen added 10 (3 of 6 from the field).

MSU out-shot UM 46.2% to 42.1% from the field and forced 16 turnovers while committing 10.

The Cats can clinch the Big Sky regular season title with a win at Sacramento State and a Northern Arizona loss on Thursday. The Griz will host Portland State the same day.

“We’re heading towards the end of the season, we’re getting ready to clinch a title, so we’re just going to have to learn a lot from this game,” White said. “Not get too high about it, not get too low about it.”