Montana State University
Montana
Bobcat Women Squander Big Lead to Lady Griz in One-Point Loss
1/29/2011 5:19:25 PM | Women's Basketball
For the first time this season the Montana State women’s basketball team experienced defeat after leading at halftime. The University of Montana overcame an 18-point first half deficit to post a 56-55 win over the Bobcats, Saturday afternoon in front of 4,006 fans in Worthington Arena.
For the first time this season the Montana State women's basketball team experienced defeat after leading at halftime. The University of Montana overcame an 18-point first half deficit to post a 56-55 win over the Bobcats, Saturday afternoon in front of 4,006 fans in Worthington Arena.
The loss snapped MSU's ten-game win streak.
Montana State (12-9, 6-1) opened the contest cruising to a 27-9 advantage following a Sarah Balian layin at the 6:09 mark. That would be MSU's last field-goal of the half as Montana (9-11, 4-3) closed out the stanza with 13 straight points to pull to within 27-22 at intermission.
“I thought we got out to a great start,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “Then we started to lose our composure and had a more difficult time handling Montana's pressure. We also couldn't buy a basket.”
The Bobcats maintained its lead in the opening moments of the second half and pushed the margin to 40-30 with 13:16 remaining on a Latisha Adams three-pointer. Again, the Lady Griz responded and cut the margin to 46-45 with 5:19 left.
Montana took its first lead of the second half with 4:42 remaining on a Kenzie De Boer field-goal, but Rachel Semansky answered for Montana State ten-seconds later.
UM freshman Torry Hill connected on a deep three-pointer with 4:06 left to give the Montana the lead for good.
The Lady Griz built its largest lead of the game at 56-50 at the 2:27 mark on an Alexandra Hurley layup. MSU's Katie Bussey cut the lead in half with a triple at the 2:15 mark and added a layup with 38-seconds remaining to pull the Bobcats to within 56-55.
The Bobcats fouled De Boer with 5.1-seconds remaining to send the sophomore to the free throw line for a one-and-one. De Boer missed the charity toss and the Bobcats gathered the rebound. MSU freshman Ausha Cole raced the length of the court but was unable to get a shot off as time expired.
“We've talked all season about needing to step-up in certain situations,” Binford said. “I think we lacked the focus we needed and struggled with the pressure we put on ourselves to win in front of our crowd.
“The conference race is still in our control,” Binford said. “We'll move our attention on to Northern Arizona.”
Semansky, a 6-foot sophomore from Highwood, paced all scorers with 13 points. She also added a game-high 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
Also in double-figures for the Bobcats were Balian and Bussey with 12 points, apiece.
MSU shot 41 percent for the game, while holding UM to 39 percent. The Bobcats also won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding the Lady Griz 40-36. However, Montana forced Montana State into 19 turnovers, its highest total in five games.
Montana was led by Sarah Ena and De Boer with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Montana State will host Northern Arizona on Thursday night.
