Wednesday, November 30
BOZEMAN
7 p.m.
Montana State University
5-3,0-0Big Sky
71
vs
66
(RV) South Dakota State
4-4,0-0Summit League
1
2
3
4
F
South Dakota St.
10
19
19
18
66
Montana St.
22
19
13
17
71
Darian White drives past a South Dakota State defender.
Photo by: Thomas Anderson
Bobcats Ride Hot Shooting to Upset South Dakota State
11/30/2022 10:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball
“It was a dogfight,” Binford said. “I’m so proud of this team for the way they battled and the way they closed out the game. We had big smiles in the locker room afterwards because this team knows what they’re capable of doing on both ends of the court.”
Montana State head coach Tricia Binford finally saw what her team can achieve as the Bobcats stormed to an early lead and held off South Dakota State down the stretch to post a 71-66 victory over the Jackrabbits on Wednesday night in Worthington Arena.
"It was a dogfight," Binford said. "I'm so proud of this team for the way they battled and the way they closed out the game. We had big smiles in the locker room afterwards because this team knows what they're capable of doing on both ends of the court."
Montana State (5-3) opened the contest on a 12-0 run sparked by Missoula product Lexi Deden's six points, while Katelynn Limardo and Leia Beattie each drained three-pointers. MSU built its largest lead at 20-2 with 3:22 left in the first quarter after a basket from freshman Marah Dykstra. South Dakota State (4-4), who had knocked off No. 4/10 Louisville a week ago, whittled the margin down to 22-10 heading into the second stanza.
"That's how we want to start every game," Binford said. "I really liked our ball movement and getting it side-to-side. We put up our most assists of the season and had balanced scoring, and defensively, they did a great job following the game plan."
MSU held a 41-24 advantage in the second period at the 3:06 mark on a pair of Darian White free throws, but the Jackrabbits answered with five consecutive points and the Bobcats entered intermission leading 41-29.
SDSU, who won the WNIT title last March, came out of halftime on fire with a 14-4 run in the first three-minutes. MSU held a small cushion until a Tori Nelson bucket with four-minutes left in the third gave the Jackrabbits it first lead at 48-47. The Bobcats closed out the quarter with seven unanswered points as Limardo's two free throws with 31-seconds remaining gave MSU a 54-48 advantage heading in the final 10-minutes.
A pair of Beattie free throws a minute into the final frame gave MSU an eight-point advantage. Again, SDSU responded with an 11-2 run to retake the lead on a three-pointer by Ellie Colbeck with 6:12 left. The lead changed hands five times down the stretch until Deden's three-point play at the 1:47 mark gave MSU the margin it needed to put the game away. Darian White closed out the contest connecting on five-of-six from the line in the final 34-seconds.
"It was so important to get out to that start and get everyone involved," Deden said. "We settled in from the beginning and it was just a good feeling to knock down shots and to be able to share the ball."
Deden paced MSU with a season-high 17 points, connecting on seven-of-16 from the field. Also in double-digits were White 16 and Beattie 14. White finished 10-of-12 from the line, while Beattie went four-of-five from long distance.
As a team, the Bobcats shot 41.1% from the field, including 50% (8-16) from long distance. MSU shot 55.2% in the opening half, (60.5% in the first quarter) converting 16-of-29 from the floor, including six-of-10 from beyond the arc.
The Jackrabbits held a 43-29 advantage under the boards. The Bobcats were led by White and Dykstra with seven and five rebounds, respectively. White also dished out season-high eight assists. MSU forced 20 SDSU turnovers into 25 points.
The victory over South Dakota State was the first for a Montana State team in five tries. The Jackrabbits defeated the Bobcats 78-49 last November in Brookings.
"South Dakota State has an amazing program," Binford said. "They came in receiving a lot of points in the top 25 poll and were ranked No. 2 in the mid major poll this week. This was a great win for our program."
Montana State plays at Wyoming on Friday night in Laramie with tip slated for 6:30 p.m.
"It was a dogfight," Binford said. "I'm so proud of this team for the way they battled and the way they closed out the game. We had big smiles in the locker room afterwards because this team knows what they're capable of doing on both ends of the court."
Montana State (5-3) opened the contest on a 12-0 run sparked by Missoula product Lexi Deden's six points, while Katelynn Limardo and Leia Beattie each drained three-pointers. MSU built its largest lead at 20-2 with 3:22 left in the first quarter after a basket from freshman Marah Dykstra. South Dakota State (4-4), who had knocked off No. 4/10 Louisville a week ago, whittled the margin down to 22-10 heading into the second stanza.
"That's how we want to start every game," Binford said. "I really liked our ball movement and getting it side-to-side. We put up our most assists of the season and had balanced scoring, and defensively, they did a great job following the game plan."
MSU held a 41-24 advantage in the second period at the 3:06 mark on a pair of Darian White free throws, but the Jackrabbits answered with five consecutive points and the Bobcats entered intermission leading 41-29.
SDSU, who won the WNIT title last March, came out of halftime on fire with a 14-4 run in the first three-minutes. MSU held a small cushion until a Tori Nelson bucket with four-minutes left in the third gave the Jackrabbits it first lead at 48-47. The Bobcats closed out the quarter with seven unanswered points as Limardo's two free throws with 31-seconds remaining gave MSU a 54-48 advantage heading in the final 10-minutes.
A pair of Beattie free throws a minute into the final frame gave MSU an eight-point advantage. Again, SDSU responded with an 11-2 run to retake the lead on a three-pointer by Ellie Colbeck with 6:12 left. The lead changed hands five times down the stretch until Deden's three-point play at the 1:47 mark gave MSU the margin it needed to put the game away. Darian White closed out the contest connecting on five-of-six from the line in the final 34-seconds.
"It was so important to get out to that start and get everyone involved," Deden said. "We settled in from the beginning and it was just a good feeling to knock down shots and to be able to share the ball."
Deden paced MSU with a season-high 17 points, connecting on seven-of-16 from the field. Also in double-digits were White 16 and Beattie 14. White finished 10-of-12 from the line, while Beattie went four-of-five from long distance.
As a team, the Bobcats shot 41.1% from the field, including 50% (8-16) from long distance. MSU shot 55.2% in the opening half, (60.5% in the first quarter) converting 16-of-29 from the floor, including six-of-10 from beyond the arc.
The Jackrabbits held a 43-29 advantage under the boards. The Bobcats were led by White and Dykstra with seven and five rebounds, respectively. White also dished out season-high eight assists. MSU forced 20 SDSU turnovers into 25 points.
The victory over South Dakota State was the first for a Montana State team in five tries. The Jackrabbits defeated the Bobcats 78-49 last November in Brookings.
"South Dakota State has an amazing program," Binford said. "They came in receiving a lot of points in the top 25 poll and were ranked No. 2 in the mid major poll this week. This was a great win for our program."
Montana State plays at Wyoming on Friday night in Laramie with tip slated for 6:30 p.m.
Team Stats
SDSU
MSU
FG%
.400
.411
3FG%
.296
.500
FT%
.714
.810
RB
43
29
TO
20
12
STL
3
10
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
10
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Bobcat Insider TV Show
Wednesday, January 26
vs. Seattle (Live Stream Video)
Saturday, December 18
Inside The Brick (Lexi Deden)
Thursday, November 04
Inside The Brick (Leia Beattie)
Tuesday, November 02
