Happy to be Home: Cats Defeat Wyoming in Sunday Matinee`

Sunday, December 17

BOZEMAN

12 p.m.

Montana State University

4-6,0-0Big Sky

Wyoming

4-5,0-0Mountain West

Wyoming

Montana St.

Freshman Brooke Berry scored 10 points against Wyoming, including eight in the first quarter.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

Happy to be Home: Cats Defeat Wyoming in Sunday Matinee`

12/17/2023 3:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State saw its home court in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse for the first time in thirty-three days and used the Worthington Arena advantage en route to a 64-55 win over Wyoming on Sunday afternoon. It was MSU's third victory over a Mountain West Conference team this season.

Montana State (4-6), who last played at home on Nov. 14 against San Jose State (62-49), entered its contest with the Cowgirls coming off a series of six-games on the road. The Bobcats went 2-4 during that stretch.

MSU held Wyoming (4-5) to five points in the opening quarter- a season best for the Bobcat defense. And while the Cat defense limited the Cowgirls to 22.2% from the field, freshman Brooke Berry came off the bench to spark the MSU offense with eight points on four-of-six shooting.

"Brooke's a kid that's been in and out of the line-up, being sick at times and dealing with some injuries and she's working herself back," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "Now, we're starting to see her start finding a groove where she can really make an impact for us."

Wyoming used a 20-13 second quarter to trail by one at intermission. MSU received 12 points from its bench players in the opening half and shot 46.2% from the field.

The Cowgirls opened the second half with a three-pointer from Ola Ustowska nine seconds into the third quarter taking its first lead at 28-26. The lead changed hands three times before the Bobcats took a 45-37 advantage following a pair of Lindsey Hein free throws with 1:46 left in the period. Wyoming closed the margin to 47-44 at the buzzer.

Hein, a redshirt sophomore from Forsyth, poured in seven points in the third quarter which included a five-of-six effort from the line.

"With where we're at with our post depth, and Lindsey coming back the last few games, she's started to get her legs under her," Binford said. "I can't remember the last time (Allyson) Fertig was held to single digits, and that took a team effort, but Lindsey was a big impact."

Wyoming grabbed a 48-47 lead on an offensive put back by Marta Savic with 7 minutes, 24-seconds left but Montana State responded with a 7-0 run sparked by freshman Issy Bunyan with five consecutive points giving the Bobcats a six-point cushion.

MSU held at least a three-point margin down the stretch and closed out the contest on a 6-0 run as Katelynn Limardo went four-of-four from the line to secure the win.

"With the trials and adversity that we've had this season, it just hasn't been that one kid that we've relied on," Binford said. "It has taken an entire team to step up and make plays. Today, we had a variety of players impacting the game at a lot of critical moments."

Limardo paced MSU with 12 points which included nine in the second half. Hein and Berry also finished in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively.

For the game, the Bobcats shot 45.7% from the field and went 18-25 from the free throw line. Wyoming shot 38.5% from the floor and were led by Malene Pedersen with 18 points.

Montana State held a slim 31-30 advantage under the boards. The Bobcats were led by Marah Dykstra and Limardo with seven and six rebounds, respectively.

Montana State hosts North Texas on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. in Worthington Arena.