Montana’s non-conference season may have already delivered its high and low moments. After a loss to Gonzaga 69-82, the Lady Griz were defeated at home by Cal Poly 55-65. Montana’s fourth year head coach,
Brian Holsinger, was disappointed:
"Offensively, we were out of sync all over the place. You have to give some credit to them. They are physical and tough, and we weren't. They came in here and really took care of business. We were on our heels all game. We've got to make some changes because we struggled on both sides of the ball tonight."
Also, Cal Poly shot 9-19 from three while Montana was 5-25.
Then three days later, B1G newbie Washington arrived in Missoula and Montana hit a high note with a 82-68 victory. Montana out rebounded the taller Huskies 42-33 and outshot them from three 6-17 to 2-14.
Lady Griz vs Washington Highlights 11/17/24
Brian Holsinger was pleased:
"It's one of the bigger wins since I've been here, but beyond that, from what happened the other night to today is what I'm really proud of. To be able to execute against a good team that has beaten a lot of people badly is pretty special."
On their way to Minnesota, the Lady Griz knocked off North Dakota 71-59. Montana was 10-28 from three warming up to face their second undefeated Big Ten opponent,
Last season the Lady Griz finished 3rd in the Big Sky Conference with a 13-5 record (23-10 overall). In the WNIT they defeated Boise State before losing to North Dakota State. Montana was projected 3rd in this season’s pre-season polling behind Northern Arizona and Montana State.
Players to know:
5’9” junior guard
Mack Konig put up 24 points and 4 assists versus Washington. The former Big Sky Freshman of the Year averages 12.4 points in 30 minutes per game.
6’3” junior forward Alex
Pirog scored 9 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in a foul restricted 14 minutes versus Washington. We can say Pirog is foul prone-5 fouls in 8 minutes at North Dakota.
6’3” freshman guard
Avery Waddington had 8 points and 7 rebounds and 4 fouls in 22 minutes against Washington.
6’2” senior forward
Dani Bartsch grabbed 10 rebounds in 29 minutes versus Washington. The preseason Big Sky all conference selection averages 8 points and 6 rebounds in 26.6 minutes. She’s 10-24 from three.
5’11” senior guard
M J Bruno averages 5 points and 3 rebounds in 27,6 minutes. She had 11 points and 3 assists versus Washington.
Montana has a good mix of experience and youth with dash of roster height.
How new B1G member UCLA became the Bruins thanks to Montana
UCLA football originally adopted the nickname Cubs in deference to big brother Cal. Tired of the second fiddle nature of Cubs, UCLA received permission from Cal in 1923 to use Grizzlies as a nickname. Then in 1926 UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference. PCC conference member Montana “Grizzlies” objected to another team of Grizzlies. Subsequently, UCLA received permission from Cal for use of “Bruins”. From this we learn that UCLA and Cal could cooperate and that athletic conferences were no better at geography in the twenties than they are today.
