Women’s Basketball: Bobcats take on Lady Griz in Bozeman

BOZEMAN – The postseason party begins next week.

But make no mistake, both the Montana Lady Griz and Montana State Bobcats hope the celebrating starts Saturday afternoon at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

Both teams will compete in next week’s Big Sky Conference tournament, to be hosted by regular-season champion Montana in Missoula. And both would love to generate some momentum when the ball is tipped off Saturday afternoon at 2 (KFBB2-TV).

“As usual in these games,” said Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig, “you hope to find a couple kids who have the hot hand. That’s what we need and they probably do, too.”

The Lady Griz have won five straight over MSU, including a 62-48 decision on Jan. 17 in Missoula when UM overcame an early 8-0 deficit, and lead the all-time series 76-22.

Montana State, though, is on a bit of a roll. The Bobcats have won four of their last five games and are 7-2 since Jan. 29, including impressive triumphs over strong teams from Sacramento State and North Dakota.

“They’ve got a good team,” Selvig said. “(Jasmine) Hommes is a really good scorer, but they’ve got a whole bunch of kids who can jump up and score. They’re one of those teams that can beat anybody on any night in this league.”

Seniors Kalli Durham, Ausha Cole and Jackie Elliott have provided great play of late for MSU, wich is 8-9 in league play and 14-14 overall. Durham (6.8 ppg) and Elliott (7.5 ppg) start, along with junior forward Jasmine Hommes (16.4 ppg), junior forward Alexa Dawkins (7 ppg) and junior point guard Lindsay Stockton (8.8 ppg).

“They’ve really stepped up with a sense of urgency,” MSU coach Tricia Binford said. “They decided they were going to make plays to get the job done and the team has responded to that.”

The Lady Griz (14-3, 21-7) have won four straight and are led by senior guard Kellie (Cole) Rubel, who averages 13.9 ppg. She’s a former Bozeman High star.

Kayleigh Valley (11.6 ppg) and ex-Lewistown star McCalle Feller (11.4 ppg) are also fine offensive players for Selvig. Shanae Gilham, who played in high school at both Browning and Bozeman, is a key reserve.

“The key for us winning this thing was that as the year went on we became a better shooting team,” Selvig said. “This team plays really hard and does a nice job defensively.”

Montana State is 11-3 at Brick Breeden.

“I feel like the last three weeks we’ve turned the corner and playing at a higher level as a team,” Binford said. “Our mentality coming out has been very different ... We’re going out and setting the tone as far as responding when teams make runs.”