THE MATCHUP
The Montana State women’s basketball team had a 16-day break before Monday’s matchup against Idaho, a game the Bobcats won 79-69. Thursday, MSU forged an 88-73 win over Northern Arizona in the second of four home games in seven days. Saturday, hosted a Portland State in search of its first Big Sky Conference win.
THE RESULT
On an afternoon in which Montana State emphasized a “No More Stolen Sisters” — a grassroots effort to bring awareness of the disproportionate number of Native American women who go missing because of human trafficking kidnaps — MSU junior Kola Bad Bear scored 13 point to pace the Bobcats to a 71-56 win.
Bad Bear, a Billings native, comes from indigenous heritage and was MSU’s spokesperson driving the message before the game.
The junior post scored vie points in the opening frame as MSU staked an early lead. MSU then used a 9-0 second quarter run to build a 14-piont lead and led 40-28 at halftime.
The victory moves MSU’s winning streak to three games while upping the Bobcats’ conference record to 5-2 and its overall record to 10-8.
Note from Montana State Sports Information:
MSU used its Big Sky Conference game on Saturday afternoon to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – No More Stolen Sisters. Wearing red, the symbolic color for MMIWG, was one way Montana State hoped to bring attention to the issue that’s prevalent in Montana.
The Bobcats have one Native American player on their roster: junior forward Kola Bad Bear (Crow). The Billings Senior graduate has known a couple girls who have gone missing and died, including Selena Not Afraid. The number of Native Americans enrolled at MSU has steadily risen over the past decade and was 811 last year, almost 5% of the school’s total enrollment. That made Saturday’s awareness-building game important not just for the team or the fans in attendance, but for the entire university. (note courtesy of 406mtsports.com/Victor Flores)
THE STANDOUTS
Bad Bear converted 6-of-12 field goals on her way to a team-high point total. She was one of two Bobcats in double figures scoring as junior point guard Darian White scored 10 points and dished out seven assists a few days after becoming the 26th player to enter the 1,000-point club at Montana State.
A total of 12 bobcats scored, including nine points from sophomore Lexi Deden and six points each fro Gabby Mocchi and Leia Beattie.
Reserve guard Ashley Van Sickle led MSU with seven rebounds while Jada Lewis scored 18 points to pace a Portland State team that fell to 0-6 in league play.
QUOTABLE
“It was fantastic to get everyone involved today,” Montana State 17th-year head coach Tricia Binford said. “Once again, across the board we had a lot of balance. We were able to have fresh legs in for most of the game and get everyone plenty of breathers.
“The bench really produced at a high rate and that’s super critical as we go through this stretch of games,” Binford added. “I loved our consistency and thought the post-to-post action was outstanding.”
SOCIAL
BOX SCORE (Click)
WHAT’S NEXT
Montana State hosts Montana in Bozeman on Sunday. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
