MISSOULA, Montana — For the first quarter of action at Dahlberg Arena Thursday night, one team looked like the squad closing in on a top seed in next month’s conference tournament while the other looked like a team feeling the pressure of a futile battle to earn a first-round bye in Boise.
Never mind that for nearly the entire history of the Big Sky Conference that a scenario in which Northern Arizona’s women’s basketball team was competing as a visiting favorites against the once-dominant Lady Griz of Montana. History meant next to nothing in terms of Thursday night’s matchup in Missoula.
Yet like they have so many times before, fan favorite players stepped up, the Lady Griz faithful roared and Montana stayed alive with an enormous win in the scope of their 2020 campaign.
UM rebounded from a 10-point first quarter deficit to win the next three frames. True freshman Jamie Pickens blossomed before the 3,570 in attendance by carrying the Lady Griz in the third quarter. And senior Taylor Goligoski sparked her best shooting night of the year by drilling a 3-point to end the first half before boosting Montana down the stretch of a pivotal 70-57 win over NAU.
“I’m really proud of our team and it’s one of those things where we talk all the time, 10 or 15 points in basketball really just isn’t much any more,” Schweyen said following the win. “We played a game a couple of years ago with NAU and I think we were down 23 and we came back in the second half and won in overtime. It’s just never over until it’s over any more and with the 3-point line, as fast as people can score, I think we showed a lot of character in that respect tonight.”
Under the direction of third-year head coach Loree Payne, a Havre native who had an All-Pac 10 career at the University of Washington, NAU is the surprise of this year’s Big Sky Conference. The Lumberjacks brought a 12-5 league record into Dahlberg Thursday, good enough to sit alone in second place in the conference race with two weekends remaining.
NAU has made the NCAA Tournament one time in their program’s history, fighting their way to the Big Dance in 2006. Montana has advanced to March Madness a league-record 21 times, but none under fourth-year head coach Shannon Schweyen.
This Lady Griz squad, a group that features three seniors and two fourth-year juniors, has been up and down this season but has remained tough at home. That proved to be true once again on Thursday as the Lady Griz rode the energy of a season-high crowd (outside of the Cat-Griz game earlier this month) and the nice outside shooting of Goligoski and her backcourt teammates.
The victory helped the Lady Griz keep pace in the race for a top-five finish and the first-round bye at the Big Sky Tournament in Boise that goes with it. Montana moved to 10-7 in league play, 15-11 overall and 9-5 at home.
The result coupled with Southern Utah’s 70-67 win over Eastern Washington means UM and SUU are tied for fifth place with three games remaining. Idaho moved into a tie with NAU in the win column with a 70-65 win over Northern Colorado. UI is 12-5 in league play while NAU falls to 12-6.
The Lady Griz got off to a horrific start in an exceptionally physical basketball game against a confidence squad that seized the energy in the arena for themselves early on. Against NAU’s swarming defense, the Lady Griz committed 10 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
Northern Arizona opened the game on a 12-2 run and closed the first quarter up 18-8 despite no points from Khiarica Rasheed, a powerful power forward who entered the game as the second-leading scorer in the entire league.
Pickens, a 6-foot-2, athletic forward out of Helena High who earned Montana Gatorade Player of the Year honors two years in a row, hit a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter to spark an 13-4 run that helped UM get back into the game. Pickens’ second bucket cut NAU’s lead to 24-22 with 1:34 in the first half.
“Jamie is getting more comfortable all the time,” Schweyen said. “She gave us a little lift and our guards got us going and then Taylor came in and hit a couple of huge shots for us.”
Goligoski, herself a former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year from Hamilton, entered the game for the first time with three minutes left in the first half. With three seconds left, she drilled a 3-pointer in transition off a sweet pass from senior point guard McKenzie Johnston to help UM win the frame 19-10 and close the lead to 28-27 at the break.
“We had 15 turnovers at the half and we are a team that has been ranked nationally in taking care of the ball and our assist to turnover ratio has been great all year,” Schweyen sad. “What was just a weird one for us. Not very characteristic. Didn’t feel like it was forced turnovers. I’m sure they were thanking us at halftime.
“But I’m proud of the way we battled back before half with those turnovers.”
After halftime, Johnston broke a more than two-minute scoring drought by hitting a jumper to give the Lady Griz their first lead. But Rasheed, who went scoreless in the first half, helped spark a 8-0 NAU run to take the lead right back.
Then Montana turned to Pickens, one of the great prospects to choose Montana over the last decade. The four-star recruit scored consecutive baskets in the paint, showing her power. Then she hit a slashing Gabi Harrington for a pull-up jumper showing her court vision. Then Pickens nailed a jump shot from the elbow to give the Lady Griz a one-point lead.
“I’m pretty confident down low,” Pickens said. “Our coaches preach that we need to get the ball and know we can score. When we have a good game down low, that’s really what gets the spark going for our team. That’s what is going through my head: I need to get this team going by playing my game down low.”
Johnston, who finished with 14 points, hit a second-chance turnaround jumper in the paint with 47 seconds left in the third to put Montana up 43-40 then Harrington provided UM’s second near buzzer-beater in as many quarters, stroking a 3-pointer with two seconds left to help UM enter the fourth quarter up 46-42.
“Unfortunately, we were on the other end of shots late in the quarter (in a 92-78 loss to Montana State) and those are huge momentum builders for your team,” Schweyen said. “They are big for your team and that got us going a little bit.”
In the final frame, Montana never folded despite 11 points from Rasheed, who finished with 17 points, right at her season average. And Goligoski led the way for the strong finish by the hosts.
She hit a pull-up jumper and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to open the third quarter to put UM up 51-44. Goligoski scored on a driving to the paint with a kiss off the glass with 7:18 left and drilled her third 3-pointer of the night with 7:02 let to stretch the gap to 58-49.
“I’ve been so happy with the way Taylor has accepted her role,” Schweyen said. “It’s never been easy for a few of these girls who have gone from starters to coming off the bench but we have a lot of girls who have started over the years. Taylor has been great about that and has made the most of her minutes when she got out there. And those were huge buckets she made tonight for us.”
Johnston, who will likely be sporting a black eye this weekend because of the ultra-physical style played Thursday, scored four of her team-high 14 in the final five minutes. And junior Madi Schoening, who joined Pickens and Goligoski with 13 points each, eight points in the final 2:41 to seal it.
Schoening’s put-back with 2:41 left kept the lead at nine, 64-55, her layup on the next possession pushed it to 11 and her four free throws in the final 45 seconds proved to be the final margin.
Johnston, Goligoski and Emma Stockholm will play their final home games at Dahlberg Arena on Saturday night against Sacramento State. The Hornets were on the wrong end of a 113-69 drubbing at Montana State on Thursday night in Bozeman.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
