MISSOULA – Knifing through the lane, Dani Bartsch got her hand on the ball for the final time Saturday, tipping out an offensive rebound that allowed the Lady Griz to run out the clock on a 72-50 win over Montana State.
As Gina Marxen dribbled out the final seconds, Bartsch’s momentum carried her to the far corner, where a high-five and then a hug from teammate Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw were waiting as the buzzer sounded.
In a game in which Bartsch had her fingerprints on nearly every positive for the Lady Griz, it was fitting that she had the final meaningful touch on the ball as Montana restored the equilibrium in the rivalry after a grinding loss to the Bobcats in Bozeman in January.
A look at the box score would reveal a fantastically efficient performance for Bartsch on Saturday, representative of a game in which the Lady Griz shot the lights out. The 6-foot-2 Helena product finished with 14 points on eight shots, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal, against just two turnovers.
Sitting courtside in Dahlberg Arena revealed something more: nothing less than one of the finest individual performances the rivalry has seen in recent years.
“I’m just so proud of Dani,” Lady Griz guard Gina Marxen said. “She’s grown so much in the two years I have played with her. I just love when she’s playing aggressive and she does so much for our team, not only offensively and defensively, but with her voice and her leadership. She knows what she needs to do for the team to be successful.”
Bartsch’s influence was all over the game, starting in the first minute when she chased down MSU’s quicksilver freshman point guard Natalie Picton and erased her breakaway layup, swatting it out of bounds. With the game still scoreless through two-and-a-half minutes, Bartsch unhurriedly lined up a 3 from the top of the key, precise as a pool shark going for the corner pocket, and knocked it in.
A minute later, she slid over in perfect rotation to draw a charge on Montana State star Madison Hall, then whistled a pass to Gina Marxen in the corner for another 3 that gave the Lady Griz an 11-2 lead. It was a margin that would hold, more or less, for the rest of the game as Bartsch followed her career-high 20 points against Northern Colorado last week with another defining performance as her game continues to expand closer to her sky-high potential.
Bartsch’s defense and rebounding has always been there – later in the first half, she obliterated a Marah Dykstra layup out of bounds after the MSU forward drove past her. But on Saturday, Bartsch showed off an increasing confidence and role on offense, swaying like a reed in the wind as she battled for the catch at the high post, firing off series of abbreviated pass fakes, faster than a camera shutter, and finding shooters in the corners and cutters through the lane (she had several potential assists that resulted in missed layups, including one by MJ Bruno in which Bartsch wrestled the rebound away from a Montana State player and put it up and in). When Montana State pressed up on her, she put the ball on the floor and drove to the rim, including for a tough left-handed and-1.
“We said, be a player. Right? Don’t stand with the ball above your head and act like you’re just a passer,” Montana head coach Brian Holsinger said. “(Montana State) likes to pressure, they like to get out there and get up on you and try to cause havoc. Well, the best way to defeat that is to go to the rim. That was really the difference in my opinion between what we’ve been doing against them and then today.”
As Bartsch carried the offense, the rest of the Lady Griz seemed to pick up some of her defensive chops. Montana led 38-29 at halftime, and proceeded to put the game away by holding Montana State to nine points in the third quarter.
As during the first half, Bartsch’s fingerprints were all over the game although she didn’t score after halftime. When Montana State closed the lead to nine midway through the third, it was Bartsch with back-to-back deflections that resulted in steals. When the Lady Griz pushed the lead to 18 going to the fourth, it was Bartsch making precise high-low passes to Carmen Gfeller for back-to-back buckets to close the third quarter.
“She’s unbelievable,” Montana’s Macey Huard said. “Honestly, I’ve never played with someone that’s as efficient as her. Rebounds, blocks. She’s everywhere at once. Getting to play with her this year, and looking up to her, she’s a great player. And so even if she’s not scoring, she’s affecting the game in a lot of other ways.”
Elsewhere, the Lady Griz shot 52% from 3-point range, shredding a Montana State defense that held them in check for three quarters in the earlier game in Bozeman. Espenmiller-McGraw went 4 of 7 from deep, Gina Marxen matched Bartsch with 14 points and the Lady Griz, after committing 10 turnovers in the first half, had just three in the second as they pulled away.
“We’re gonna celebrate today,” Holsinger said. “I mean, they deserve to celebrate. We all deserve to celebrate probably, but we’ll keep them grounded and keep them knowing that, hey, we’re just continuing to improve. We’ve had enough heartbreak already this season. You can’t let up.”
