Bea’s 32 carries Idaho to win over Lady Griz

THE MATCHUP

Montana handled Eastern Washington 81-70 in the Lady Griz’s Big Sky Conference opener, but no teams in the conference made a bigger statement on Thursday than Idaho, which smoked defending conference champion Montana 72-53. That gave the Vandals three wins in four games as Montana visited Moscow on Saturday.

THE RESULT

Only one team could carry its momentum over from Thursday, and it was Idaho. The Vandals went up nine at the end of the first quarter and Montana never got back even in a 79-70 loss. The Lady Griz closed to within two points on a Dani Bartsch 3-pointer with three minutes to go until halftime, but Idaho’s Beyonce Bea answered with a personal 12-0 run. The Vandals led 45-32 at halftime and kept a double-digit margin for most of the second half. Idaho shot 28 of 59 from the field (48.5%) and made 12 3-pointers.

THE STANDOUTS

Bea, Idaho’s conference MVP candidate, authored one of the best games of her distinguished career, scoring 23 points in the first half and finishing with 32, nine rebounds and five blocks. The senior forward shot 10 of 18 from the field (3 of 5 3-pointers) and made 9 of 10 free throws. It was only her fourth highest-scoring game of the year, after back-to-back 34-point performances against Navy and Nevada and 33 against Denver.

Sydney Gandy chipped in with 17 points and eight assists for Idaho.

Sammy Fatkin led Montana with 20 points, adding six rebounds and a team-high four assists. Carmen Gfeller and Gina Marxen joined her in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

BOX SCORE

QUOTABLE

“She took it to us in the first half, especially when we got in foul trouble. We have to live and learn. This should tell you that you have to be ready all the time, ready to play and contribute. You never know who is going to get in foul trouble.” – Montana head coach Brian Holsinger on Beyonce Bea

“When you’re on the road, you have to be the aggressor from the very beginning. It was really a back-and-forth game after the first quarter, but we didn’t come out ready. We fought like crazy, but we made too many mistakes, especially on defense. We had our chances to cut into it. It’s tough to come back on the road if you’re not getting stops.” – Holsinger

UP NEXT

Montana (5-8, 1-1) hosts Northern Arizona on Thursday and Northern Colorado on Saturday. Idaho (6-7, 2-0) travels to Sacramento State and Portland State.

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