Jasmine Hommes and Riley Nordgaard had standout nights as the Montana women exploded to an 22-point lead before cruising to a 74-64 win over Portland State in Bozeman on Thursday.
Hommes, MSU’s senior center, drilled all eight of her first quarter shots and finished with 16 points in the frame as the Bobcats build a 23-17 advantage. The lead would swell to 68-46 with 9:03 remaining before Hommes took a seat for most of the rest of the night. The 6-foot-1 Lynden, Washington native finished with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. She now has 1,302 career points, the 10th-most in school history.
“Jasmine came out on fire,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “It’s fun when players get in the zone. We did a nice job getting her the ball.”
Hommes is now two spots ahead of her aunt, Blythe Hommes, a Bobcat forward from 1993 until 1997 that scored 1,265 points in her career. Blythe was a 1997 Kodak All-America when she averaged 18.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
Nordgaard, a 5-foot-10 junior, hit 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and scored 16 points to go with a career-high 15 rebounds as Montana State moved to 9-1 in Big Sky Conference play. MSU is 16-5, its best 21-game start since the 2002-2003 team started 17-4. That team was the last Bobcat team to win the Big Sky regular-season title.
Cici West scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Portland State, who fell to 1-7 in the Big Sky, 3-16 overall. The Vikings ended the game on an 18-6 run.
“We were able to get a lot of kids some minutes,” Binford said. “Obviously, we’re not happy with how we finished, and credit Portland State. They’re a much improved team.
“We’re going to have to be a lot sharper against the press on Saturday when Sacramento State comes to town,” she added.
Montana State hosts frantic Sacramento State on Saturday.
Montana 90, Sacramento State 83 — In Missoula, the Lady Griz took care of the ball against the Hornets’ frantic press and owned the glass on both sides in snapping a four-game losing streak.
Alycia Sims had a career night, notching 17 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, all career-highs, as Montana moved to 5-5 in Big Sky Conference play, 12-9 overall. Kayleigh Valley poured in 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as UM owned a 57-37 advantage on the boards. McCalle Feller hit three of Montana’s five made 3-pionters and scored 22 points to go with eight rebounds before suffering an injury and missing the fourth quarter.
“That’s a typical game with them,” said a weary Robin Selvig after the game. “I feel like I just ran a marathon. I was trying to be calm, but there are just so many possessions and hacks and digs.”
Sacramento State has goals of shooting 100 shots, including 50 3-pointers while forcing 30 turnovers with its full-court press and secure 40 percent of its offensive rebounding opportunities in an effort to create extra possessions. Adella Randle-El scored 30 points and nabbed six steals as the Hornets forced 21 Lady Griz turnovers. But Montana handled the press as senior point guard Haley Vining notched nine assists.
Montana’s four-game losing streak was its first since the 1998-1999 season. The Lady Griz had never lost five straight in Selvig’s 38 years at the helm.
“It’s just a good feeling to get back into the win column,” Selvig said. “The games we lost were good ones and ones we could have won, so there was no reason to be down and out about it. It just feels a lot better to get the W.”
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Sacramento State 83, Montana 79 — Sacramento State trailed by as many as 20 points early in the second half but managed to rally for a win that dropped Montana in league play for just the second time this season.
Sacrameto State shot 62 percent in a 54-point second half to rally from a deficit that welled to 49-29 on Brandon Gfeller’s 3-pointer with 19:09 left in the contest. Montana raced out to a 20-6 lead in the first 7:27 and led 43-29 at halftime.
Sac center Eric Stuteville scored 13 of his 15 points after halftime as four Hornets scored 10 or more in the second period. Jeff Wu scored all 11 of his points after intermission, as did Jiday Ugbaja, who finished with 18 points. Marcus Graves scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half. Sac held the Griz to 41.4 percent shooting during the 18-point second half swing. Ugbaja’s jumper shot with 1:53 to play gave Sacramento State its first lead and the Hornets would not give it up.
Gfeller hit 6-of-8 from beyond the arc and scored 18 points after halftime, 21 overall as UM fell to 8-2 in Big Sky Conference play, 13-8 overall. Griz senior center Martin Breunig scored 20 points in 26 minutes. UM guards Walter Wright and Michael Oguine combined to shoot 5-of-20 and score 14 points total.
The win moves Sacramento State to 3-6 in league play, 10-10 overall. The Hornets host Montana State, a team with a 4-6 league mark fresh off of Thursday night’s 83-68 loss at Portland State. Montana plays at PSU.
North Dakota 76, Idaho State 60 — UND (11-10, 6-4 BSC) snapped Idaho State’s (10-11, 5-4 BSC) four-game winning streak thanks to Quinton Hooker’s triple-double and a career-high 28 points from freshman Adam McDermott. Hooker scored 13 points, pulled down a dozen rebounds and dished 10 assists to register the first triple-double for the Fighting Hawks since moving to Division I. McDermott had a monster night from the field, hitting 9-of-15 from the floor including 8-of-14 from beyond the arc to score a game-high 28 points.
ISU was led by Ethan Telfair with 13 points while Geno Luzcando chipped in 10 points. With the loss, ISU fell into a three-way tie for fourth in the Big Sky standings while UND moved up to third.
Idaho 68, Southern Utah 44 — Idaho (14-9, 6-4 BSC) earned its second straight victory with a win over Southern Utah (4-16, 2-7 BSC) in Cedar City. Ty Egbert led a balanced attack by the Vandals with 12 points. Nick Blair and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan picked up 10 points off the bench for UI.
Casey Oliverson, John Marshall and Race Parsons each recorded nine points and led the Thunderbirds in scoring.
Eastern Washington 84, Northern Arizona 73 — Eastern Washington (12-10, 6-4 BSC) picked up its first conference road win of the season with a victory at Northern Arizona (3-18, 1-9 BSC). Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by the 28 from Austin McBroom. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk and senior Venky Jois added double-doubles for the Eagles.
Mike Green had a strong showing for NAU with 20 points and four assists. It was Green’s fourth-consecutive double-figures performance. Ako Kaluna was the leading rebounder for the Lumberjacks with eight.
Weber State 64, Northern Colorado 54 — Weber State (16-6, 8-1 BSC) took over first place in the Big Sky standings with a road win at Northern Colorado (8-14, 5-5 BSC). The win snapped UNC’s four-game winning streak and extended the Wildcats’ winning streak to three games. Jeremy Senglin led the Wildcats with 22 points and seven rebounds. He also knocked down four 3-pointers. Senior Joel Bolomboy had his 20th double-double in 22 games, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds. He remains in first in the nation in double-doubles and ranks second in the country in rebounding.
Junior guard, Anthony Johnson scored a team-high 14 points for UNC. Johnson finished 50.0 percent from the field (6-of-12) and 66.6 percent (2-of-3) from beyond the arc.
