Montana State sports information
MOSCOW, Idaho – Montana State junior Delany Junkermier delivered the dagger on both ends of the court to pace the Bobcats to a 66-61 victory over Idaho, Thursday night in Cowan Spectrum.
The 6-foot guard from Spokane had the defensive task to stop the Vandals’ leading scorer Mikayla Ferenz. Ferenz, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week who averaged 28.5 points per game last weekend, and tied the Big Sky mark with a 41-point output against Northern Arizona, was held to a season-low eight points, connecting on just 2-of-16 from the field.
MSU head coach Tricia Binford
“Delany (Junkermier) had a tremendous challenge to guard Ferenz and her performance was phenomenal,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford.
Junkermier also dealt a fatal blow on the offensive end of the floor. Leading 61-59 with 44-seconds remaining, Peyton Ferris drew a defender and kicked the pass to Junkermier who converted the triple from the right wing.
“We struggled offensively, but found a way to grind it out on the defensive end,” Binford said. “We had to overcome a lot of sickness and I’m proud of this team for pushing through the adversity.”
Ferris led all scorers with a game-high 24 points, while Riley Nordgaard 15 and Hannah Caudill 12 also hit double-figures. Under the boards, Montana State (14-5, 7-2) was paced by Ferris and Annika Lai with nine and seven rebounds, respectively.
The Bobcats forced Idaho (9-10, 4-4) into 20 turnovers, which were converted into 22-points. MSU had a Big Sky Conference low nine miscues.
Geraldine McCorkell scored 22 points and added 13 rebounds for Idaho.
MSU will play at Eastern Washington on Saturday.
