MISSOULA — Come to the Adams Center on a given weekday afternoon and chances are you’ll see Taylor Goligoski shooting with a Montana assistant coach.
The former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year has made a living her entire basketball career with her sweet shooting stroke. But after leading the Lady Griz in scoring as a true freshman, the Montana shooting guard has been mired in a yearlong shooting slump.
That is, until Saturday afternoon.
In front of a raucous crowd trying to snap an uncustomary losing streak to their fierce rivals, Goligoski finally caught fire. The Hamilton native buried four 3-pointers over a six-minute span and scored 14 points in the third quarter alone to help Montana open up a previously physical affair pitting teams with contrasting styles.
Goligoski’s final 3-pointer of the frame pushed the Lady Griz advantage to 19 points and the hosts would stretch the lead to as many as 28 midway through the fourth quarter on the way to an 87-63 win in front of 4,011 here on Saturday afternoon.
“It was huge and we’ve been waiting for Taylor to come in and do that,” UM second-year head coach Shannon Schweyen said after her first win over the rival ‘Cats as a head coach. “Those were big, big baskets and fun to get the crowd involved and make a big run.
Montana’s Taylor Goligoski
“It’s so rewarding to see the results. You always want good things for kids who work hard and Taylor has been one of our hardest workers.”
The rivalry victory for Montana was the 78th in 105 overall match-ups but helped the Lady Griz snap a three-game losing streak to the rival Bobcats and a four-game losing streak overall. Montana State did whatever it wanted offensively in an 81-64 victory in Bozeman to set up the chance for a second straight sweep.
But the trigger-happy visitors could not find a rhythm against Montana’s zone, casting 36 3-point tries but only making 13 allowing the Lady Griz to pile up a 48-23 advantage on the glass.
“Everyone is just kind of silent,” MSU senior point guard Hannah Caudill said after scoring 20 points and dishing seven assists. “This doesn’t feel good any means. This is our last game in this building and it’s always a tough atmosphere but it’s a fun one too. We didn’t step up to the plate. Disappointing.”
“They destroyed us on the glass and we did a poor job on the glass,” MSU head coach Tricia Binford added.
“It really doesn’t matter how you shoot the ball if you give up a 25 extra possessions on the glass.”
Montana State drilled its first two 3-point attempts — one by senior Hannah Caudill, the other from sophomore Oliana Squires — while executing crisply early against UM’s zone. But the Lady Griz pounded the Bobcats in the paint on the other side as Jace Henderson scored 10 first-half points and the hosts grabbed twice as many rebounds as the visitors in the first half to take a 34-30 lead into the locker room.
Montana’s Jace Henderson
After halftime, Goligoski’s shooting opened up UM’s offensive attack and the Lady Griz rolled from there. Montana dished out 15 assists on 16 made buckets after intermission and shot 61 percent in the second 20 minutes to bury their rivals.
“Taylor is such a fun person to play with because she does such a good job of shooting the ball but also making the right read on it too so her hitting those shots opens up our entire offense,” Henderson said.
Four Lady Griz finished in double figures, led by Madi Schoenig’s 18 points. The Sandpoint, Idaho native also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and dished out six of UM’s 22 total assists as Montana State shuffled its defenses, switching between man and zone to no avail.
“”I got on Madi pretty hard about her play down there in Bozeman. She didn’t show up and she knew it,” Schweyen said. “She went out and got 14 boards in this one and absolutely laid it on the line.”
Henderson scored 17 points to pace an effort of 42 points in the paint, 24 more than the Bobcats. Johnston scored 15 points and dished out eight assists, Goligoski’s third quarter outburst equaled her final point total and Malta product Hailey Nicholson scored 10 points to go with nine rebounds off the bench.
Goligoski’s first 3-pointer extended Montana’s lead to 43-33, its first double-digit advantage. Her second 3-pointer gave the Lady Griz a 49-38 lead after a mini-MSU run. Her layup in transition gave UM a 51-38 lead and led to a Binford timeout, the first of three MSU’s veteran head coach would call to try to halt the home team’s momentum.
“We are at a point where we have had bad third quarters recently and we wanted to pick up the intensity in the third quarter and get things going,” said Goligoski, who was shooting 26 percent from the arc entering the game. “I’ve put in a lot of time shooting this summer and in the off-season so it felt good to get a few of those 3s down.”
Out of the timeout, Goligoski hit two more 3-pointers in the span of 30 seconds with hands in her face to give UM a 57-38 with 1:21 left in the third quarter.
“That totally turned the tide,” Caudill said. “They and she hit shots we weren’t prepared for. We didn’t make the adjustments. They are not a great 3-point shooting team. That’s not a knock on them because they are a great team in a bunch of other categories. But the coaches tried to throw out a bunch of types of defenses and we couldn’t adjust.”
Montana State’s Hannah Caudill
Schweyen elected to play a 2-3 zone right out of the gates despite Montana State’s 3-point prowess. The zone gave Lady Griz an advantage negating MSU’s penetration, particularly that of Caudill, Squires and senior Rebekah Hatchard. The zone also dared MSU’s freshmen guards Ashley Van Sickle and Tori Martell to shoot open 3-pointers. The rookies combined to make 1-of-6 from deep as MSU hit 13-of-36 from beyond the arc overall.
In the first rivalry showdown in Bozeman, MSU won the glass 41-40. On Saturday, Montana’s ability to secure 34 of Montana State’s 41 misses led to a huge discrepancy in possession count.
“It killed us,” Caudill said. “I think everyone in this league knows that Montana wins when they win the boards. We went in prepared for that and they out-hustled us, out-competed us on the glass. We couldn’t find an answer. They got it done and we didn’t.”
Despite the early made 3-pointers, Schweyen stuck with the zone and the Lady Griz continued to execute, eventually leading to the ninth Big Sky Conference win and 13th win overall with two games in the regular season remaining.
“It is scary looking at how many 3s they take and looking at what they are shooting percentage-wise but you are going to give them up whether it’s man or zone so I thought it was the right thing for us to try at least,” Schweyen said. “Of course, they came out and banged a few right away. “
Schweyen said her and her staff thought of playing zone against Montana State two days ago.
“We had one practice where we spent time on it and talked personnel. And there are things you can’t simulate in practice. We were adjusting as the game was going on. Being able to keep that same group out there (Henderson, Gologoski, Johnston, Schoening, Nicholson), they were beginning to see what we were looking for.
“Their on-ball stuff is so hard to handle out of their man sets. They continue to on-ball you and put you in binds. The zone eliminates some of that.”
Montana State senior Hannah Caudill
Caudill’s 20 points led Montana State. Squires hit 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and scored 19 points to go with five of MSU’s 16 assists as the two-time defending regular-season Big Sky champions fell to 8-8 in league play, 14-13 overall.
“We have to be ready for anything because Montana was ready for this game and we came out really flat,” MSU senior Delany Junkermier said. “That’s when we start struggling so we need to find a way to get energy this last few games before we hit the tournament.”
The Lady Griz and the Bobcats now hit the road for the final two games of the regular season and into the Big Sky Tournament in Reno, Nevada. The Lady Griz play at Weber State on Wednesday and at Idaho State on Friday while the Bobcats play in Pocatello on Wednesday and in Ogden on Friday.
“These girls have a lot of pride wanting this to be a tough place to play,” Schweyen said. “We had a great atmosphere here today and it certainly wasn’t a game they were going to let slip away easily. From start to finish, they brought incredible intensity and I loved the way they played.
Stay with the ‘Cats & the Griz at Silver Legacy Resort Casino in Reno, Nevada March 5-12
“Our last game here at home, we took some pride in that. Bobcat-Griz, that’s a huge thing. It was a combination of a lot of things that made this game a big one. We have a really tough road trip ahead of us and we are going to be gone for a lot of days from here on out. It would be nice to go in with a little momentum.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
