The Montana women’s basketball team won its third straight game on Thursday night, rolling to a 78-61 victory over Northern Colorado at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley.
Libby Stump scored 19 points off the bench and the Lady Griz (11-11, 7-4 BSC) shot 55.2 percent to add to their wins last week in Missoula over Sacramento State and Portland State.
Montana is averaging 82.3 points on 50.6 percent shooting during its three-game winning streak, all of which have come since Dani Bartsch and Mack Konig were inserted into the starting lineup a week ago.
Carmen Gfeller added 16 points, Bartsch scored 11, her third straight game in double figures since joining the starting five, and Konig finished with 10.
The Lady Griz raced out to a 16-2 lead and never looked back. It was their second-largest margin of victory in 10 all-time wins in Greeley.
It was the second-most points allowed by the Bears (10-11, 3-7 BSC) this season in a game that ended in regulation. The most: Montana’s 82-60 win in Missoula in early January.
“Pretty happy with that one, just in terms of controlling the game the whole time,” said assistant coach Nate Harris.
“Offensively we had it flowing for a bulk of the game. Really proud of what we did offensively, and we had some really strong defensive stretches too.”
Montana shot 8 for 14 in the first quarter, its third straight game shooting 50 percent or better in the opening 10 minutes, and held Northern Colorado to one make in its first 12 attempts.
That set the tone for the game as the Lady Griz led 20-10 after the first quarter, 44-27 at the half.
Stump hit her first five shots of the game, including a pair of 3-pointers, and had 12 points at the half. Montana went 18 for 30 (.600) in the first half.
“Really balanced effort. They zone a lot, and they ended up having to go man a little bit because we were so good against their zone for stretches,” said Harris.
It was Stump’s 13th game this season with 10 or more points. Her 19 points were two off her season high.
“Libby was really aggressive and the ball found her a few times,” added Harris. “That girl knows how to score the basketball.”
Bartsch added a team-high six rebounds and had a career-high four assists, Montana finished with 19 assists against 11 turnovers. The last three games the Lady Griz have 61 assists, 27 turnovers.
The task now gets tougher for Montana, which improved to 4-1 in Big Sky road games on Thursday.
The Lady Griz face Northern Arizona (13-10, 7-3 BSC) in Flagstaff on Saturday evening. The Lumberjacks destroyed Big Sky leader Montana State at home on Thursday, 79-50.
Montana and Northern Arizona will tip off at 6 p.m.
