Tricia Binford hasn’t held the Big Sky Conference championship trophy yet. Since leaving Reno, Nevada Sunday morning as the recently anointed queens of the Big Sky, the trophy has been hard to wrestle away from her Montana State players.
“I actually don’t think I’ve touched the trophy yet, don’t think I’ve carried it but it’s been a lot of fun already,” Montana State’s 12th-year head coach said on Monday.
MSU gutted out its first Big Sky tournament title since 1993 behind the leadership of senior captains Peyton Ferris and Riley Nordgaard. Binford, Montana State’s 12th-year head coach, praised her team’s complete effort in gutting out wins over Weber State, Eastern Washington and Idaho State in Saturday afternoon’s championship to secure the second NCAA Tournament berth in school history. Since cutting down the nets at the Reno Events Center, each of the Bobcats has taken a turn holding the trophy that has eluded them for so long.
After fighting their way to a second straight Big Sky regular-season title and winning the tournament a season after being upset in the quarterfinals as the top seed, now the Bobcats have a new challenge. Binford and her staff must prepare the MSU women to come down from cloud nine and focus on the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Montana State after winning the Big Sky Conference tournament
On Monday, about 200 Bobcat supporters gathered at the Strand Union Building ballroom on the MSU campus to watch as Montana State learned its tournament fate. The Big Sky champions received the No. 14 seed in the Oklahoma City bracket. The Bobcats will take on No. 3 seed Washington in Seattle. The game will tip 7 p.m. MST.
“It’s exciting to hear your school being called,” Binford said. “We take great pride representing our school. It’s a gratifying feeling for everything this team has accomplished this season.”
Montana State traveled all morning Sunday morning and were greeted by a collection of fans at the Bozeman airport upon arriving home. The team had a shoot around on Monday morning in preparation for Monday afternoon’s announcement. The emotional highs of winning the conference tournament title will have to be put away shortly as MSU tries to refocus and spring an upset.
“The biggest thing is emotionally getting them to a place where they are not exhausted,” Binford said. “I need them to be able to get rested and lock in and get a great game plan in together. That’s the biggest thing: Getting them locked in that this is a new experience but at the same time, we want to put our best foot forward and play our best game.”
Montana State senior captain Riley Nordgaard
Montana State waited about 40 minutes as the first three brackets were announced before the West Regional’s 16 teams flashed on the big screen. The Bobcats are in the same first round site as No. 11 Gonzaga, who will play No. 6 Oklahoma. Gonzaga’s point guard is Laura Stockton, the younger sister of former Montana State point guard Lindsay Stockton, a senior at MSU last season. They are the daughters of John Stockton, an NBA Hall of Famer and an assistant at Montana State during Lindsay’s final season.
“We agreed, we were all more nervous for this than we were for the tournament game,” said Nordgaard, a second-team All-Big Sky and all-tournament team selection. “It was exciting. We ended up where we thought we would and we are very proud of that.
“I’ve never played in a game of this stature in my career but I want to attack it like any other game and any other opponent.”
The room of supporters, who Binford thanked profusely in a nine-minute speech following the announcement, erupted with applause. The Bobcats themselves celebrated with joy for the second time in the matter of days as a dream season that included 25 victories and two Big Sky championships continues.
“I’m flabbergasted, honestly,” Nordgaard said. “There is a lot more people here than I antipated. I can’t tell you how cool we think this is. It’s a testament to how this season has been and how my whole career at Montana State has been. This community is phenomenal. People are excited and it’s so fun to be a part of a team they back so strongly.”
MSU head coach Tricia Binford
Binford was a standout player at Boise State in the early 1990s. In her senior season, Binford led the Broncos to the Big Sky title game but BSU lost in Missoula to Montana in front of 6,375 fans. The Lady Griz received the automatic berth while Binford and the Broncos made the tournament with an at-large bid, still the only one in league history. Boise State played Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies posted an 89-61 win despite 16 points from Binford, who went by Tricia Bader back then.
“Back in the day, I don’t think we watched it on ESPN,” Binford said. “I don’t think it was on ESPN back then. This is is a first for me, watching our name called.”
The last time the Bobcats won the conference tournament title, MSU beat Binford’s Boise State team in Bozeman in the 1993 tournament title game. That Bobcat team went on to play Washington in the first round of the Big Dance. Montana State lost 80-51.
“I’m pretty sure the Montana State squad of 1993 played Washington as well, so we are three for three,” Binford said. “We need to change the dynamic of the scoring line on that (laughs).”
Montana State senior Peyton Ferris drives to the hoop against Idaho State junior Lindsay Brown
Nordgaard said the feeling Monday was much different than the sadness and disappointment that trademarked this time a year ago. Last season, Montana State entered the Big Sky tournament as the No. 1 seed only to lose to No. 9 Idaho State in the quarterfinals thanks to a half-court buzzer beater. As the outright Big Sky champions, the Bobcats received the league’s automatic bid to the WNIT but entered the tournament on a three-game losing streak. The Bobcats drew Utah in Salt Lake City.
On the home court of the Pac 12 opponent, the Bobcats shot 30 percent and gave up 14 3-pointers as the Utes won in a rout, 95-61. Washington posted a 27-5 record this season, including a 15-3 in Pac 12 play The Huskies set a school record for attendance by averaging 3,529 fans per game this season at Alaska Airlines Arena, the host of Saturday’s games in Seattle.
“It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere so we are going to have to work on play calls against the noise factor for sure,” Binford said.
The Huskies are led by senior point guard Kelsey Plum, the all-time leader in points in NCAA history. This season’s Division I scoring leader has 1,013 points this season (31.7 points per game). The potential No. 1 pick in this summer’s WNBA draft scored 57 points on her senior night to give her 3,387 points in her career, four more than the legendary Jackie Stiles of Missouri State for the all-time career scoring record.
“We got to play her when she was a freshman (an 83-60 Washington win in 2013) but she’s really developed her game, so talented, really fun to watch,” Binford said. “We watched her a couple of times on TV, just her because she is so exciting. We are hoping we can make her not quite so exciting.”
This season, Plum has 15 30-point games, five 40-point games and the 57-point outing, the most ever scored by a man or woman for the Huskies. She is the only player in Pac 12 history to score more than 3,000 points. The two-time first-team All-American is shooting 53.3 percent this season, including 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and 88.8 percent from the free throw line. Her 105 made 3-pointers and her 214 free throw makes top the league.
“I was joking with (point guard) Hannah (Caudill) that I was going to get a selfie with her before the game,” Nordgaard joked. “That girl will probably go No. 1 in the WNBA draft. She’s a phenomenal scorer. It will just be cool to be in the presence of one of the greatest basketball players in my generation.”
Montana State junior point guard Hannah Caudill
Some analysts projected Montana State potentially going to Tallahassee to take on No. 3 seeded Florida State as the No. 14 in the Stockton regional. There was talk of MSU going to Corvallis, Oregon to play No. 2 seed Oregon State as the No. 15 seed in the Stockton, California regional bracket. But for more than a week, ESPN predicted the exact draw Montana State received.
“Seattle was probably going to be our best geographically location,” Nordgaard said. “We have several players from Washington (senior Margreet Barhoum and freshman Madeline Smith are from the Seattle area while juniors Hannah Caudill and Delany Junkermier are from Spokane). We have a lot of players who feel at home in the Pacific Northwest and I think Seattle can be our home away from home in some sense. I am pretty happy with that location.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
