Idaho’s women’s basketball team owned an 11-game winning streak when leading at halftime this season.
The Vandals looked to be in control with a 36-32 lead at intermission with Montana State in Moscow on Saturday afternoon. But the Bobcats used a seven-point advantage in the third quarter to take the lead along with a a 12-of-14 second-half performance from the charity stripe and a key play by Peyton Ferris down the stretch to earn a 62-59 victory.
Montana State entered the weekend with a 6-0 mark in the Big Sky Conference and a seven-game winning streak overall. But Hayley Hodgins poured in 34 points and Eastern Washington handed MSU its first league loss, 81-69, on Thursday.
The win moves MSU to 7-1 in league, 14-5 overall. Delaney Hodgins, Hayley’s little sister, drilled a buzzer-beater in Cheney to lift EWU to a 67-65 win over Montana. Eastern is alone in first place with a 7-0 league mark. The Lady Griz, the reigning regular-season and Big Sky Tournament champions, have lost four of five to fall to 4-4 overall.
On Saturday, with 30 seconds remaining and the score tied at 59, MSU junior Peyton Ferris corralled an offensive rebound and scored a put-back. Moments later, Ali Forde turned the ball over and MSU secured possession with nine seconds remaining. Senior Lindsay Stockton knocked down the first of two free throws. Taylor Pierce missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer to secure the Montana State victory.
“The thing that is exciting about our team right now is that so many kids can step-up and make plays,” MSU head coach Tricia Binford said. “We’re really gaining a confidence that when things are on the line with less than three-minutes remaining we can finish the game out strong.”
Montana State looked stout in the first quarter shooting 56 percent from the field. The Bobcats built a 20-17 advantage after the opening stanza, but from there things turned icy as Idaho (13-6, 5-2) out-scored MSU by seven points in the second period.
The Vandals pushed its margin to nine points early in the third quarter before the Bobcats rattled off a 14-2 run to reestablish the lead at 46-43 at the 2:42 mark. Montana State forced Idaho into eight turnovers during the stretch.
“We came out strong in the second half and got some steals,” Binford said. “We were able to force them into some turnovers. I thought that was a turning point in the game. We turned our energy up a notch and grinded-out a victory over a hot team.”
MSU held the lead until Pierce connected on a 3-pointer with 2:48 left to give the Vandals a 59-57 advantage. Two free throws by Ferris with 2:21 remaining evened the score and set-up her late game heroics.
Jasmine Hommes paced the Bobcats with 16 points, while Stockton scored 14 and Alexa Dawkins chipiped in 10. Junior Riley Nordgaard went scoreless, but picked things up on the defensive end with a team-high eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Geraldine McCorkell led Idaho with 15 points and eight rebounds. Christina Salvatore scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while playing the duration of the game.
MSU hosts rival Montana on Saturday.
