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Lady Griz Win

TrueGriz

Well-known member
Slow start both on offense and defense lead to a 12 - 2 deficit and not looking good for the home team.
But, after that point, the defense tightened up, held Sac state scoreless for quite some time, as the Lady Griz went on a 12 - 2 run even though their shooting percentage was still poor.
Eventually, they loosened up on offense and with that stifling defense along with Sophia Stiles near perfection at point guard, Lady Griz dominated the rest
of the game and wasn't really close. The only imperfection of Sophia's game was her shooting, 4 - 11 and one personal foul. She had 10 assists with no turnovers.
Lady Griz turned the ball over 4 times. Don't know if that is the record low for number of turnovers in a game. Has to be close.

Haley Huard lead the Lady Griz with 13 points. Her sister, Macy, is supposed to be better than her. Hope they can entice her to come here also. But, she is being recruited by larger schools, so who knows.

Well, I will let our fellow journalist put in a better report on it.
 
Who were the top three preseason teams this year. Right now it would seem the Lady Griz are in a good spot. Watched the game on ESPN+. Fun to watch the Lady Griz play and win again.
 
To answer my own question.
1-Idaho State
2-Montana State
3-Idaho
4-Northern Arizona
5-Montana

Comparing the Lady Griz now….. yup, we are in a good spot.
 
I went to the game & my main take-away (besides the humungous case of nerves this team had to start the game) is that this Montana WBB team has a very high ceiling. Roughly, my impressions:
1. Depth -- This team is rapidly turning into a legit 8-player rotation with little or no dropoff 1-through-8. Tonight, every one of those 8 gave gave signs of being able to help the team defensively and offensively. Five players scored in double figures with non-starter, frosh guard Haley Huard packing offensive dynamite. But perhaps most encouraging to me was to see proven defensive backup Nyah Morris Nelson finally relax and bury 2-3 of her shots from beyond the arc. Frosh forward Dani Bartsch had an off night scoring, but made up for it with 7 rebounds, a block, and a steal while still scoring 8 pts.
2. Balance -- Five players in double figures. Sac could not double up on anyone. Full-team rebounding depth (Gfeller 6, Bartsch 7, Anderson 7, Stiles 4. Huard 3 & Fatkin 3).
3. Coaching adjustments -- After leading by only 6 at the half, it took Montana barely 3 minutes into the second half to pull away for good. I credit a simple shift of rotating Abby Anderson to the high post in a Hi-lo offensive formation. She was struggling against the much taller Sac post Natabou early on, but when she moved high, Natabou gave her space & Abby promptly nailed 3 10-foot jumpers. Similarly, Huard sank two treys in the first half, but when Sac defenders jumped out at her in the second half, she drove the baseline & scored on 3 nifty drives that totally collapsed the Sac defense. Sammy Fatkin had a passive first half, but was very aggressive with second half drives into the gaps, making four nice 4-ft floaters off drives.
4. Junior Katerina Tsineke had a quiet game (Sophia played a lot of point tonight), but she was a bit mis-matched. Regardless, she had three steals and two assists, and continues to play solid on-player D.
5. The general, once again, was Sophia. She made only 4-for-11 on shots from the field, but her two treys came at crucial junctures. Otherwise, all she did was notch a double-double with 11 points, 11 assists, 1 steal and 0 turnovers.
6. There is a point of concern: Free throws. Montana shot a very poor 11-for-20 from the stripe, something that might hurt them in a close game.
Other significant stats: Montana out-rebounded a very sizeable front court 38-36, outscored Sac 34-30 in the paint, and shot a very respectable 37% from beyond the arc.
Fun first game. This team will get better game by game. Go Griz.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
I went to the game & my main take-away (besides the humungous case of nerves this team had to start the game) is that this Montana WBB team has a very high ceiling. Roughly, my impressions:
1. Depth -- This team is rapidly turning into a legit 8-player rotation with little or no dropoff 1-through-8. Tonight, every one of those 8 gave gave signs of being able to help the team defensively and offensively. Five players scored in double figures with non-starter, frosh guard Haley Huard packing offensive dynamite. But perhaps most encouraging to me was to see proven defensive backup Nyah Morris Nelson finally relax and bury 2-3 of her shots from beyond the arc. Frosh forward Dani Bartsch had an off night scoring, but made up for it with 7 rebounds, a block, and a steal while still scoring 8 pts.
2. Balance -- Five players in double figures. Sac could not double up on anyone. Full-team rebounding depth (Gfeller 6, Bartsch 7, Anderson 7, Stiles 4. Huard 3 & Fatkin 3).
3. Coaching adjustments -- After leading by only 6 at the half, it took Montana barely 3 minutes into the second half to pull away for good. I credit a simple shift of rotating Abby Anderson to the high post in a Hi-lo offensive formation. She was struggling against the much taller Sac post Natabou early on, but when she moved high, Natabou gave her space & Abby promptly nailed 3 10-foot jumpers. Similarly, Huard sank two treys in the first half, but when Sac defenders jumped out at her in the second half, she drove the baseline & scored on 3 nifty drives that totally collapsed the Sac defense. Sammy Fatkin had a passive first half, but was very aggressive with second half drives into the gaps, making four nice 4-ft floaters off drives.
4. Junior Katerina Tsineke had a quiet game (Sophia played a lot of point tonight), but she was a bit mis-matched. Regardless, she had three steals and two assists, and continues to play solid on-player D.
5. The general, once again, was Sophia. She made only 4-for-11 on shots from the field, but her two treys came at crucial junctures. Otherwise, all she did was notch a double-double with 11 points, 11 assists, 1 steal and 0 turnovers.
6. There is a point of concern: Free throws. Montana shot a very poor 11-for-20 from the stripe, something that might hurt them in a close game.
Other significant stats: Montana out-rebounded a very sizeable front court 38-36, outscored Sac 34-30 in the paint, and shot a very respectable 37% from beyond the arc.
Fun first game. This team will get better game by game. Go Griz.
Hey great summary.....keep it up! Yes, this team has depth, and I would add a very very tenacious, if not vicious defense that rattled SAC. When hitting on all cylinders, this team is powerful! Huard, wow a frosh, what an athlete, lucky to have her!! Yup the free throws, Sammy what?
 
Free throws? To me it seems players "rush" their first of two attempts. Shoot it quick without much arc and often miss. Then take a deep breath before the second.....get a little more legs underneath and a bit more arc and then tend to go.

"Don't shot put your free throws...get them up in the air and make that basket a little bigger!"
 
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