BUTTE — A quick glance at the Butte Civic Center scoreboard made it clear how quickly the Montana Tech women's conference championship hopes were dwindling.
The second-seeded Orediggers found themselves in a 19-point deficit against top-seeded Dakota State just over six minutes into the Frontier Conference tournament title game.
But rather than panic, Tech — which didn't drop a game in Butte this season — saw an opportunity to demonstrate its mettle.
"Being down 19 points in the first quarter was kind of a reality check," said sophomore Brooke Badovinac. "But we didn't give up. We knew that once we got settled, once we stepped into being who we are ... when everyone on the team steps into each other's role we are an unreal team."
"Blitzkrieg is a great word," said fourth-year Tech head coach Jeff Graham of the Trojans' relentless start. "But you could see in the second quarter the tide starting to turn a little bit. It was kind of a crazy start, but at halftime the girls looked great in the locker room. We didn't have to say too much, and they did a great job in the second half."
HEAR FROM THE OREDIGGERS:
That keep-grinding mentality sparked a steady rally that saw the Orediggers trim the deficit to seven points at halftime and then culminated in Badovinac draining a go-ahead 3-pointer off an assist from Hadley Humpherys with 13 seconds remaining as the Orediggers won 76-72 and claimed their first Frontier title since 1983. And they did so in pretty remarkable comeback fashion.
"I was super confident in the shot because I've prepared so much for that moment," Badovinac said of her game winner. "I was just able to go out there and execute. We've been in super-tight moments all season. Getting the opportunity to make that shot at that time was huge."
"It feels like every 6 a.m. lift or 6 a.m. practice that we don't want to come to or late night practice ... everything finally came to its peak at the right moment," said Humpherys. "We're the team that we are and we have the ability to come back from big deficits."
It can be tough to come up with a single word to describe the mentality of this team that's enjoyed a remarkable turnaround the past few seasons — the Orediggers earned a trip to the national tournament last year for the first time since 2011 — but Graham had one that was written down before this campaign started.
"One of our things was grit, and (assistant coach Aubrie Rademacher) wrote that as one of our team goals," he said. "Be gritty. The resilience ... all three of those (tournament) games, we could have lost to Providence (in the quarterfinals) and then Montana Western came back (in the semifinals). And obviously a great one (in the championship Monday).
"So proud of them learning to win. They just believe in themselves and don't quit and it's a great combination."
The Orediggers will carry a 25-4 record into the national tournament, and they'll learn where they are seeded and what pod they'll head to on Thursday.
