BUTTE — Last season saw Montana Tech's women's basketball program end a series of droughts.
The Orediggers earned their first win over Carroll College in eight years on Jan. 11, then finished the regular season with a winning Frontier Conference record (9-6) for the first time since 2013 before qualifying for the national tournament for the first time since 2011.
It was a turnaround campaign for a team that had only mustered three conference wins the previous three seasons.
"It was awesome, it was just kind of a new era for Montana Tech women's basketball," said senior guard Liv Wangerin. "I think using that to build on this year and just keep breaking more goals."
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Tech kicked off its 2025-26 season by ending another drought after beating MSU Billings 63-54 in an exhibition game. It was the Orediggers first victory over the Yellowjackets since 2009.
"It's great, you always want to start the year on a win and we were able to do that," said senior Hadley Humpherys. "It shows everybody what we've been doing this season and what we're gonna do this season."
The Orediggers graduated seniors Aubrie Rademacher and Brooklyn Hankwitz but return their top scorer and rebounder from last season in Humpherys. Wangerin was Tech's third highest scorer last season.
Jeff Graham, now in his fourth season as Tech's head coach, noted that last season's success was largely a product of having been able to establish a consistent foundation within the program.
"We're not having to introduce new drills, we're not having to introduce new concepts, I think we found some offensive stuff that worked," said Graham. "It takes a couple of years to get everything in. Just familiarity, it doesn't feel like you're introducing new stuff 24/7."
Last season was Tech's most successful campaign in over a decade and the goal now is to keep raising the standard for this program.
"We're just gonna move forward and build off the foundation that our seniors set for us last year," said junior Rachel Van Blaricom. "I just hope that we can continue to do that this year."
The Orediggers play their first home games on Friday against No. 15 Southern Oregon and Saturday against College of Idaho.
