BOZEMAN — Montana State will host San Francisco in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
The Dons defeated Utah Valley 80-50 in a first-round game Thursday at War Memorial at The Sobrato Center in San Francisco. Candy Edokpaigbe scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Mara Neira had 15 on five made 3-pointers.
USF led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter but outscored Utah Valley 24-11 in the second to take control. Edokpaigbe scored eight points and Neira made three 3s in the period.
For the game, San Francisco made 29 of 51 (56.9%) from the floor and 10 of 20 (50%) from 3-point range. The Wolverines were 17-of-51 (33.3%) shooting and made only two 3-pointers in the game.
San Francisco, which plays in the West Coast Conference, is 19-14 on the season. The Dons went 9-9 in conference play to finish seventh in the league standings. They won two games at the WCC postseason tournament before losing to third-seeded Santa Clara in the quarterfinals.
USF averaged 68.3 points per game this season while allowing the same amount — prior to Thursday's game the Dons had scored 2,184 points on the season and allowed 2,186. Edokpaigbe leads the team in scoring and entered Thursday's game averaging 17.8 points per game.
Neira is the team's top 3-point threat and has now made 67 from beyond the arc this season, but she's shooting at a 29.1% clip from 3.
The date and time of the Montana State-vs.-San Francisco game has yet to be announced, but it will be played at Worthington Arena. The second round of the WNIT will take place Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
As the runner-up in the Big Sky Conference, the Bobcats (25-7) automatically qualified for the WNIT after not being selected for the NCAA Tournament or Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament. MSU is 0-5 all-time in WNIT games and 1-2 all-time versus San Francisco.
The Bobcats and Dons last played Dec. 10, 2000, with MSU earning a 60-55 road win.
