BOZEMAN — The first quarter was a small-scale look at the bigger picture of the Montana-vs.-Montana State women's basketball rivalry.
Be it the trend of this season or the larger landscape of recent history between the programs, this is true: the Bobcats have too much firepower.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS OF MSU'S MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SWEEP:
The opening 10 minutes of Saturday's matchup saw MSU build a 14-point lead on the strength of suffocating defense, 14 takeaways and 56% shooting on the way to a 38-point win, 82-44 in front of 4,173 fans.
That game was nothing like last year's last-second thriller won my MSU in the Big Sky Conference tournament championship game, but resembled the Bobcats' 32-point rout of Montana last Feb. 22.
"I don't know if we were playing off the crowd or not," MSU coach Tricia Binford said. "Couldn't have asked for a better start. We set the tone with our defense and they came out. I felt like our bench really gave us a great rotation. The crowd was fantastic."
The Bobcats jumped ahead 13-0 before the Lady Griz scored on a basket by Rae Ehrman, and 15 of MSU's 21 first-quarter points came off turnovers. The Cats feasted off 19 first-half giveaways by the Lady Griz.
In the end, freshman Jamison Philip had 23 points and sophomore Taylee Chirrick added 19 to pace the Bobcats. Philip and Chirrick shot a combined 76% from the floor (16 for 21) and led the charge for a team that scored 39 points off of 32 Lady Griz giveaways.
The victory was Montana State's fourth in a row in the series and its 12th straight over Montana at Worthington Arena; the Lady Griz haven't won in Bozeman since the 2013-14 season.
Further, it was the Bobcats' 19th win in the past 24 meetings between the programs. Montana State, riding high, improved to 12-4 overall this season and to 5-0 in the Big Sky. Montana, scuffling as top player Mack Konig sits out with a foot injury, is now 3-13 overall and 0-5 in the league.
Montana State's defense set the tone with its disruptive, turnover-forcing defense.
"As soon as we started doing that it was kind of like a trigger," Chirrick said. "Like, OK, keep it rolling, honestly. And it was super fun to see."
The Bobcats scored 44 points in the paint, including 19 on fast breaks, and also had nine second-chance points from 16 offensive rebounds. MSU controlled the tempo throughout — the Lady Griz finished with zero fast-break points.
Issy Bunyan added 11 points for Montana State, and all 10 Bobcat players who saw the floor scored. Teagan Erickson chipped in nine. Ella Johnson only had one point but her long arms helped her collect five steals. She also had eight rebounds.
Aby Shubert paced the Lady Griz with eight points while Jocelyn Land and Kennedy Gillette each had seven. Draya Wacker added six points. But Montana made just 34.1% from the floor (14 for 41).
Despite this season's struggles, Lady Griz coach Nate Harris said Montana will continue to press forward, even without a clear timeline for Konig's return from injury.
"We thought we had a plan to break the press," Harris said. "Had to change some personnel, and as soon as we changed personnel at the front of the press that changed how we were going to attack in the half court.
"Montana State's relentless. I'm never making an excuse, but you play any game without your primary ball-handler (Konig), it hurts. It's pretty daunting. But when they snowball you with some turnovers, with offensive rebounds, they're really, really good."
"Our group's going to turn the corner," Harris added. "I'll never believe anything otherwise."
