MISSOULA — The Montana Lady Griz held off Sacramento State on Saturday morning to finish the two-game women's basketball sweep with a 66-63 home win.
On Thursday it was a little easier as the Lady Griz shot the lights out in the second half to beat the Hornets 90-77.
That's not how it went on Saturday as the scoring was down and the Lady Griz had to battle through poor 3-point shooting.
From the start, Sacramento looked comfortable as it built an early 9-4 lead with 3-pointers from Sarah Abney and Jazmin Carrasco. The Hornets never trailed in the first quarter, but the Lady Griz picked up some momentum late as Sophia Stiles converted an and-one layup to tie the game at 17 right at the buzzer.
In the second quarter, Montana started to distance itself as it went on a 4-0 run to start. Sacramento State struggled in the quarter with just eight points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field as the Lady Griz built a nine-point lead, their largest of the game, by the end of the half.
In the third quarter, the Hornets made up some ground, outscoring Montana 19-17. Montana struggled from deep all game, as it went 0 for 3 in the quarter and 1 for 13 on the day.
Regardless of the 3-point shooting, the Lady Griz held a five-point lead going into the final 10 minutes, but Sacramento slowly chipped away at the lead until taking it with 7:24 left.
Then Emily Enochs hit another jumper for the Hornets to bring their lead to three points.
But Montana responded right away with four straight buckets and two free throws to regain the 63-56 lead. Then Jazmin Carrasco rattled off seven points in less than a minute of game time to cut the Lady Griz lead to three points with 46 seconds to play.
However, Abby Anderson banked in another bucket off an inbounds pass, and Stiles hit one of two free throws to seal the deal for the Lady Griz.
Carmen Gfeller led the Lady Griz in scoring once again with 19 points on 8 for 14 (57%) from the field. She also tallied eight rebounds. As a team, Montana finished 23 for 67 (34.3%) from the field and 19 for 24 (79.2%) from the free throw line.
Montana (4-2 in conference) will take on Montana State (3-2 in conference) on the road on Jan. 28.
