By AUSTIN SMITH
Lady Griz forward Katie Baker was interviewed last month for the Montana Sports Roundtable as to a shared sense of urgency amongst her senior teammates.
This intensified level of play was readily apparent Saturday evening as Baker led her squad to an uncontested 71-48 win over Tennessee State, the closing game and their second win of the 32nd Annual Lady Griz Classic.
In contrast to their Thursday night performance, ‘Selvig’s Superlatives’ came out firing on all cylinders, keeping the board neck and neck thanks to the perimeter shooting of Shanae Gilham and the off-ball intensity of Alyssa Smith.
Tennessee’s surprisingly scrappy defense began to crumble after a momentum-shifting steal from Gilham at the eight minute mark. Their offensive precision went down the drain as well, and Montana began to establish a buffer that would persist through the final whistle.
As the final five minutes of the first half wound down the Lady Griz were plagued by sloppy ball movement and allowed a brief Tiger scoring run. Forwards Maggie Rickman and Jordan Sullivan kept up a strong presence in the paint and maintained maroon control, mitigating missed passes by grabbing several crucial rebounds on both ends of the floor and taking Montana up 34-26 at the half.
Looking for an upset, the Tennessee defense came into the second period ablaze and the Lady Griz suffered several early turnovers; but they were not to be deterred. Montana continued to crash the boards, and, buoyed by Gilham’s ranged precision, rode an unrelenting 20-point lead that peaked with back-to-back fast break buckets from senior Kenzie De Boer on the assist (both times) from point guard Torry Hill.
The Lady Griz will play at home again next Thursday, December 6, when they host the Wyoming Cowgirls for a non-conference matchup.
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