By JOEL CARLSON for GoGriz.com
For Lady Griz basketball fans who prefer to spend their early winters easing into a new season instead of going total immersion, the 2013-14 Montana women’s basketball schedule was created just for them. Not on purpose, but out of necessity.
Montana’s nine nonconference games next season — five of which will be at home — will be spaced out between Nov. 10 and Christmas, all of which will be a prelude to the Big Sky Conference schedule. The league season opens in early January and will be a steady 10-week, 20-game schedule without break.
That will lead up to the seven-team Big Sky tournament, which will be held March 13-15 at the site of the regular-season champion.
Montana won the regular-season title last year with a 16-4 Big Sky record. The Lady Griz hosted and won the conference tournament with double-digit wins over Sacramento State and Northern Colorado before falling to Georgia in an NCAA tournament first-round game at Spokane.
Every schedule has its quirks and storylines, and the 2013-14 version is no different. See The 2013-14 Lady Griz Schedule (PDF)
* The Lady Griz will be opening their regular season at home for the first time since 2008-09.
Head Coach Robin Selvig calls for a timeout during a game with Wyoming, Dahlberg Arena, December 6, 2012. Photo by Austin Smith.
* Robin Selvig, who will be entering his 36th season with a record of 798-255, is two wins shy of joining the exclusive 800-win club. With Montana playing its first two games of the season at home, the milestone victory could come at Dahlberg Arena.
* Montana will play in two nonconference tournaments, first at Loyola Marymount’s on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, then hosting the 33rd Lady Griz Classic the first weekend in December.
* The 2012-13 schedule was changed to accommodate the playing of the Montana-Montana State women’s and men’s games at the same location on the same day. Not only will that not be the case in 2013-14, the games next winter will be played on Monday nights.
Montana, a veteran team in 2012-13 and anything but in 2013-14, will play home exhibition games against MSU Billings on Oct. 28 and Montana-Western on Nov. 7 as a lead-up to the regular-season opener against MSU Northern (17-13, 8-8 Frontier Conference in 2012-13) on Sunday, Nov. 10.
It will be Montana’s first time opening the season at home since hosting Wyoming in 2008-09, and that’s where the slow start to the season begins.
After facing the Skylights, the Lady Griz won’t play again for eight days, when they host Portland (11-20, 5-11 WCC) on Monday, Nov. 18, a game that should have Selvig on the brink of win No. 800.
That will be followed by an even longer break. As part of its trip to Loyola Marymount, Montana will play at Denver (14-17, 8-10 WAC) the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a nine-day break between games. (Continue Reading)
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