WNIT Official Thread

[SuperHornet]

How does Montana get to host a Pac-12, but UOP has to go on the road? SMH....

Unless noted, all times TBA in host school's time zone.

First Round, 19-21 MAR

Left Side:

Hawai'i @ Washington, Fri 3/21
UOP @ Oregon, Thu 3/20
Wazzu @ Montana, Wed 3/19
Cal Poly @ U of San Diego, Thu 3/20
SUU @ Colorado State, Thu 3/20
TCU @ Colorado, Wed 3/19
CSU-Bako @ Moraga-St. Mary's, Fri 3/21
Arkansas State @ UTEP, Fri 3/21
WI-Green Bay @ Minnesota, Wed 3/19
TX Southern @ SMU, Thu 3/20
Butler @ South Dakota State, Thu 3/20
Mizzou @ Creighton, Thu 3/20
Marquette @ IN State, Thu 3/20
Belmont @ Indiana, Thu 3/20
Ball State @ Northwestern, Thu 3/20
IUPUI @ Central Michigan, Thu 3/20

Right Side:

Stony Brook @ Michigan, Fri 3/21
Mount St. Mary's @ Duquesne, Fri 3/21
High Point @ Bowling Green, Thu 3/20
UNC-Charlotte @ St. Bonaventure, Fri 3/20
Harvard @ Iona, Thu 3/20
Delaware @ Rutgers, Thu 3/20
VCU @ Princeton, Thu 3/20
American @ Seton Hall, Thu 3/20
Tulane @ MS State, Thu 3/20
Lamar @ Southern Miss, Thu 3/20
Furman @ Auburn, Thu 3/20
Navy @ ODU, Thu 3/20
Quinnipiac @ Villanova, Thu 3/20
East Carolina @ George Washington, Wed 3/19
NC A&T @ South Florida, Fri 3/21
Stetson @ Miami (FL), Thu 3/20

Second Round, 22-25 MAR
Third Round, 26-28 MAR
Quarterfinals, 29-31 MAR
Semifinals, 02-03 APR
Finals, 05 APR, 12 Noon PDT, CBS Sports Network, @ TBA

[Mvemjsunpx]

How does Montana get to host a Pac-12, but UOP has to go on the road? SMH....

Because the Lady Griz have better fan support than more than 90% of DI. There's no seeding here.


Montana playing Wazzu for the first time since your "Goddess" was still there ('06-07). The Cougars are now coached by June Daugherty, the Boise State head coach their last 7 years in the Big Sky ('89-96). Daugherty's Broncos in 1994 were the only Big Sky BB team (men's or women's) to ever receive an at-large to the NCAAs. Wazzu WBB is in their first postseason tournament of any kind since 1991.

Also the first time UM has hosted a WNIT game since the '80s, I believe.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Montana beat Washington State at home 90-78 to get their first national postseason win of any kind in 19 years. Wazzu shot under 30% in the first half, then put Montana to the line a whopping 31 times in the second (they made 27). Kellie Cole & Jordan Sullivan combined for 43 points (19 from the line), while McCalle Feller had 13 in her first career start & Kayleigh Valley had a career-high 15 off the bench. Lia Galdeira led the Cougs with 22, but was just 7/23 from the field. The game only had 9 combined turnovers.

Montana won despite being effectively down three players. Starting PG Torry Hill tore her ACL in the Big Sky title game, backup PG Haley Vining tore up her knee sometime before the Big Sky Tourney, and starting C (and Defensive POY) Carly Selvig appeared to wreck her knee less than 3 minutes into this contest.

The Lady Griz will play the San Diego/Cal Poly winner in the second round, date & location TBA. I'm pretty certain the LG will host if CP pulls the upset, but I'm not sure what will happen if the Toreros win as expected.

[grizzaholic]

Montana beat Washington State at home 90-78 to get their first national postseason win of any kind in 19 years. Wazzu shot under 30% in the first half, then put Montana to the line a whopping 31 times in the second (they made 27). Kellie Cole & Jordan Sullivan combined for 43 points (19 from the line), while McCalle Feller had 13 in her first career start & Kayleigh Valley had a career-high 15 off the bench. Lia Galdeira led the Cougs with 22, but was just 7/23 from the field. The game only had 9 combined turnovers.

Montana won despite being effectively down three players. Starting PG Torry Hill tore her ACL in the Big Sky title game, backup PG Haley Vining tore up her knee sometime before the Big Sky Tourney, and starting C (and Defensive POY) Carly Selvig appeared to wreck her knee less than 3 minutes into this contest.

The Lady Griz will play the San Diego/Cal Poly winner in the second round, date & location TBA. I'm pretty certain the LG will host if CP pulls the upset, but I'm not sure what will happen if the Toreros win as expected.

Lets not get anyone else hurt next game..shall we?

[Mvemjsunpx]

Lets not get anyone else hurt next game..shall we?

Unfortunately, I think the lesson here is: if you like your knees, don't play for Robin Selvig.

[grizzaholic]

Lets not get anyone else hurt next game..shall we?

Unfortunately, I think the lesson here is: if you like your knees, don't play for Robin Selvig.

I didn't see you "knock on wood"...and that is not something to say.

Spoiler: show

I understand what you are saying...but that is kind of a DICK thing to say

50-33 SD over Cal Poly out of the half.

Sure hope the Lady Griz get another home game.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Unfortunately, I think the lesson here is: if you like your knees, don't play for Robin Selvig.

I didn't see you "knock on wood"...and that is not something to say.

Spoiler: show

I understand what you are saying...but that is kind of a DICK thing to say

This trend just doesn't apply to this year, though. Selvig has had such bad luck with knee injuries over the last decade: Carly Selvig, Torry Hill (now + high school), Haley Vining (2x as a LG, + once in HS), Shanae Gilham (3x total since middle school), Katie Baker (freshman year), Jackie DeShazer, Michaela Schmitz, & probably more I'm forgetting. Even Mandy Morales had some relatively minor knee problems. How many point guards have the Lady Griz had that actually went through healthy?

And that doesn't include the non-knee injuries: Misty Atkinson (shoulder), Ashley Ferda (foot?), Dana Conway (foot), Torry Hill (ankle - late freshman year).

[Mvemjsunpx]

Southern Utah just upset MWC regular-season champ Colorado State in Ft. Collins, 71-56. That one frankly shocks me because the Rams were at home, had a better resume, and had no real statistical weaknesses. One stat in this game sticks out above all others (which were fairly even): Suutah won the boards by 20. Hailey Mandelko (who else?) led the T-Birds with 19 points, while Desiree Jackson had a double-double.

One thing I will point out, though, is that the Big Sky ranked higher than the Mountain West in the RPI this season.

[grizzaholic]

I didn't see you "knock on wood"...and that is not something to say.

Spoiler: show

I understand what you are saying...but that is kind of a DICK thing to say

This trend just doesn't apply to this year, though. Selvig has had such bad luck with knee injuries over the last decade: Carly Selvig, Torry Hill (now + high school), Haley Vining (2x as a LG, + once in HS), Shanae Gilham (3x total since middle school), Katie Baker (freshman year), Jackie DeShazer, Michaela Schmitz, & probably more I'm forgetting. Even Mandy Morales had some relatively minor knee problems. How many point guards have the Lady Griz had that actually went through healthy?

And that doesn't include the non-knee injuries: Misty Atkinson (shoulder), Ashley Ferda (foot?), Dana Conway (foot), Torry Hill (ankle - late freshman year).

Ok...So who blows out their knee/ankle this weekend? The Lady Griz can win the NIT with only 5 players....right?

[bonarae]

Harvard nipped Iona 90-89 after several years of losing WNIT openers.

[dal4018]

Southern Methodist knocks off Texas Southern 84-72 apparently the lady tigers forgot to play defense as well allowing the mustangs to shoot 52.9% from the field.

[SuperHornet]

I'm ticked off at the Oregon PxP guys, who was addicted to calling UOP a bunch of "floppers." He's a liar....

I'm left wondering where Oregon picked up the zebras. The biggest home bias officiating I've ever seen.

[Mvemjsunpx]

I'm ticked off at the Oregon PxP guys, who was addicted to calling UOP a bunch of "floppers." He's a liar....

I'm left wondering where Oregon picked up the zebras. The biggest home bias officiating I've ever seen.

Yeah, I'm sure the officiating is why Pacific lost by 27 to a .500 team with a lame duck coach…

[SuperHornet]

I'm ticked off at the Oregon PxP guys, who was addicted to calling UOP a bunch of "floppers." He's a liar....

I'm left wondering where Oregon picked up the zebras. The biggest home bias officiating I've ever seen.

Yeah, I'm sure the officiating is why Pacific lost by 27 to a .500 team with a lame duck coach…

Certainly not the only reason. But when the officials call ticky-tack stuff (or even make up stuff) one way and let obvious stuff go on the other end, it's going to be VERY hard to win, no matter how well you're shooting....

[Mvemjsunpx]

Southern Utah's surprisingly good season came to an end in Boulder today as they fell to Colorado 79-68 in the 2nd. round. Hailey Mandelko was suddenly flash-frozen,going 0/6 and only scoring 2 points, while her team was outshot 48%-35%. Suutah's 3 seniors (Moreland, Jones, Smith) made the most of their final career contest, though, combining for 36 points. Desiree Jackson also had 16 off the bench. Colorado was led by Arielle Roberson, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Sharp contrast with the UM/Wazzu matchup, which had only 9 combined turnovers—this game had 47.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Montana lost a close one to San Diego at home 60-57, thus bringing to an end the entirety of 2013-14 Big Sky basketball. The Lady Griz committed an uncharacteristic 21 turnovers (many involving just plain butterfingers, to be honest) after committing just 6 in the first round, pushing the Toreros to go ahead by as much as 12 in the second half. USD failed to score for more than 5 minutes late in the game, though, which allowed UM to tie it on a baseline jumper from McCalle Feller with 1:03 to play. Amy Kame, who led everyone with 25 points, ended the drought & gave San Diego the lead for good on the next possession.

Montana shot reasonably well & defended the perimeter well—typical bugaboos in their losses—but had lots of turnovers and they somehow lost the foul battle against the much more statistically foul-prone Toreros. Kellie Cole led UM with 16 points.

With tonight's game, the Lady Griz set a program record by playing 34 times in one season. Jordan Sullivan also finished her career with a Big-Sky-record 129 games played, breaking the previous mark of 127 held by four different players (Lexi Bishop - PSU; Kelli Valentine - PSU; Eryn Jones - PSU; Lauren Oosdyke - UNC). The previous UM record was 125 set by Sarah Ena ('07-'11). Carly Selvig—who was injured early in the Wazzu game—tied Hollie Tyler for Montana's single-season block record with 88 in the Big Sky Semifinals, but never got another one.