MISSOULA — The Montana Lady Griz caught fire late to pull away from Eastern Washington as UM opened Big Sky Conference play in the New Year with a 78-70 victory over the Eagles on Thursday in front of 2,304 fans at Dahlberg Arena.
Neither team could miss in the first half as they went into halftime tied 40-40. But in the fourth quarter, Montana found its separation as UM outscored EWU 24-18, and a couple big 3-pointers from Dani Bartsch and clutch buckets from Mack Konig, Avery Waddington and MJ Bruno down the stretch sealed the deal.
Bruno led the way for Montana with 15 points while the freshman Waddington had 12. Bartsch, Konig and Tyler McCliment-Call all had 11.
UM (5-7, 1-0 Big Sky) shot the ball at a 41.2% clip while EWU (4-9, 0-1) was nearly identical at 41.3%. Threes were a difference as UM went 13 for 31 while EWU was 6 for 19.
Ella Gallatin led EWU with 22 points. The Eagles sport a pair of Montanans and true freshmen on their team in Kourtney Grossman of Billings and Emily McElmurry of Missoula. Grossman, who started, scored eight points and grabbed 14 rebounds in 33 minutes of work while McElmurry played in rotation for six minutes and grabbed one rebound.
The game was not without its somber undertone, as Montana honored Lady Griz legend Malia Kipp before the game with a moment of silence. Kipp tragically and suddenly passed away earlier this week.
Former UM head coach and Lady Griz legend Robin Selvig spoke before the game about Kipp's legacy as a trailblazer for female Native American basketball players.
"Got to talk to her and hold her hand and she made me feel good like she always does," Selvig recalled before she passed. "Apparently I had very cold hands and she said, 'Oh, cold hands, but warm heart,' and she had a knack of making you feel good.
"I feel good seeing her, visiting with her, going through her documentary, following it. I think every player that played with Malia is planning on being in Browning in a couple days and we'll celebrate Malia's life then."
