(Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a multi-part MTN Sports series celebrating girls basketball in Montana. For Part 1, click here.)
MISSOULA — The story of girls and women’s basketball in Montana can’t be told without Robin Selvig, the coach who guided the Montana Lady Griz for 38 years.
He took over the program in 1978 when the sport was just getting its footing.
“It was a really a no-brainer thing that should have been done long before that," the former coach said.
During his time on Montana’s bench, Selvig, who retired in 2016, went from pioneer to should-be women’s basketball hall of famer alongside figures like Pat Summitt, Tara VanderVeer and Geno Auriemma.
For much of Selvig’s career — which included 865 victories, 36 winning seasons, 24 conference championships and 21 NCAA tournament appearances — girls in Montana grew up dreaming to be Lady Griz.
“I think most Montanans that sign here to play have a lot of pride when they put that jersey on and it says Montana," said Shannon (Cate) Schweyen, arguably the greatest female basketball player ever to come out of Montana. She played for the Lady Griz from 1988-92, then became an assistant coach with the program before serving as the head coach from 2016-20.
"You know, at the time, we were definitely the premier program in the state, going to the NCAA (tournament) countless years in a row and winning the Big Sky Conference," Schweyen continued. "It was a place that just had an incredible fan support and really had a lot of things in women's basketball that, not only comparing the two schools in the state, but a lot of places in the nation didn't have.”
The 1993-94 Lady Griz team was especially unique. All 16 players on the roster were Treasure State natives, including future Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame inductees Ann (Lake) Rausch, Kelly (Pilcher) Beattie, Skyla Sisco and Greta (Koss) Buehler, as well as Malia Kipp, the first Montana Tribal member to play NCAA Division I women’s basketball on a full-ride scholarship.
Prior to joining Montana, Lake, Pilcher and Trish Olson were teammates at Missoula's Big Sky High School. Sisco and Koss came via the Malta pipeline, and Kipp from Browning.
Lake was the Big Sky Conference MVP for the 1993-94 season after averaging 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, both of which led the team.
"Looking back on it, the reflection of that and what it meant to Montana, what it meant to us from being from Montana to be 100% Montana girls (is special)," Rausch said. "And we had ... probably one of the most successful seasons in Lady Griz history, and being all from Montana is very prideful."
The team earned "Made in Montana" notoriety and posed for a poster wearing their high school letterman jackets.
Also on the team were: Kristin Omlid (Stevensville), Carla Beattie (Philipsburg), Sherri Brooks (Livingston), Kristy Langton (Stevensville), Lora Morast (Kalispell), Dawn Sievers (Miles City), April Sather (Havre), Jodi Hinrichs (Fairfield), Dawn Sackman (Helmville) and Jill Frohlich (Missoula).
“Not only was the team all Montanans, but they were extremely competitive and they were ranked and they were a great basketball team," Schweyen said. "And looking at that poster to see all of them wearing their high school letterman coats, that's just something that I think will never be duplicated.”
Montana went 25-5 in 1993-94, was ranked as high as 17th in the Associated Press top 25 poll and won the Big Sky Conference championship, giving it the right to host a first-round game in the NCAA tournament.
The Lady Griz defeated UNLV 77-67 in the first round before ending their season with a 66-62 loss at second-seeded Stanford.
“It was exhilarating because we actually were able to host the game, so the game was against UNLV at Dahlberg Arena," Rausch said. "We were expected to, like ourselves expected us to win. Like, it wasn't a shock when UNLV came in here and we beat them, that was the expectation that we had of ourselves.
"I believe it was almost a sold-out crowd, if not a sold-out crowd. ... To play in front of that and to represent the University of Montana, it's very challenging because you have to live up to that expectation, but when you do, it's very prideful and it's a chance in a lifetime that not everybody gets to do.”
While that season was certainly one of the high-water marks in Montana basketball history, Selvig’s legacy won’t be the wins, banners or his name on the court at Dahlberg Arena.
“We really did have a family there, and there was a very close-knit environment," Schweyen said. "He was just more than a coach to most of us. He was a mentor. He was a father figure."
“I still have a lot of Lady Griz around here and great friends all over, and what it's done for them, I think, is the neatest thing," said Selvig, who still lives in Missoula and regularly attends Lady Griz games as a spectator. "They're very proud that they were good athletes and good basketball players, and they share that friendship and love that they had when they played together. And, that's kind of the nice thing to see."
