BOZEMAN — Montana State holds a two-game lead for first place in the Big Sky Conference women's basketball standings. The Bobcats are currently on a 14-game winning streak and have an 11-0 conference record.
The team credits its depth for the historic season thus far, and a player who has personified resilience as she worked her way back from injury into the starting lineup is sophomore guard Dylan Philip.
Philip was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot last season. At first, doctors thought it would heal itself. Halfway through the 2023-24 season, they realized that, despite the long recovery she’d already gone through, she would need surgery.
"Having to get surgery kind of set me back to square one, and so that was pretty hard happening right in the middle of season," Philip reflected. "I feel like the time I did get to sit and watch basketball taught me a lot. I ended up coming back way stronger."
"She had a tremendously difficult situation with her injury and how long it took her, she had to continue grinding," Montana State coach Tricia Binford explained.
The injury also showed Philip how dedicated the coaching staff was to her as she fought through the setback of being sidelined.
"Coming here, I chose this place because of them, but I am completely overjoyed with how much they actually have been here for me, way more than I ever expected," Philip said with a smile. "I was probably in their office every day, having the hardest time last season."
Binford explained how full-circle this season has been for Philip. As a player who is constantly championing her teammates, especially throughout a season sidelined with injury, she now gets to enjoy the success she's achieved on the court.
"Mental toughness," Binford said of what stands out about Philip. "I’m like, this kid has celebrated her teammates since she’s been here, day one, and it’s just fun to be able to celebrate her. She’s really worked for it. She’s earned it. It’s one of those things, you get to be confident because of your work, and she’s certainly done that."
Philip explained how this team has been able to achieve such a level of sustained success.
"I think the coaching staff does a phenomenal job of recruiting, just because they recruit good people, and so it makes it easy to like everyone on our team," she said. "I think that really contributes to how close we are, and that’s why it works. We don’t have a dropoff whenever someone is in the game because they recruit good people."
Philip credits the disruptive defense, one that ranks fourth in the nation in steals, to being key to the historic season so far.
"We’ve been talking about it all season, everything we do starts with our defense, and the first couple of games, we obviously saw how disruptive we were, and we’ve just been building on that every day, and it’s changing games for us," Philip said.
That defense will be back on display in Worthington Arena this Saturday at 2 p.m. against Northern Colorado.
