BOZEMAN — The Montana State men's and women's basketball teams closed their regular seasons with wins on Monday and now prepare for the Big Sky Conference tournaments, which begin Saturday in Boise, Idaho.
The Bobcat women bounced back from their first conference loss of the season last Saturday to defeat Idaho in the regular-season finale and clinch the outright Big Sky championship. Montana State (27-3 overall, 17-1 Big Sky) is the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament and will play either Northern Colorado or Portland State in a quarterfinal game at 12 p.m. Sunday.
The Bobcat men, meanwhile, closed the season with back-to-back wins over Sacramento State and Idaho to finish with a 14-17 overall record and 9-9 mark in Big Sky play. Montana State, which has won the past three Big Sky tournaments, will enter this year's bracket as the No. 5 seed. The Bobcats play Idaho State in a quarterfinal game at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Montana State coaches Matt Logie and Tricia Binford set the scene for the Big Sky tournaments in this week's edition of the Bobcat Insider, hosted by MTN Sports' Grace Lawrence and MSU men's basketball play-by-play voice Keaton Gillogly.
Logie also addresses the absence of Brandon Walker, who didn't play in the Bobcats' past two games due to a coach's decision. Walker this season leads the team in both scoring (14.7 points per game) and rebounding (4.9 rebounds per game).
Binford provided an injury update for the Montana State women, including that the team is hopeful Marah Dykstra is able to return for the tournament. Dykstra, who is second on the team with 13.0 points per game, hasn't played since suffering an injury against rival Montana on Feb. 22.
Watch the complete episode of the Bobcat Insider in the video above.
