DILLON — The Montana Tech women got back on track Thursday.
Tavia Rooney scored 20 points, Mollie Peoples added 14 and the Orediggers (12-14, 3-8) used a strong second half to down Montana Western 58-56 at Straugh Gymnasium to end a four-game conference skid by Tech.
Western (14-10, 4-8), which saw a two-game streak come to an end, was led by 19 points from Brynley Fitzgerald and 13 from Mesa King.
Dani Urick added 10 points for Tech and Ally Cleverly had nine. Brooke Heggie led Tech with seven rebounds.
Tech raced to a 16-13 lead after one quarter and Western led 34-30 at the half. The Orediggers, which struggled to close out games during its skid, outscored the Bulldogs by 16 points in the second half to earn a much-needed victory.
MEN'S GAME
It took 60 minutes and 13 lead changes, but the No. 20 Montana Tech men prevailed.
Caleb Bellach scored 22 points and Sindou Diallo had 11 as the Orediggers outlasted Montana Western 76-69 in a back-and-forth game to keep Tech atop the Frontier Conference standings.
The Bulldogs were led a game-high 25 points from Jamal Stephenson and 11 from Jalen Hodges as the two teams battles to eight ties throughout the game. Hodges also had a double-double as he gathered 10 boards, all defensive rebounds.
Western (15-12, 4-8) surged at the end of the second half to take a 36-26 lead into the break before Tech (21-5, 10-1) responded by outscoring the Bulldogs 50-33 in the second half.
Montana Western travels to Carroll College on Saturday while Tech heads to Billings to take on Rocky Mountain College.
