BILLINGS -- The Montana Western women's basketball team completed the two-day sweep of Rocky Mountain College on Tuesday. The women won in dramatic fashion with a score in the game's final seconds. The Rocky men bounced back to defeat Montana Western for their first win of the season.
Montana Western 72, Rocky Mountain College 71 (Women)
Brynley Fitzgerald dashed the hopes of Rocky Mountain College with just seconds remaining.
The Dillon product scored with three seconds remaining to give Montana Western a 72-71 win over Rocky on Tuesday night.
Western trailed Rocky at halftime, 28-27, but took a commanding 12-point lead into the fourth quarter after outscoring the Bears 29-16 in the third quarter. The lead swelled to 13 before Rocky chipped away with a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to two, 62-60, with just more than four minutes to play.
Rocky eventually took the lead on a steal and bucket from Kloie Thatcher with 48 seconds left. MacKenzie Dethman then scored with 36 seconds left after another Western turnover, boosting Rocky's lead to four, 70-66. Western's Sydney Sheridan sunk four free throws sandwiched around one Rocky free throw to trim the Rocky advantage to one with 14 seconds left.
Western then sent Thatcher to the line for two free throws. Thatcher, who has shot north of 80 percent from the foul line her first two seasons at Rocky, missed both free throws, ultimately allowing Fitzgerald's bucket to be the difference.
Fitzgerald had 14 points and eight rebounds for Western. Sheridan led the Bulldogs with 19 points. Shauna Bribiescas led Rocky with 21 points and five steals.
Western improves to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Frontier Conference. Rocky's women are now 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the Frontier.
Rocky Mountain College 83, Montana Western 59 (Men)
Rocky Mountain College's men bounced back in a big way on Tuesday. The Battlin' Bears shook off a loss to Montana Western on Monday and answered with an 83-59 victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Rocky jumped out to a 14-point halftime lead and put it on cruise control in the second half to coast to its first victory of the season.
The Bears shot the lights out on Tuesday night, hitting 51.6% of their attempts from the field, including 10 of 17 attempts from downtown, while Western shot just 37.1% on the game.
Maxim Stephens had a game-high 16 points off Rocky's bench, while Roundup graduate Kelson Eiselein had 15 points and five rebounds. Rocky had five players in double figures. Western's leading scorer was Michael Haverfield, who scored 13 points.
Rocky is now 1-1 on the season with both games being Frontier Conference games. Montana Western drops to 2-2 and 1-2 in Frontier Conference play.
