MISSOULA — On Thursday evening the Montana Lady Griz were beaten down by the Montana State Bobcats in a 70-46 women's basketball loss.
With the new Big Sky Conference two-game series format the Lady Griz have a chance to avenge that loss on Saturday as they host the Bobcats.
A senior on the Lady Griz, Madi Schoening, will play her final 40 minutes against MSU in the regular season, and she wants to go out with a bang.
“This game is always a big battle for us and my one win against them at home was probably one of my better games in my career," said Schoening. "It's just key to be thinking about how can we be better and how can we play our style."
Schoening and the Lady Griz struggled shooting against MSU for the second game in a row. The Lady Griz shot 30.6% from the field and 26.3% from 3-point range.
Regardless of Thursday's performance, Schoening and the Lady Griz are sticking to the script.
"I know that this game does get a lot of hype around it, but I think when we stick to our guns and what we are good at that we’ll be able to handle it just fine," Schoening said.
Coming into the rivalry week Schoening said it’s been a different feel, not just with COVID-19, but with eight new players, as well.
“Everyone has played in a rivalry game so they know what that kind of looks like," said Schoening. "They know the importance of it as well, we've kind of been talking about it a little bit during practices and stuff. I think they are just really excited to play together and we've been playing pretty well and we have really good team camaraderie. I think they're just excited to play the Cats.”
The Lady Griz will look to get a series split on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.
