The Montana Lady Griz dropped an important game in the final week of the Big Sky Conference season as UM fell to Northern Colorado 72-64 in overtime on Wednesday evening in Greeley, Colorado.
Montana led by as much as 12 points with a 43-31 advantage with 2:36 left in the third quarter. However, the Bears rallied late as UM struggled to score out of the gates in the fourth quarter. The Lady Griz went the first three minutes of the fourth quarter without scoring and took over four minutes to get their first field goal of the quarter.
After Carmen Gfeller went 1 for 2 at the free throw line for UM to make it 60-57 Lady Griz with 13 seconds left, Alexis Chapman banked in a 3-pointer off of the glass to tie it and UM's Kyndall Keller couldn't get the final jumper to go in regulation which sent the game into overtime.
Montana's offensive struggles continued in the extra period as the Lady Griz went 1 for 9 from the field and 1 for 5 from deep. The Lady Griz shot just two free throws in overtime while UNC went 8 for 13 from the charity stripe while also going 2 for 4 from the field as the Bears (12-15, 8-11 Big Sky Conference) completed the comeback and earned the win.
Gfeller, who was named Big Sky player of the week on Tuesday, finished with 16 points and seven rebounds while Nyah Morris-Nelson added 11. Sophia Stiles poured in 10 points and also grabbed seven boards while Abby Anderson added 10 points and four blocks. Both Anderson and Stiles fouled out in overtime.
The Lady Griz finished shooting 35.6% from the field and 7 for 27 from deep. Chapman finished with 23 points for the Bears who shot 37.5% from the field and went 9 for 25 from deep.
The Bears out-rebounded UM 46 to 39 and both teams finished with 16 turnovers.
The Lady Griz dropped to 18-10 overall and 11-8 in conference play. UM remains in fourth place in the conference standings with Northern Arizona (14-13, 11-8) sits in fifth and Idaho (12-16, 11-8) rounds out the top six. The top five teams get a first-round bye at the Big Sky tournament.
UM closes out the regular season with a big game at Sacramento State on Friday at 8 p.m. The Hornets fell to Montana State 65-52 on Wednesday to fall to 14-14 overall and 10-9 in league play,
