DILLON — The third and final installment of this season's Digger-Dawg rivalry between the Montana Tech and Montana Western men's and women's basketball tipped off from the confines of Straugh Gymnasium on Thursday.
The women got the party started, and the Orediggers, with nothing to lose at this point in the season, came out firing. Tavia Rooney dropped a first-half double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, lifting Montana Tech to a slim 31-28 halftime lead. Rooney finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, but Western rallied for the 68-62 win.
Montana Tech was able to stay up one at the end of the quarter as Dani Urick, who led all scorers with 23 points, started to get hot on the offensive end. But the fourth quarter was the turning point. Western's Savanna Bignell (21 points, five assists) hit a huge 3-pointer to take the lead, and Paige Holmes (14 points, six assists) did her part in securing the 68-62 win over Montana Tech.
The Western men looked to spoil the Oredigger men's chances of hosting a playoff game in the Frontier Conference tournament. The first half did not go the way the Bulldogs wanted it to, though, as they shot just 1 for 7 from 3-point range and and trailed Tech 35-24 at the break.
The second half had its back-and-forth moments in momentum for each team, but the Orediggers never faltered on their way to a 75-59 win.
Sindou Diallo had a game-high 22 points for the Orediggers.
