Scoring 40 points in a game isn’t easy to do. Only six athletes in the history of Big Sky Conference women’s basketball have scored 40 points or more in a game.
Not only did Cass Bauer, who played for Montana State from 1990-94, score 40 points in a game, she was also named Big Sky Conference regular-season MVP 1992-93. Bauer ranks 15th on the list of the Big Sky Conference’s “25 Greatest Female Athletes.”
“Wow that is pretty amazing,” said Bauer, who was a 6-foot-3, center. “I am honored and humbled at the same time because I know there are so many great athletes that have come out of Montana State and the Big Sky Conference in the last 25 years. I loved my experience playing at Montana State and being part of the Big Sky Conference.”
Bauer’s 40-point game occurred against the University of Idaho on Jan. 15, 1994. At the time, she was one of only two players in league history to score 40 in a game.
“That was one of those games that everything is clicking for you and your adrenaline,” said Bauer. “I really have to hand it to all my teammates and the coaching staff. They believed in me. ‘Cass can’t miss, let’s get her the ball,’ and I think it was just one of those things when all the stars were aligning at the same time. It was pretty amazing. During that game our whole team was just on fire. We were clicking on all cylinders. It was just a really up-tempo high energy game.”
Bauer, from Hysham, Montana, was named First Team All-Conference three times. She still ranks fourth in league history in free throw made with 477, and is sixth in free throws attempted. In the 40-point game against Idaho, she made 16 free throws.
In 103 career games, she scored 1,419 points with 738 rebounds with 56 blocked shots. In 1993-94, she averaged 20.9 points per game, which ranks sixth in league history.
“Cass was a dominating center in the Big Sky Conference who was tough, powerful, and a true competitor,” said current Montana State head coach Tricia Binford, who competed against Bauer when Binford played for Boise State. “I had the opportunity to compete against her and unfortunately remember her beating my team, Boise State, in Boise on a back screen play. As competitors, however, our teams had great respect for one another and I have tremendous respect for Cass because she is an even better person.”
The 1992-1993 season was a memorable one for Bauer and the Bobcats. Montana and Montana State tied for the regular-season with 13-1 records. But MSU won the tiebreaker and the right to host the Big Sky Championship. The tiebreaker was actually a coin toss, won by Montana State just after the Bobcats beat rival Montana in Bozeman.
In the semifinals of the Big Sky Championship, Montana State defeated Idaho to set up the Big Sky Championship game against Montana. The Bobcats won by a score of 64-57. That was the second time MSU beat UM in eight days. Bauer was named tournament Most Valuable Player.
That was the first time and only time the Montana State women’s basketball has competed at the NCAA Championship.
The Bobcats faced Washington in the first round of the NCAA and lost 80-51.
“So as a junior we ended up hosting the tournament and ended up winning which was unbelievable,” said Bauer. “It was something we were working toward. The fact that we were able to go play Washington was a great experience. It was something that all that hard work paid off. It was pretty amazing just to be a part of the NCAA Tournament and represent the Big Sky Conference was a great feat.”
Currently, Bauer lives in Richland, Wash, where she works as the Director of Regional Clinical Relations and Development. She graduated from Montana State with her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She served as an intensive care and emergency room nurse during the off-season while she was playing professional basketball.
Bauer started out her professional career in the short-lived American Basketball League with the Columbus Quest. She is the league’s all-time free-throw percentage leader at 87 percent. Bauer played overseas for a bit, before playing in the WNBA from 1999-2000 with the Charlotte Sting, the Washington Mystics and the Sacramento Monarchs.