Montana Wins Championship
Montana won its 20th conference championship, after defeating Northern Colorado 56-43 in the BIg Sky Conference Women’s Basketball Championship.
The Lady Griz (24-7 overall) will play in the NCAA Championship. UM will find out who they play on Monday at 5 p.m. Mountain on ESPN.
Northern Colorado (20-12 overall) receives the automatic bid to the WNIT and will find out who it plays on Monday.
Montana had a 12-point lead with 1:39 left in the first half after a couple of big runs.
The biggest lead of the game was 20 points with 7:45 left in the second half.
The Lady Griz were led by Kenzie De Boer, who had 19 points and Jordan Sullivan added 10 points.
NC was led by D’shara Strange, who had 12 points, and Victoria Timm had 10 points.
UM shot 27 percent from the floor to NC’s 32 percent. The Lady Griz shot 40 percent from the 3-point line, and 95 percent from the free throw line.
The last championship win for the Lady Griz came in 2011 when Montana defeated host Portland State. The Lady Griz were the fourth seed in the tournament.
This is the second year in a row that Northern Colorado finished second in the tournament. It lost as the second seed to Idaho State last season.
The last time that Montana and Northern Colorado faced each other in the tournament was in 2011. Montana defeated NC in the semifinals.
Montana is now 15-1 in championship games in Missoula. The 2007 season was the only time the Lady Griz weren’t in the championship game when it was in Missoula.
Named to the all-tournament team was Sacramento State’s Alle Moreno, Eastern Washington Carrie Ojeda, Northern Colorado’s D’shara Strange and Lauren Oosdyke and Montana’s Katie Baker. Montana’s Kenzie De Boer was named Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Box Score
Post Game Interview