BOISE, Idaho (March 11, 2022) - The Montana State Bobcats are headed to the 2022 NCAA National Championship after defeating Northern Arizona 75-64 in the championship game of the 2022 Big Sky Women’s Basketball Championship Friday afternoon. The No. 2-seeded Bobcats earned the Big Sky Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship by being the last team standing at the conference tournament in Boise, Idaho.
The Bobcats used a large offensive attack in the second half to win the game, scoring 47 points behind a 51.7 shooting percentage in the final 20 minutes. The Lumberjacks kept up for three quarters, but couldn’t overcome a slow second quarter in which they only scored six points.
MSU’s Darian White finished with 17 points on the night while Leia Beattie put up 16 and Kola Bad Bear had 13. Northern Arizona also had three players in double-figures as Emily Rodabaugh scored 16 points, Miki’ala Maio had 14, and Regan Schenck had 12.
In a bright spot for Northern Arizona, the Lumberjacks outrebounded the Bobcats 47-29 and had 17 offensive boards on the day.
White, Bad Bear, and Schenck were all named to the All-Tournament team along with Khiarica Rasheed, Idaho’s Beyonce Bea, and Northern Colorado’s Hannah Simental. White was named the MVP of the tournament.
Montana State will now wait for other conference tournaments to conclude before finding out who their next opponent will be on Selection Sunday (March 13th) at 6:00 p.m. Mountain time.
Follow all things #BigSkyWBB on Twitter at @BigSkyWBB. Follow the Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok for all the latest news around the league and use the hashtag #ExperienceElevated.
2022 Big Sky Women’s Basketball All-Tournament Team
Darian White, Montana State (MVP)
Kola Bad Bear, Montana State
Beyonce Bea, Idaho
Hannah Simental, Northern Colorado
Khiarica Rasheed, Northern Arizona
Regan Schenck, Northern Arizona