Montana Lady Griz run into buzzsaw in hot-shooting Eastern Washington | Montana Grizzlies
MISSOULA — Jaydia Martin banked in a 3-ball and smiled as she hustled back on defense.
It was midway through the second period and the Eastern Washington sophomore was on fire, leaving the Montana defense in a quandary with her uncanny consistency. Her 9-for-12 shooting sparked the Eagles to a 23-point halftime lead and the Lady Griz never recovered in an 87-60 loss Thursday night in front of 2,241 fans at Dahlberg Arena.
Montana fell to 4-3 in Big Sky Conference play and 8-10 overall with its first setback in four games. The Eagles avenged a home loss to the Lady Griz in their league debut by improving to 3-3, 10-6.
Martin, a 6-foot forward from Vancouver, Washington, finished with a career-high 33 points on 14-for-23 shooting, including 5 for 11 from behind the arc. Eastern Washington shot 57.1 percent as a team (36 for 63) and Montana shot 41.4 percent (24 for 58).
“I apologize to our fans,” Lady Griz coach Brian Holsinger said. “I didn’t have our team ready to play. It’s on me.
“I don’t know if we expected the home crowd to give us energy but every team in the conference is strong. They came in and punched us in the mouth.”
The game was decided in the first half. Montana’s starters managed just seven points and Holsinger was so disappointed in their performance that he sat all five for the start of the second half.
The move did not help matters. Eastern Washington stretched its lead to 75-43 in the third quarter behind 11-for-17 shooting.
“You have to come ready to play,” Holsinger said. “I don’t care how tired you are. I don’t care.
“… They came out aggressive and we didn’t. Then (Martin) got confident and she’s banking in threes. You can’t let them get confident. This is our home court.”
Most of the Montana starting lineup returned for the fourth quarter and the team finished on a positive, outscoring the Eagles 17-12 in the final frame.
Joining Martin in double figures scoring for Eastern Washington were Jaleesa Lawrence with 13 points and Milly Knowles with 12. Freshman Libby Stump led the Lady Griz with 14 points and freshman Mack Konig added 11.
Montana won the battle of the boards, 33-31, behind nine rebounds by Dani Bartsch of Helena. But the Lady Griz turned the ball over 12 times to six for the Eagles and Eastern boasted a 46-34 edge in points in the paint.
This story will be updated
Bill Speltz is Missoulian Sports Editor and has served as a Sunday columnist the past 16 years. Do you have a story idea? Email Bill at [email protected].