Support for Lady Griz not simply due to victories



It wasn't just the wins. It was the way the Lady Griz played the game that drew outstanding support from the community.

The way the Griz played and the atmosphere this past weekend made those two games some of the best Griz sporting events I've ever attended. Honestly, they're up there with the Stanford upset, "The Zoo" night and Bagley's catch against EWU. The actual number of people was great—4,265 for the Portland State game and 5,016 for MSU—but it doesn't do an ounce of justice to what it was like in the D on Friday and Saturday night.

The Lady Griz were having fun and so were the fans. There were times when the Lady Griz would make a series of hustle plays—someone would dig out a rebound then kick it out for a dagger three from Cote, Mandy would give a little shimmy and knock one down right in someone's grill, Ena would bang her way to the rim before getting the hoop and the harm—and the whole crowd would stand and cheer in agreement that what they were seeing was amazing. That's how they played: filled to the brim with confidence and completely devoid of all selfishness. They supported one another and wore the Lady Griz uniform with pride.

The Lady Griz put on a show and gave the fans a good deal of entertainment, but when Lady Griz needed something themselves, the fans provided it. The fans didn't only respond to great plays, they helped cause them. When the Griz needed a stop or a run, they were there. They were there because they knew the Lady Griz would respond. When the Lady Griz were down, there was no doubt they'd make a run; whenever there was an opening, they'd stomp their collective foot on the chest of the opponent as they buried any doubt over the final outcome.

But it wasn't all like this. It wasn't all smooth. No one knows if they needed it but Coach Selvig kept them grounded. I'm damn-near 100% convinced that the reason he walks with a small limp is because he stomps so much.

There was a time in the MSU game when the Lady Griz were up comfortably by somewhere around 15 and Sonya Rogers made an ill-advised pass into the post on a fast break. It was picked off and as Sonya hustled back on defense, Robin stared into her back and screamed "SONYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" It was terrifying. Sitting front row in the student section, his scream and stare were so intense I almost felt like I messed up. But these girls are tough. They don't get flustered, they don't think it's all a show. They know they screwed up and do not want to do it again.

There are so many things that went into this amazing season that's it's impossible to accurately describe even 1/8th of what it was like. For those of you who missed it, I'm sorry.

I'm also sorry for giving very little recognition to this great team here on The Grizzoulian. They should've gotten many more entries than the few written about them.

Lady Griz hoping they break nationwide trend

It's really hard for anyone, a UM fan especially, to imagine a scenario where the 25th ranked Lady Griz don't roll through this conference tournament. The Lady Griz are far above the rest of the conference, right?

Well, that doesn't mean they can't lose. Kellis Robinett, whose coverage of Big Sky hoops has been excellent this year, points to what other dominant teams have done in their respective conference tournaments.
Three Division I teams — Duke, Uconn, Tennessee — went into their respective conference tournaments without a conference loss, and one team (Ohio State) only had one conference loss. All of those teams, however, were upset in their tourney semifinals.
However, he does point out that "The Zoo" may be very good at aiding this Lady Griz team:
One thing that will make the task of taking out the Griz so daunting is the crowd factor. This season, Montana women's basketball nearly outdrew the men's team's crowds. The Lady Griz average just about 4,000 per game, and they are fans who know when to cheer, when not to, what to yell and how loud to yell it.
The complete article offers some good insight and opinion. One opinion LG fans may not agree with: he thinks the MVP award should've gone to Idaho State's Natalie Doma, not Mandy Morales. He also has an interesting take on Missoula.

Lady Griz continue to play fundamentally great and make it 5-0 UM in two major sports

With the Lady Griz's 84-70 win over the Cats on Sunday night, they completed a season sweep of the Bobcats in the two major sports: football and basketball.

The points were distributed pretty well: Rogers, who went off in the first half and finished with 16. Morales was once again very impressive as she went for 16 as well and tacked on 8 assists. She really is an incredible passer. As soon as she gets the ball going the other way she'll look up for a long pass, which she completed a couple of in the game. Johanna Closson led the Griz with 17 points.

It's really amazing how fundamentally sound the Lady Griz are in comparison to the men's team. I don't mean to bash the men's team but they really trail pretty far behind the women when it comes to the basics. The men do not have a great passer like Morales; Ellis and Rundles are kind of close but neither have the awareness she does.

The Lady Griz also run much cleaner and effective set plays. They work the picks and hustle for open shots. When they get those open shots, they seem to always knock them down, especially open treys.

Hustle is also a huge part of the Lady Griz's success. Sonya Rogers was great at chasing down fast breaks. Once she nearly picked a ball clean but there was an iffy foul. Another team she pressured a girl into missing a layup.

The Lady Griz also knock down their free throws. Come on fellas, they're free points. There's really nowhere to point for the reason the men's hoops team isn't as fundamentally sound as the Lady Griz.

There were a couple guys from the men's team at the game tonight and they probably should've brought a notebook, they have a lot to learn from the ladies.

Lady Griz make it 12 straight with Griz-Cat win.

The Lady Griz beat the Cats tonight 86-67 in a somewhat  easy game over in the Bozone.

I don't really know what to say on this victory as it was a somewhat easy win over a subpar team. Mandy Morales, of course, led all scorers with 20. According to the Bobcat announcers, she also went Michael Vick on the MSU crowd. Junior forward Johanna Closson notched an impressive 17 points and 9 boards.

I don't know how possible this is, but if the Lady Griz just do not get beat the rest of the season, can they make it into the top 25? If so, how high?

I don't care what sport you're in or what gender it is but if your only loss of the season comes to an Ohio State team, you're pretty damn good.

Mandy Morales: Wayne Tinkle's answer to the loss of Cris and Virgil.

This is the first women's basketball post of the season. I'm sorry.

I've been very busy the past couple weeks having fallen behind on a journalism class article and had finals in other classes but that is no excuse for not covering this year's Lady Griz team, which has won its seventh straight and is 10-1 -- sole loss being to Ohio State, you'll take that in any sport -- after tonight's victory over Santa Clara.

The Griz didn't play so hot in the first half but really turned it on in the second having shot 62% from the field in the period.

This happened as Mandy Morales tossed in a career-high 35 points and shot 18-18 from the stripe. Can we name the Big Sky Conference player of the week award after her already? She's won three straight and has to have Barbaro-like odds for this week's awards.

Next up is Canisius (gesundheit) in the Lady Griz Holiday Classic.