DILLON, Mont. – The Montana Western Women's Basketball team defeated the Montana Tech Orediggers this afternoon 78-71 and move to 17-2 on the season. The Bulldogs are now 5-1 in Frontier Conference play and ride a 12-game win streak.
"Have to give a bunch of credit to Jeff and his kids, they had a great plan. I thought we played really hard defensively but not necessarily smart in the first half. In the second half, we settled down and defended with more intelligence and ultimately, I thought that was the difference." Head Coach
Lindsay Woolley stated.
How It Happened
The Orediggers came out hot in the first six minutes of the game, outscoring the Bulldogs 20-9 right off the start.
Joelnell Momberg drove for a layup, bringing the Bulldogs back within striking distance of the Orediggers.
Down 27-19,
Brynley Fitzgerald made a pair of free throws to bring the Bulldogs back within six. Despite the effort, the Orediggers remained hot from the arc down the stretch, going a perfect 7-7 across the half and led the Bulldogs 45-39 going into the break.
The Bulldogs came back out from the half with a vengeance and went on a 17-0 run and outscored the Orediggers 22-8 across the third quarter.
The Orediggers continued to pace the Bulldogs throughout the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
Jordan Sweeney hit her second three-pointer of the game to push the Bulldog lead to 75-63 with under three minutes to play.
Despite being outscored across the final ten minutes, the Bulldogs were able to hang onto the lead and take the game 78-71.
"I think we came out with defensive intensity. You know, we talked about transition because we were kind of getting lost. We needed to find shooters that were really hot in the first half. We were fortunate enough to kind of lock down our defense and settle in from there." Senior forward
Brynley Fitzgerald said.
Notables
- The No. 12 Bulldogs stretch their win streak to twelve games following tonight's win over the Orediggers.
- Despite being outshot 54 percent to 50 percent from the field, the Bulldogs capitalized on turnovers scoring 14 points off of turnovers compared to the Orediggers eight.
- Brynley Fitzgerald scored a season high 31 points in the matchup and tied her career high in blocks with four total. She also added three rebounds and four assists. Fitzgerald leads the conference in points per game with 17.3.
- Jordan Sweeney had nine assists, tying her career high and a season high for the Bulldogs this season. She also totaled 12 points and three steals.
- Mesa King shot 5-5 from the field and totaled 10 points in tonight's game. She continues to lead the NAIA in field goal percentage with a 69.5 on the season.
Up Next
The No. 12 ranked Bulldogs host No. 18 ranked Carroll College next week for their final home game in this three-game stretch. The matchup will be held on Dec. 19 at 5PM MST in the Straugh Gymnasium.
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