CHANDLER, Ariz. – After a battle to the final buzzer, the Montana Western women's basketball team (6-5) fell on a buzzer beater three-pointer to the Menlo College (Calif.) Oaks 72-69 to close out the Cactus Classic.
Payton Hagy hit four three-pointers for a season-high.
How It Happened
Menlo got out early, racing to an 18-7 lead across the first seven minutes of the game.
Jordan Sweeney made a contested layup and free throw for a three-point play, shaking the Bulldogs to life. She then followed up with another triple to cut it quickly to 18-13.
Payton Hagy drained a pair of threes to cap the first quarter scoring as UMW trailed 20-19 heading into the second frame.
Menlo's Alberte Frisch's jumper put the Oaks out three with 8:59 left in the half.
Maddy Moy hit a jumper from the corner off a no-look pass from
Kyla Momberg and Hagy drained her third three of the game to flip the score in favor of the Bulldogs.
Shainy Mack capped the 7-0 run with a layup for a 28-24 lead and six minutes to go.
The two teams continued to go head-to-head down the stretch and Menlo's Jordyn Rosette drained a three with just seconds remaining on the clock to trail UMW 37-36 at half.
Menlo was the first to find the hoop in the second half, capitalizing on one of two free throw opportunities to tie the game at 37.
UMW answered and rode a 6-0 run following a three from Mack that was coupled with a layup from Moy and a free throw from
Kyla Momberg.
Mack hit once again from the arc, but the Oaks closed third quarter play with a layup to take a 58-57 lead over UMW into the final frame.
UMW's 8-2 scoring run ruled the first three minutes in the fourth. With the hot start came the slow fade as the Bulldog women were cold for much of the remainder of the game.
Down two with 25 seconds to play,
Jordan Sweeney made a layup to the tie the game. The Oak's bled the clock and Frisch hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to push the Oaks over the top to win 72-69.
Notables
- As a team, UMW shot 38.2 percent compared to the Oaks who shot 40.0 percent.
- UMW turned the ball over just eight times in the matchup, while forcing the Oaks to 11 turnovers.
- Sweeney led UMW with 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
- Hagy's four three-pointers is a season high. She finished with 14 points.
- Moy neared a double-double, scoring 12 points and totaling nine rebounds.
Up Next
Montana Western will take a few days off and will play in the Hampton Inn Green and Gold Classic in Billings, Mont. on Dec. 29-30.
They will first take on Dickinson State (N.D.) on Dec. 29th at 1:30 p.m. in a rematch. The first time the two teams saw each other was back on Nov. 3 when UMW won 102-66.
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