Vandal women exit Big Sky Conference Tournament

The third-seeded Idaho Vandals lost to the sixth-seeded Montana Grizzlies, who had four players score 10-or-more points en route to a convincing win in the third round of the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament, 65-54 in Boise.

With the loss, Idaho (18-12) is knocked out of the conference tournament in its first game. The Vandals had received a bye to the third round.

Montana (13-17) went on a 15-0 run at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. During this run, Idaho went eight minutes and 31 seconds without scoring a point.

“It’s a game of runs, especially when you play against a team that talented,” Idaho coach Arthur Moreira said in a radio interview. “There was a stretch there in the third quarter (when) we were struggling to defend them and we also weren’t scoring. So they built a big lead.”

The Vandals shot 33.9% from the field and an abysmal 16.7% from behind the arc.

Senior guard Olivia Nelson and sophomore guard Hope Hassmann led the Vandals in scoring, both with 17 points. Hassmann also led the team in assists with four.

Jennifer Aadland had a double-double — she scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds — but it was not enough to overcome the Grizzlies’ scoring efforts.

Montana guard Mack Konig led all scorers with 20 points and led the game in assists with six.

Tyler McCliment-Call secured 18 rebounds, two away from tying a single-game record for Montana. She was one of two players on Montana that had a double-double. The second Grizzlies player with a double-double was Dani Bartsch with 12 points and 10 boards.

Montana was not much more efficient than Idaho — it shot 35.3% from the field and 26.7% from 3. However, it made eight three pointers compared to Idaho’s three.

Montana also seemed to score when it needed to. The Grizzlies expanded their lead to 19 at the start of the fourth quarter and were able to fight off the Vandals with that large cushion of a lead.

“It comes down to those hustle plays and what we have to do to stay in the game,” Moreira said. “They were crashing harder, they were making more shots and guarding us really well. You have to give them a lot of credit.”

The loss brings an end to Year 1 of the Moreira era for the Vandals, barring any invites to a national postseason tournament.

Idaho finished the season with the program’s most wins since the Vandals went 22-9 in the 2019-20 season under then-coach Jon Newlee.

And they did it with a mostly rebuilt roster. None of the UI scorers from Monday’s game were on the team a year ago.

MONTANA (13-17)

Konig 7-16 4-4 20, McCliment-Call 4-15 2-2 10, Waddington 7-13 1-2 17, Bruno 1-5 0-0 3, Bartsch 4-8 1-2 12, Donarski 0-2 1-2 1, Shubert 0-1 0-0 0, Zingaro 0-1 0-0 0, Lincoln 1-7 0-1 2. Totals 24-68 9-13 65.

IDAHO (18-12)

Nelson 7-20 2-2 17, Hassmann 6-18 4-4 17, Schweizer 0-0 0-0 0, Bukvic 2-7 0-0 4, Aadland 4-9 3-3 12, Brans 0-3 0-0 0, Uriarte 0-0 0-0 0, Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva 2-2 0-0 4, Pinheiro 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 9-9 54.

Montana 17 16 20 12—65

Idaho 16 15 9 15—54

3-Point goals — Montana 8-30 (Bartsch 3-7, Konig 2-4, Waddington 2-4, Bruno 1-4, McCliment-Call 0-5, Donarski 0-1, Shubert 0-1, Lincoln 0-4); Idaho 3-18 (Nelson 1-3, Hassmann 1-6, Aadland 1-2, Bukvic 0-4, Brans 0-3). Assists — Montana 7 (Konig 6); Idaho 16 (Nelson, Aadland 4). Fouled Out — None. Rebounds — Montana 43 (McCliment-Call 18); Idaho 39 (Aadland 10). Total Fouls — Montana 16; Idaho 16. Technical Fouls — None.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.