Weber State University Athletics
'Cats Take on Lady Griz Thursday in Missoula
2/19/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
WSU heads to Montana with three-game winning streak
Weber State hits the road this week for two games in the Big Sky state as the Wildcats play at Montana Thursday and at Montana State on Saturday. WSU is 11-12 overall and 5-6 in the Big Sky. The ?Cats have won three straight games, the longest current streak in the conference, and are coming off a 76-71 overtime win over Portland State Saturday.
Big Sky standings update
Weber State's opponent on Thursday, the Montana Lady Griz, comes into the game in first place in the Big Sky standings. Montana is 19-5 overall and 9-2 in Big Sky play, a half game lead over Idaho State who is second at 8-3. After the loss to the Wildcats Saturday, Portland State dropped to third at 8-4 with Montana State, who the ?Cats will play on Saturday, in fourth at 7-4. Idaho State will play at Montana State Thursday. Northern Colorado is fifth at 5-5 and Weber State is currently in sixth place at 5-6 with five conference games remaining. The top six teams in the league standings will advance to the Big Sky Championships March 13-15.Sara Tuomi named Big Sky Co-Player of the Week
Weber State senior Sara Tuomi was honored Monday as the Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Co-Player of the Week after leading the Wildcats to two home wins last week. Tuomi shares the honor with Portland State's Claire Faucher.
The senior from Billings, Montana led the Wildcats to two wins at home, including a 76-71 overtime upset over Portland State on Saturday. Weber State also defeated Eastern Washington 73-58 on Thursday. For the week she averaged 22 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
In Thursday's win over Eastern Washington Tuomi posted a career-high 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds. She knocked down 12-12 from the free-throw line and added three assists and a steal. She followed that up with 16 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's overtime win over Portland State, her fifth double-double this season. For the week Tuomi shot 54 percent from the field and 89.5 percent (17-19) from the free throw line. Before missing one against Portland State, she had a streak of 45 straight made free throws.
Tuomi also moved into tenth place in Weber State history in career points and rebounds. She has scored in double figures in all 23 games this season. On the season she ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring at 17.1 points per game and is sixth in rebounding at 7.8 per game. She also leads the conference and ranks ninth in the nation at 88.9 percent from the free throw line. She is 120-135 from the line this season. This is Tuomi's second career Big Sky Player of the Week honor.
Wildcats still first in defense, last in offense
WSU remains first in the Big Sky in scoring defense, allowing 61.7 points per game. However the ?Cats are still last in scoring offense at 59.7. Thursday's opponent Montana is first in scoring offense at 75.3 points, meaning Thursday will feature the top scoring offense against the top scoring defense for the second straight game.
Win over Vikings goes against season trends
In Weber State's win over Portland State Saturday, the ?Cats broke some season long trends. In was Weber State's first win this season when giving up more than 60 points in a game. WSU is now 1-11 this season when holding its opponents under 60 points. The ?Cats also won for the first time when they committed more turnovers than the opponent, now 1-11 this year when committing more turnovers, and 10-1 when they have less.
Big Sky rankings
Weber State ranks last in the Big Sky in field goal percentage at 37 percent but third in field goal percentage defense. The Wildcats are also third in both three-point field goal percentage and three-point defense. WSU ranks seventh in the league in rebounding and last in assists.?Cats head to Montana Thursday
Weber State will play at Montana this Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. from Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. The game will be broadcast live on KWCR 88.1 FM with Eric Knighton calling the action, which can also be heard on weberstatesports.com. The game can be seen live at bigskytv.org.
About Montana
The Lady Griz of Montana enter Thursday's game with a 19-5 overall record and a 9-2 record in Big Sky play, currently first in the league standings. Montana started the season 3-3 but then won nine straight games, with eight of them at home. This year the Lady Griz are 13-0 at home, including 6-0 in Big Sky games. They are coming off road wins at Sacramento State and Northern Arizona last weekend. The Lady Griz won last year's Big Sky Championship, the 20th conference championship in school history.
Montana leads the Big Sky in scoring offense at 75.3 points per game, which is also 13th in the nation, and third in defense at 63.8. They are also first in the conference in scoring margin (+11.5), field goal percentage (.440), field goal percentage defense (.364), three-pointer field goal percentage (.383), rebounding (40.7), and rebounding margin (+4.0).
This season the Lady Griz are led by defending Big Sky MVP Mandy Morales who is fourth in the league in scoring at 16.4 points per game. Junior Sonya Rogers is first in the conference in field goal percentage, and ranks third in the nation three-point field goal percentage at 48.3 percent. She is also second on the team in scoring at 13 points per game.
Head coach Robin Selvig
The Lady Griz are coached by Robin Selvig who is in his 30th season as head coach at Montana. Selvig has an all-time record of 691-197 at Montana and among active coaches he has the sixth best winning percentage and the seventh most wins of any coach in the country.
Selvig has a career record of 52-9 all-time against Weber State and has coached in all but one game of the 61 played between the two schools. WSU head coach Carla Taylor is 7-37 in her career against Montana.
All-time series
Montana leads the all-time series 52-10 over Weber State and the Lady Griz have won three of the last four games played, including a win in Ogden earlier this season. In games in Missoula, Montana leads 28-4 all-time. However, since 2002 the UM leads 4-3 in games in Missoula.
Earlier this season in Ogden
Montana defeated the Wildcats 62-53 January 19 in Ogden. In that game, Weber State held a one point halftime lead but the Lady Griz went on an 18-0 in the middle of the second half to blow the game open. Montana shot 42 percent from the field, compared to just 32 percent for the Wildcats. Caitlin Anderson and Sara Tuomi each posted double-doubles in the loss.
Looking ahead
After Thursday Weber State will play at Montana State on Saturday, February 23. Next week the ?Cats return home for the final two home games of the season, hosting Northern Arizona Thursday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m. and Sacramento State on Saturday, March 1 at 12:00 p.m.
