Weber State University Athletics
Wildcats and Bobcats Meet Saturday in Bozeman
2/22/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Weber State meets Montana State Saturday in Bozeman
Weber State will stay on the road for another game in the Big Sky state as they take on Montana State Saturday night in Bozeman, Montana. The Wildcats (11-13, 5-7) are coming off a 74-61 loss at Montana Thursday night. WSU led at halftime but Montana made several runs in the second half to pick up the victory.
Big Sky standings update
With the win over the Wildcats Montana remains in first place with a 10-2 conference record. Idaho State is second at 9-3 after winning at Montana State Thursday night. The Bengals and Lady Griz will meet in a key conference showdown Saturday night in Missoula, with the winner being the favorite to win the regular season title. Idaho State beat Montana earlier this season in Pocatello. Portland State is in third place at 9-4, followed by Montana State and Northern Colorado. Weber State, at 5-7, is in sixth place.Sara Tuomi scores 21 points to lead Wildcats
Weber State senior Sara Tuomi continued her hot scoring pace by leading the Wildcats with 21 points in Thursday's loss at Montana. The Billings, Montana native was 8-25 from the field, including 3-8 from three-point land and also grabbed five rebounds. Tuomi has scored in double figures in all 24 games this season and has scored at least 20 points in four of the last five games. She currently is third in the Big Sky in scoring at 17.3 points per game and is sixth in rebounding at 7.7. She is also first in free throw percentage at 89.1 percent. Tuomi also passed Katie Weyenberg and moved into ninth place on the Weber State all-time scoring list with 1,396 career points.
Tonya Schnibbe posts career-high with ten assists
WSU sophomore Tonya Schnibbe posted a career-high ten assists in the loss at Montana. The ten assists breaks her old career-high of nine set earlier this season against Montana State. Schnibbe currently ranks third in the conference in assists at 5.3 per game. She has 128 assists on the season and needs just two more to move into the WSU single-season top ten for the category. Schnibbe also ranks fifth in the league in steals and is second in assist/turnover ratio.
Wildcats still first in defense, last in offense
Once again Weber State remains first in the Big Sky in scoring defense, allowing 62.2 points per game, despite giving up over 70 points in each of the last two games. This season the Wildcats are 1-12 when giving up more than 60 points a game.
And the ?Cats also remain in last place in the conference in scoring offense at 59.8 points per game. On the year Weber State is 10-5 when scoring 60 or more points and 1-8 when scoring less.
Cats commit fewer turnovers and lose
Weber State had just nine turnovers in the loss to Montana, tied for a season-low. It was just the second time this season in which the Wildcats have had fewer turnovers than the opponent but still lost the game. Weber State is now 10-2 when the opponent has more turnovers and 1-11 when the Wildcats have more. WSU leads the Big Sky with just 12.0 turnovers per game, the fewest of any team in the conference.
WSU knocks down ten three-pointers in loss
Weber State was 10-27 from three-point land in the loss to the Lady Griz. The ten threes is the second most in a game this season. The 27 attempts also ranks in a tie for the ninth most attempts in a game in school history. The free throw line was a little different story Thursday. The ?Cats were 5-6 from the line, while Montana was 26-31, taking 26 more free throw attempts.Wildcats face Bobcats Saturday
Weber State will play at Montana State Saturday, February 23 in Bozeman, Montana. The game will begin at 7:00 p.m. and 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 State
Montana State enters Saturday night's game with a 12-12 overall record and a 7-5 Big Sky record, currently in fourth place in the league standings. The Bobcats are coming off a 85-71 loss at home to Idaho State Thursday night and have now lost two straight games.
On the season the Bobcats rank fourth in the league in scoring at 72.4 points per game and are seventh in defense at 71.8. MSU also ranks second in the conference in steals (8.54) and second in turnover margin (+2.04). They are also third in the Big Sky in field goal percentage at 42.6 percent.
This year MSU is led by senior Rebecca Mercer who is second in the Big Sky in scoring at 18.3 points per game. She also leads the conference in three-pointers made per game at 2.78. She tied for a team-high 17 points in Thursday night's loss. Hooper, Utah native Krislyn Wallace is second on the team at 11.8 points per game. Erica Perry leads the Big Sky in steals at 2.75 steals per game.
Head coach Tricia Binford
The Bobcats are coached by Tricia Binford who is in her third season at Montana State. Binford has many ties to the Big Sky and the state of Utah. She is a former college star from Boise State and then went on to play six seasons in the WNBA, including two with the Utah Starzz. After her playing career she was an assistant coach for two seasons at Boise State, then two at Utah State, before becoming Montana State's head coach. Binford is 2-3 in her career against Weber State and WSU head coach Carla Taylor is 20-22 against MSU.
All-time series
This will be the 63rd meeting between the two schools and the all-time series is tied 31-31 right now. Montana State has won the last two games, including a win in Ogden earlier this season, breaking a streak of eight straight wins by the Wildcats. In games in Bozeman, MSU leads 18-10 all-time, including a three-point win last season.
Earlier this season in OgdenThree players scored in double figures to lead Montana State to a 77-65 win over Weber State January 17 at the Dee Events Center. The Wildcats out shot MSU and had more rebounds but the Bobcats came away with the win as WSU committed 20 turnovers. Jenny Heringer led Montana State with 19 points and Janie Rayback came off the bench for 15 points for Weber State.
Special times for next week's home games
After Saturday the Wildcats will return home for the final two home games of the season and both games will begin at different times. Next week the ?Cats will host Northern Arizona Thursday at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, WSU will host Sacramento State at 12:00 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
