Cedar City, Utah – The Montana Grizzlies stormed into Centrum Arena tonight as they were able to use an early run to establish a comfortable lead throughout the rest of the game.
Montana’s Kayleigh Valley had a career-night, finishing with nine rebounds, two blocks and three assists to go with a career-high 30 points. Southern Utah was led by Jamie Smith, who scored 12 points.
Early in the game, the Thunderbirds looked like they were going to make this a close contest. Darri Frandsen matched the Montana front court basket for basket, which allowed Southern Utah to command an early three point lead. The good luck ran out for the Thunderbirds there, however, as Montana was able to go on a 19-0 run.
The Thunderbirds were outscored 26-10 in the first quarter. The early deficit proved to be too much for Southern Utah to overcome, as they spent the rest of the game playing catchup.
“I’m really frustrated with the way we came out tonight. Obviously, the responsibility falls on me in that category, having them ready to play,” said Southern Utah head coach Chris Boettcher. “The things we had worked on this week we just didn’t execute and Montana shot the ball really well in the first half, and we didn’t respond really well to that. They turned a small six point run into (almost) a 20 point run….once that happens it’s tough to battle back.”
Southern Utah spent much of the night trying to slow Kayleigh Valley down. Valley was able to use the extra attention she was getting from the Thunderbirds to her advantage by getting teammates Hannah Doran and Alycia Sims involved in the offense. Doran and Sims finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The Thunderbirds were clearly frustrated by Montana’s size, as they allowed Montana to pull down 14 offensive rebounds and scored 36 points in the paint. On the game, Montana out-rebounded Southern Utah 40-27.
The Southern Utah University women’s basketball team looks to bounce back on Saturday night against the Montana State Bobcats at 7:00 pm.
The game can be heard over the airwaves on KSUU 91.1 and a livestream of the game can be viewed online at WatchBigSky.com.
Tickets can be purchased online at tbirdtickets.com and at the Centrum Ticket Office.
Hayden Coombs 