Montana State University’s women’s basketball team concluded its regular season with a 68-48 victory over Northern Arizona in Bozeman on Monday. The win secured a 23-6 overall record and a 16-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play, placing the Bobcats second in the conference standings. Idaho clinched the regular season title after defeating Eastern Washington.
The Bobcats will begin their Big Sky Tournament campaign on Sunday, March 8, facing either Northern Arizona or Montana, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s game between those two teams.
Defensively, Montana State limited Northern Arizona to 34 percent shooting and forced 32 turnovers. Guard Taylee Chirrick played a key role with seven steals, bringing her season total to 124. This achievement ties both the Montana State and Big Sky Conference single-season records set by Liz Holz during the 1988-89 season.
“I don’t think she had any idea” she was close to the record, head coach Tricia Binford said about Chirrick. “When I put her back in the game (in the fourth quarter) I told her, just get a steal, you’re one away. Usually I tell her, ‘You have one minute,’ but this time I told her to get a steal.”
“I wasn’t really sure where I was at and (Binford) said, ‘Try and get one more and then you’ll tie it. She put me back in the game to do that, so that was really nice of her,” Chirrick said.
The first quarter saw slow scoring from both teams as they combined for eight field goals out of 33 attempts. Montana State led early but Northern Arizona closed the gap with a run before halftime and tied the score early in the third quarter. However, a series of plays initiated by Addison Harris sparked a decisive run for Montana State that put them ahead for good.
Chirrick finished with 16 points and seven rebounds along with her defensive performance. Ella Johnson contributed nine rebounds and three steals for MSU. Naomi White led all scorers with 21 points for Northern Arizona.
