Montana Lady Griz rolling, winners of 8 straight

Sacramento State doesn't know this feeling.

It doesn't know the feeling of beating Montana.

It doesn't know the feeling of being at the top of the Big Sky conference this late in the season, with only eight league games remaining until the conference tourney starts on March. 12.

Yes, the Hornets are in unfamiliar territory after overcoming an eight-point deficit with three minutes left — capped by a game-winning 3-pointer by Dylan Garrity with six seconds left — to beat Montana 70-69 on Saturday night.

"As soon as (Dylan) got the ball, I knew he was going to make it," Sac State head coach Brian Katz told HornetSports.com.

The Griz, who received a game-high 20 points from Brandon Gfeller, still had a chance to win on the next possession, but Mike Weisner's triple rimmed in and out, doing everything but go in, and a Jack Lopez offensive rebound and put back drew iron.

"Montana is always at the top," Mikh McKinney, who scored 18 points and assisted on six made field goals, told HornetSports.com. " … They are always there. They are always competing. They have a lot of talent on that team. They have great shooters. They have a really good senior point guard, so that's a tough team. We are just happy that we could come out on top."

The victory, which improved the Hornets' record to 15-6 overall and 9-1 in the Big Sky, snapped a 15-game losing streak against the Grizzles (11-9, 7-2) dating all the way back to January of 2007. Even more, the 15 wins this season are the most since leaping from Division II to Division I back in 1991.

The Hornets have now strung together six straight wins – their longest such streak since 1988 – and are two games up in the win column on second-place Eastern Washington.

The Hornets' only game this week is a home matchup with Portland State (11-9, 5-5) on Saturday. Montana returns to Dahlberg Arena for two league contests, first with Eastern Washington (16-5, 7-1) on Thursday, then Idaho (8-11, 3-5) on Saturday. Both are 7 p.m. tips.

EASTERN WASHIGTON, who beat Indiana in Assembly Hall earlier this season, boasts the best Ratings Percentage Index (or RPI) – a metric used by the NCAA Selection Committee in evaluating teams – in the Big Sky at 66. Sac State, with its two wins last week, moved to 145, while Montana is at 202.

The Eagles are led by the nation's top scorer, Tyler Harvey, who is putting up 23.4 points per game. The 6-foot-4 sophomore also leads the country in 3-point field goals made per game (4.3) and is fourth in percentage from behind the arc (47.6).

JORDAN GREGORY eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone last weekend. The 6-foot-2 senior guard from Pueblo, Colo., reached the mark in a game against Portland State and surpassed it with an 11-point effort in the loss to Sac State. Gregory is the 29th player in the school's history to reach the four-digit plateau.

THE MONTANA STATE women's basketball team gained two badly needed wins that helped soften, at least for one week, what has been a disappointing season for the Bobcats.

Led by Jasmine Hommes' 18 points and four other players in double figures, the Bobcats dominated the then-first place Sac State Hornets, 91-64, to snap a three-game losing streak.

MSU (9-11, 3-6) followed Thursday's impressive performance by taking care of Portland State on Saturday with another balanced attack headlined by Lindsay Stockton's 10 points. Ten players scored in the victory. The Bobcats visit Idaho (9-10, 3-5) on Thursday.

MEANWHILE, the Lady Griz are winners of eight straight and 13 of their last 14.

After a back-and-forth, high scoring contest with Sac State on Saturday, UM now has control of the Big Sky. The 94-86 victory sent the Lady Griz to 15-5 overall and 8-1 in conference, two games clear of Sac State (7-3) and North Dakota (6-3) in the loss column.

It's no surprise, with the recent win streak, that Montana leads the conference in several statistical categories, and while the 94-point total Saturday says the Lady Griz can score the basketball, the other end of the floor may be more telling.

In conference games, the Lady Griz lead the Big Sky in scoring defense (52.1 points per game allowed), field goal percentage defense (opponents are shooting 30 percent) and blocked shots (6.6 per game). Carly Selvig, the 6-foot-3 senior post from Glendive, leads the league with 2.4 blocks a game, tied with Ali Forde of Idaho.

UM travels to Cheney, Wash., for a road matchup with Eastern Washington (11-8, 4-4) on Thursday.

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY is today. The Feb. 4 date is when 2015 recruits make their commitments to their respective schools official by signing on the dotted line.

And Jesse Sims will do just that.

According to Missoulian, Sims, the 6-foot-4, 235 pound senior from Corvallis, committed to play for head coach Bob Stitt and the Griz on Monday.

Sims gave his verbal to Oregon State last summer, but backed out when former head coach Mike Riley left for Nebraska. Sims, who played linebacker and running back for the Blue Devils in his senior season and was named to the Tribune's Super-State team, decided between Montana State and Montana.