SACRAMENTO, CA — The Montana Lady Griz trailed for more than 35 minutes Thursday at Sacramento State.
But they led when it mattered.
MJ Bruno made a free throw with 0.7 seconds left — her only point of the game — to help lift Montana to a 58-57 Big Sky Conference women's basketball win over the Hornets. Montana led at only one other point in the game, 8-7 in the first quarter.
Less than a week after scorching the nets in a win over rival Montana State, the Lady Griz struggled mightily from the floor against the Hornets. They made just 18 of 55 field goal attempts (32.7%), 11 of 37 3-point attempts (29.7%) and 11 of 17 free throw attempts (64.7%).
Sac State led by as many as 10 points in both the second and third quarters and led 51-43 with 3:39 to play. But Gina Marxen scored six straight points to get Montana within 51-49.
The Hornets pushed their advantage back to five points and still led 57-52 with 30 seconds to play, but Montana scored the game's final six points — two free throws from Marxen, a Carmen Gfeller 3-pointer and Bruno's free throws — to rally for the improbable win.
Marxen and Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw each scored 15 points for Montana, and Dani Bartsch scored nine points on just 3-of-10 shooting but grabbed 17 rebounds and dished out four assists.
Gfeller, playing in her program-record 130th game as a Lady Griz, added 10 points. She also had two blocks, giving her 101 for her career.
Summah Hansen had a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead Sac State.
Montana, which has now won three consecutive games, improved to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the Big Sky. The Lady Griz play at Portland State at 3 p.m. (MT) Saturday.
