CEDAR CITY, Utah - For the second time this season, the Southern Utah women's basketball team knocked down 10 three-point shots in a game, this time taking down the Montana Lady Griz in the process. They scored 71 points in the win, the most since they scored 73 points in a win over Eastern Washington.
"We came out focused and I thought our defense really fueled our offense. We made stops, we were communicating and that was really a focus for us this week," head coach Tracy Sanders said. "We talked before about this being a game of runs. They were going to come back, definitely in the second half, and the only way to stop that was going to be to lock in defensively and I thought we did that."
The Thunderbirds shot 42 percent from the field while holding the Grizzlies to 34 percent. SUU also held Montana to just two threes, one in each half, while forcing 15 Griz turnovers on eight steals.
Southern Utah had four T-Birds finish in double-digits with Breanu Reid and Jessica Chatman leading the way with 15. Rebecca Cardenas and Harley Hansen both finished with 14 points. Hansen and Ashley Larsen both had seven rebounds.
Montana seemed to be in control in the opening minutes of the contest quickly building up to a seven-point lead. However, the Thunderbirds were able to find their shot and go on a 10-0 run in the final minutes of the first quarter to close the gap and take a 15-12 lead at the end of the period.
They never looked back after that.
The Thunderbirds outscored the Grizzlies 18-12 in the second quarter, leading by as many as 12 at one point. They forced 10 turnovers in the first half, drained five threes, and took a 33-24 lead into halftime.
Montana did come out and outscore the Thunderbirds 17-16 in the third quarter, cutting the T-Bird lead down to eight. However, just when it seemed things might start to get close, the Thunderbirds put together a solid fourth quarter effort, knocking down four threes, forcing three UM turnovers, and outscoring them 22-15.
The dagger that put the Griz away seemed to come with 4:10 left to play as Chatman hit her third three of the game. It was the third in a row for the Thunderbirds and put them up by 12. They would finish the game with a 71-56 win, their largest margin of victory this season and the largest since the 2016-17 season.
The Thunderbirds will play their final home game of the season on Monday March 4 as they host Montana State. It will be Senior Night for Reid and there will be a pregame ceremony to honor her.
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