MISSOULA, Mont. - The Southern Utah women's basketball put together a huge comeback Thursday night in Missoula, but ended up falling short to the Montana Grizzlies 74-81.

The Thunderbirds were down 14 points at the end of the first quarter and were able to come all the way back to take a one-point lead with 4:03 left in the game, before eventually being downed by the Lady Griz.

Rebecca Cardenas and Harley Hansen led all scorers in the game with 18 points each. They both also had five rebounds and three assists each. Madelyn Eaton was the third Thunderbird in double-digits with 15 points. Jessica Chatman led all rebounders with eight.

The first quarter was all Montana as the T-Birds shot 0-for-10 from the floor and scored all five of their points on free throws. On the other side of the ball, the Lady Griz shot 50 percent (8-for-16) from the floor and scored 19 points to build out a 14-point lead.

The Thunderbirds then caught fire in the middle quarters shooting 55.6 percent in the second and 62.5 percent in the third. They were able to cut the Montana lead down to six at halftime and just four at the end of the third.

They took a one-point lead two separate times in the fourth quarter, first on a Cardenas fast break layup with 6:42 to go and then for the second time on a Hansen free throw to make it 72-71 with 4:03 to go. Montana then went on a 10-2 run the rest of the way to close out the win.

The Thunderbirds will now head to Bozeman to take on Montana State on Saturday January 4.

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Tickets

Tickets for the Lady T-Birds' next home game on January 9 against Idaho State are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women's Sports Pass for access to all 2019-20 regular season home games.