Bobcats sweep Big Sky awards

FARMINGTON, Utah — Six wins, two No. 2 seeds, two players of the week.

Montana State swept the Big Sky Conference’s Player of the Week honors Tuesday, with senior Jed Miller taking home the men’s award and sophomore Taylee Chirrick snaring the women’s award for the sixth time this season. 

Chirrick scored 52 points and grabbed 23 rebounds on the weekend, dishing out nine assists and blocking a pair of shots. The Roberts product made her biggest impact —  and history — bydefensively, registering 11 steals while the Bobcats held their three opponents to a combined .377 shooting percentage. 

 With her seven steals against Northern Arizona on Monday, Chirrick tied the Big Sky Conference and MSU single-season steals record of 124. That record has stood for 37 years and was set by Bobcat guard Liz Holz in 1988-89. 

Chirrick is the only Big Sky player to earn more than two player of the week awards this season, and her total of six is the most in any one season by a Bobcat.  

She is also one of four players in league history to earn at least six in a season: The others are Northern Arizona’s Sophie Glancey (seven in 2024-25), Idaho State’s Natalie Doma (six in 2007-08) and UM’s Mandy Morales (six in 2006-07). 

 Chirrick and the Bobcats open Big Sky Tournament play on Sunday at 2:30 pm, when MSU plays the winner of Saturday’s Northern Arizona-Montana game. 

First for Miller 

Miller tallied three double-digit scoring performances to lead the Bobcats to a trio of victories to wrap up the regular season.  

The honor is the first of Miller’s career and the second Big Sky weekly award for the Bobcats this season. Patrick McMahon shared the honor on Dec. 23. 

 Miller averaged 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists against Portland State, Sacramento State, and Northern Arizona.  

Miller ranked second in the Big Sky in rebounds and assists during the final week of the regular season while also shooting 18-of-37 (48.6%) from the field and 11-of-22 (50.0%) from three. In the Cats’ 84-69 win over the Vikings last Thursday, he scored 25 points with four 3-pointers, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block. 

Both the MSU men and women earned No. 2 seeds into the Big Sky Tournament. On Sunday at 8 p.m. the men face the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 7 Idaho and No. 8 Sacramento State.  

The game from Idaho Central Arena will air live on Scripps Sports/ESPN+.