Moore scores 10, Lady Griz overpower Western
UM Communications and Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 2 hours, 9 minutes AGO
MISSOULA — Kennedy Moore scored 10 points and the Montana Lady Griz put five players in double figures in a 91-45 win over Montana Western in their season opener Tuesday.
Moore, the Flathead High alum and Wake Forest transfer, started and shot 5-for-6 from the floor. She also grabbed five rebounds in 17 minutes of action.
Freshman Hayden Kaut had a team-high 13 points off the bench for Montana, which led just 32-28 at halftime but outscored the Frontier Conference Bulldogs 32-7 in the third quarter.
“I thought we really responded,” second-year coach Nate Harris said. “We got up and down and did some good things and responded with a high-energy, high-effort second half.”
Facing Western’s zone, Montana had plenty of open looks but shot 13 for 38 (.342) in the first half.
“We shot a ton of mid-range jumpers. That was the spot that was open in their zone. We missed a few of those, missed some lay-ups. We were just a little bit choppy,” Harris said.
Montana Western’s Marisa Snider, a freshman out of Ennis, had more than half her team’s 28 first-half points, scoring 15.
Montana shot 24 for 40 (.600) in the second half, with the Lady Griz hitting seven of their 14 tries from the 3-point line.
Kaut was particularly destructive, scoring 11 points in the second half.
Avery Waddington added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Griz; Domini Nesland added 11 points and Paige Lofing — the Huntley Project grad transferred in from Gonzaga — also had 11 points. Lofing also had two assists, two blocks and a steal.
Kaut was one of eight newcomers to make their Lady Griz debut on Tuesday night.
Harris’s four freshmen all saw good minutes off the bench. In addition to Kaut, Kate Holmquist scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and added three assists, Kamryn Reinker had two assists and Avory DeCoite had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Rae Ehrman came off the bench to go 3 for 5 from the 3-point line for UM, which saw 12 of the 13 players who stepped on the court score.
Snider finished with a game-high 18 for Western.
Montana will play BYU on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Provo, Utah.