Cal Poly women’s basketball closed out the Holiday Beach Classic with a 67-55 loss against Montana State on Saturday, Nov. 27 inside Mott Athletics Center.
Cal Poly (1-3) struggled mightily from beyond the arc, as they shot just 1-16 from three point land compared to the eight threes converted by the Bobcats (2-5).
Cal Poly opened the scoring after nearly two minutes of play with a set of free-throws from freshman guard Jazzy Anousinh, but the Bobcats immediately drove the ball to the other side of the court to even the score.
After back and forth play for the rest of the first quarter, junior guard Maddie Willett converted a free throw to close out the first quarter with the Mustangs ahead at 16-15.
Montana opened up the scoring in the second quarter to take the lead, but junior guard Maddie Vick responded with back-to-back baskets to regain the Mustang lead at 20-17.
Nearly four minutes passed until the Bobcats scored their next basket, but back-to-back possessions with points helped them regain the lead at 22-21 with three minutes remaining in the half.
Montana State’s Darian White took over in the final minute with two baskets, one of them being a jumper with two seconds until the final buzzer to head into halftime with a one-point advantage at 26-25.
Graduate forward Kirsty Brown opened the second half scoring for Cal Poly with a layup, but Montana evened the scoreboard at 27 with a free-throw.
After nine missed shot attempts by both sides, Montana State converted a layup and a three-pointer to go ahead yet 35-30 at the 4:49 minute mark.
Over two minutes later, Vick scooped up a loose ball and dribbled down the court before pulling off a spin-move and a jumper to cut the deficit to 38-36.
Later in the quarter, a jumper by freshman Guard Sydney Bourland sent Cal Poly into the final quarter trailing by four points.
The first field goal of the fourth quarter came by a deep three-point jumper from the Bobcats to pull away at 47-40.
At the 3:13 minute mark, Montana secured their largest lead of the game at eight points after converting a layup and a jumper in two consecutive offensive possessions. This momentum swing proved to be the dagger for the Mustangs.
The Bobcats earned their biggest lead of the afternoon and the victory at 67-55 with just ten seconds remaining thanks to a pair of free-throws.
Each team had two double-digit scoring players with Montana State’s White and Cal Poly’s Vickleading all players with 19 points apiece.
Brown racked up 13 points and nine rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Both sides held each other to similar shooting percentages, with Cal Poly at 33% and Montana State at 34%. However, the Bobcats took advantage of free-throw shots and converted 17 of 24 while the Mustangs made 12 of 19.
Cal Poly will continue its five-game home stretch on Thursday, Dec. 2 against Nevada at 11 a.m. inside Mott Athletics Center.
