“Our freshmen are getting better and the team is getting better,” said head coach Joan Bonvicini. “I thought we played pretty good defense today and had some good assists inside. When they made their late run, we had some good free throws when we needed them and we were very unselfish.”
Seattle U jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first two minutes behind a pair of opening layups by Kacie Sowell (Ventura, Calif.) and a three-pointer by Sylvia Shephard (Alta Loma, Calif.).
Taelor Ross (Vancouver, Wash.) added a jumper at 16:11 to give the Redhawks a 9-3 lead, but a layup by Lindsay Stockton would bring Montana State within three, 10-7.
Ross drove in a pair of back-to-back layups near the 13-minute mark as the Redhawk tally doubled the Bobcats, 14-7, and Shephard would put SU ahead by six on a fastbreak layup, 18-12, with 11:27 remaining in the opening half.
Montana State would answer with a 10-0 run on contributions by four different Bobcats to take their first lead of the game, 22-18, at the 9:04 mark.
A three by Kaylee Best (Seattle, Wash.) at 6:55 regained the lead for the Redhawks and the lead would change four times over the next five minutes. A pair of back-to-back three’s by Masha Shtikel (Shoreline, Wash.) would give SU a 35-33 lead with just under two minutes remaining, and Seattle U would take the two-point lead into halftime.
Ashley Brumwell hit a jumper to open the second half and tie the game before three scoreless minutes for either team.
Kristin Stoffel (Mill Creek, Wash.) hit a jumper to regain the lead for the Redhawks before the lead changed hands three times over the next four minutes.
Ward and Best would each tie the score on a layup, at 46 and 48 respectively, and Stoffel would regain the Redhawk lead for good, 51-50, at 11:01 on a three-pointer.
Sowell and Jasmine Hommes traded layups before Seattle U jumped out to an eight point lead on a seven point run, 60-52, following a trio of free throws by Ashley Ward (Irvine, Calif.) after she was fouled on the shot.
Kalli Durham put Montana State back within three, 60-57, at 6:52, but the Redhawks would go on an 8-0 run jumpstarted by a pair of Ross layups.
Ward put the Redhawks ahead by 10, 67-57, with 3:55 remaining, and they would lead by 10 two more times over the remaining nearly four minutes. Ward scored five of Seattle U’s last seven points and Sowell capped the game with a pair of free throws as they topped the Bobcats, 74-63.
Sowell recorded her fourth double-double of the season to lead all players with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Ross (14 pts) and Ward (13 pts) also scored in double figures for Seattle U. Hommes led Montana State with 16 points, while Brumwell added 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Redhawks topped the Bobcats in field-goal percentage (49.1 percent to 35.7 percent), from behind the three-point line (29.4 percent to 13.3 percent), and from the free-throw line (72.2 percent to 61.1 percent). SU also outrebounded MSU, 42-35 and led in assists, 21-14.
Seattle U heads to southern California for a pair of games at LMU (Thurs. Dec. 19) and Cal State Fullerton (Sat. Dec. 21) to wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule. They close out their non-conference schedule at UC Santa Barbara on Sat. Dec. 28 before opening Western Athletic Conference play on Thurs. Jan. 2 at Chicago State. Stay tuned to Seattle U Athletics and Seattle University Women’s Basketball on Facebook, @su_athletics and @su_wbb on Twitter, and su_redhawks and su_wbb on Instagram for all the latest on the team.