Northern Arizona uses strong second half to push past Montana Lady Griz

MISSOULA — Sophie Glancey thrives and finds a way to shine under the lights at Dahlberg Arena.

The sophomore forward poured in a career-high 30 points Thursday evening to pace the Big Sky Conference-leading Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to a 69-60 victory over the Montana Lady Griz.

With the win, NAU, coached by Havre native Loree Payne, avenged a loss to UM from earlier this season and improved to 17-6 overall and 9-1 in league play. Montana dropped to 15-7 and 7-4 while losing its second straight game.

Last year as a freshman, Glancey scored her season-high in Missoula as she dropped 22 against the Lady Griz in another Lumberjack win. On Thursday, that rang true again as her teammates began to feed her consistently in the second half, and Glancey rewarded them with layup after layup.

Glancey scored 24 of her 30 points in the second half. The game was tied 31-31 at the break before NAU found a way to break away behind Glancey’s big game.

Former Montana State Bobcat Leia Beattie and Emily Rodabaugh each added 10 points in the win for NAU while Beattie also grabbed 10 boards.

Mack Konig led UM with 13 points while Carmen Gfeller and Dani Bartsch each added 11. Bartsch also grabbed 15 rebounds in the game but NAU won the rebounding battle, 46 to 36.

It was a defensive game as NAU shot just 38.6% from the field and 6 for 21 from 3. UM in turn shot 30.9% from the field and went 11 for 28 from deep.

Montana is back in action on Saturday as the Lady Griz host Northern Colorado.