Lady Griz open season hosting Bulldogs - University of Montana Athletics

The Montana women's basketball team will open the 2026-27 season on Tuesday when it hosts Montana Western inside Dahlberg Arena.

The Lady Griz (0-0) and Bulldogs (3-2) will tip off at 7 p.m. on Robin Selvig Court.

The game will stream on ESPN+ and can be heard on KGRZ 1450 AM/92.7 FM with Ace Sauerwein, who begins his fifth season calling Montana's games.

While Montana opens with a non-Division I opponent, there is an added challenge in facing a team whose start-of-season is different than its own.

The Bulldogs already have five games under their belts while the Lady Griz have been limited to scrimmages in quiet gyms.

"It's safe to say it's an advantage for them," said second-year Montana coach Nate Harris, whose team is hoping to improve on a 9-22 finish a season ago, when the Lady Griz finished eighth in the Big Sky.

"They've had a chance to figure out who they are and how they play and run up and down and have whistles and adrenaline and all the things that come with playing a basketball game.

"But we have people who have played a lot of games, so we'll rely on that experience and the fact it's a home opener in Dahlberg Arena. We're excited to get after it in front of our fans."

While Montana returns four players who started at least half of the team's games a season ago, the Lady Griz will have a new look.

Eight of the team's 14 players are new, including junior transfers Kennedy Moore (Wake Forest) and Dominique Nesland (High Point), and sophomores Paige Lofing (Gonzaga) and Shay Shippen (Columbia).

Freshmen include Avory DeCoite (Missoula, Mont.), Kate Holmquist (Maple Grove, Minn.), Hayden Kaut (Napavine, Wash.) and Kamryn Reinker (Billings, Mont.).

Montana's returning starters are seniors Kennedy Gillette and Aby Shubert, and juniors Jocelyn Land and Avery Waddington.

Waddington last season became the first player in program history to lead Montana in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

She was second-team All-Big Sky Conference as a sophomore and last month was voted Preseason All-Big Sky for the second consecutive season.

"I'll view (Tuesday's game) as successful if we show that we understand how we're going to be able to be really good and don't rely on talent alone or being bigger, faster and stronger," said Harris.

"If we go out there and out-work, out-hustle, out-physical and out-compete our opponent, no matter who it is, that will leave me feeling satisfied about our performance.

"I want us to give an effort that is deserving of our fan base and of the talent we have in our room."

Montana is 13-0 all-time against Montana Western, though the teams have played additional times over the years in exhibition games.

Tuesday will be the first time the teams have played in a regular-season game for Montana since the 2014-15 season. Tuesday's game will be counted as an exhibition for the Bulldogs.

Montana Western went 14-14 last season under then first-year coach Ryan Sullivan, who has a deep family ties to the Lady Griz.

His uncle is the coach for whom the Dahlberg Arena court is named, his mom is the former Sandy Selvig, who played for her older brother for three seasons (1978-79 to 1980-81).

His sister is the former Jordan Sullivan, former Lady Griz player (2010-11 to 2013-14) and assistant coach (2017-18 to 2021-22) and now an assistant at Utah.

The Bulldogs tied for sixth last season in the strong Frontier Conference, which sent four teams – Dakota State, Montana Tech, Rocky Mountain and Carroll – to the 64-team NAIA national tournament.

Montana Western was picked sixth in this year's Frontier Conference preseason poll, behind those four teams and MSU Northern.

Junior Bailee Sayler of Missoula (Hellgate HS) led the Bulldogs in scoring last season (13.5/g). She was voted second-team All-Frontier Conference and the league's 6th Woman of the Year.

She was voted the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Week after helping Western open this season 3-0 while averaging 22.7 points and 10 rebounds per game.

One of those wins was against Lewis-Clark State in Spokane. The Warriors won 25 games last season and made the NAIA Sweet 16.

This past weekend Western dropped a pair of close games, against a nationally ranked team and against one receiving votes in the NAIA national poll.

Playing at No. 22 College of Idaho on Friday, the Bulldogs led by three entering the fourth quarter and had the ball down two with less than 20 seconds left before falling 71-65.

Against Eastern Oregon on Saturday, Montana Western held a seven-point third-quarter lead and missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a 62-59 loss.

For the season, Sayler is averaging 18.2 points and 9.4 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Kyle Pancost, of Twin Bridges, is averaging a double-double, 11.0 points, 11.2 rebounds.

The Bulldogs have limited their first five opponents to 57.4 points on 30.9 percent shooting while out-rebounding them by more than 12 per game.

After opening the season at home on Tuesday, Montana will hit the road to face BYU on Saturday, Nov. 7, and Kansas State on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

BYU was picked seventh out of 16 teams in the strong Big 12, Kansas State ninth. Houston, picked 15th in the Big 12 poll, will visit Montana on Friday, Nov. 13.

That challenging stretch of games will be capped by a trip to Spokane to face Gonzaga on Wednesday, Nov. 18. The Bulldogs are heavy favorites to win the new Pac-12.

"We'll have some great opportunities to test ourselves and improve and figure out who we're going to be and what it will take to be successful," said Harris of his team's early-season schedule.

"But I don't think any of them are bigger than what we have in front of us Tuesday night. It's the most important game of the year because it's the next one.

"It's the one we need to focus on and make sure we go out there and try to be the best version of us. How do we give our best effort that night? In our world, that's the only one that matters."

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Players Mentioned

Avory DeCoite

Kennedy Gillette

Kate Holmquist

Hayden Kaut

Jocelyn Land

Paige Lofing

Kennedy Moore

Kamryn Reinker

Shay Shippen

Aby Shubert

Avery Waddington

University of Montana Athletics