’Cats win, lose over weekend

Weber State University’s Women’s Basketball Head Coach Carla Taylor earned her 300th career-win Friday night when the Wildcats defeated the University of Montana Grizzlies 59-55. WSU missed out on a repeat performance Saturday, though, dropping the second half of their back-to-back home stand against the Montana State Bobcats, 59-76.
UM went into Friday’s game ranked No. 2 in the Big Sky Conference standing and riding a four-game winning streak. After taking a quick lead, the Grizzlies gave up a steal to WSU center Joey O’Neill, resulting in a fast-break layup by WSU forward Caitlin Anderson that gave the Wildcats the lead with 15 minutes remaining the first half. WSU held the lead for the next 28 minutes of play before the Grizzlies regained the lead with seven minutes left in the game.
The Wildcats and Grizzlies traded the lead for the next four minutes until a layup by O’Neill with 1:20 remaining gave WSU a lead it would hold the rest of the game. With the Wildcats up by two, UM sent WSU guard Sarah Conner to the free-throw line twice with less than 12 seconds on the clock. Conner made all four of her free throws, securing a four-point victory.
Anderson posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to contribute to the win.
“Caitlin had great back-to-back games,” Taylor said. “She gave the effort. She just kept playing and plugging away. Her willingness to just physically play through and show toughness was incredible.”
WSU returned to the Dee Events Center Saturday night for the second of its back-to-back weekend games.
Both teams entered the game playing aggressive defense and utilizing a full-court press. MSU pulled ahead to an early four-point lead before the Wildcats responded with a run of their own, taking a 6-5 lead. WSU guard Megan Patterson made a pair of quick back-to-back three-point shots off MSU turnovers, building the Wildcats’ lead to 12-5.
MSU battled back to take a 20-17 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half, and held the lead for the remainder of the game. Heading to the locker room, the Wildcats trailed MSU 22-36.
The Wildcats created opportunities in the second half coming within nine points, but couldn’t overcome the tough defense and tenacious rebounding of MSU. At the conclusion of the game, MSU outrebounded the Wildcats 49-27.
“The credit goes to Montana State,” Taylor said. “Anyone that can rebound 49 times to our 27 deserves to win, and Montana State deserved to win tonight. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”
Anderson said the Wildcats will need to go after rebounds more aggressively if they are going to win more games.
“That was the game right there,” Anderson said. “I’m sure of it. We didn’t box out. Even when we did box out, we didn’t go after the ball. They were tough on the boards, and we weren’t. And that’s the result we got. We got outrebounded by more than 20, and you’re never going to win a game when you get outrebounded that much.”
WSU will now prepare to head out on the road to face Northern Arizona University on Thursday, Feb. 11, and the University of Northern Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 13. The Wildcats trail both NAU and UNC by two games in the Big Sky Conference standings, and victories will be key if they hope to earn a Big Sky Conference tournament berth.
“We’re digging ourselves out of a hole,” said WSU guard Tonya Schnibbe, “and we really don’t have much to lose, so we’re just going after people. We’ve really just got to keep up our intensity. That’s what’s going to win us games, is how intense we are and how aggressive we are on defense. We don’t put up that many points, so we have to stop people on defense.”
With seven games remaining in the regular season, the Wildcats will focus on intensity and rebounding as they push for a strong finish.
 “Our focus will stay what it was this week,” Taylor said. “Every loose ball, every loose rebound, the team that’s going to go after those and get those are the teams that are going to come out and be successful with the win. That was our focus last week. I think we’re a better team because of it. I think our players have bought into the idea that we’re going to get to the ball, that we’re going to be aggressive make good things happen. We’ll continue to do that this week, and rebounds need to be a focus for us.”