Brandon Stinson

Women's Basketball 1/4/2024 4:30:00 PM Brandon Stinson | Sports Information & Media Coordinator

GAME NOTES: Rocky Women’s Basketball Opens Conference Play Against Montana Tech Saturday

BUTTE, Mont.- The Battlin' Bears look to begin their 2023-24 Frontier Conference schedule with a win over Montana Tech on Saturday afternoon.

Matchup

#12 Rocky Mountain College (11-1) vs Montana Tech (9-4)
Saturday, January 6th | 2:00pm (MT) | Butte, Montana

Battlin' Bear Recap

The Battlin' Bears enter conference play on Saturday with an impressive 11-1 record following their non-conference schedule. The Rocky Women are one of just 15 teams in the NAIA that have one or fewer losses on the season going into this weekend, with their lone loss of record coming to the second-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats.

Head Coach Wes Keller made history after Rocky's 87-83 victory over Benedictine University-Mesa, as he became the all-time winningest coach in Rocky Women's Basketball history with his 159th career win in his 10th season, surpassing his predecessor Brian Henderson, who compiled 158 wins over 13 seasons with the Battlin' Bears.

Rocky's offense has been rolling as of late, scoring 80 or more points in three of their last four games and making 10 or more threes in four of their last five games. Ky Oliver has led the shooting charge for Battlin' Bears as she has made two or more three-pointers in each of the past six games, which includes games where she made seven (vs UHSP) and six (vs SAIT). Her seven three-pointers are the most in a single game by anyone in the Frontier Conference this season and the most by a Battlin' Bear since Shauna Bribiescas made seven in Rocky's opening-round game against Dakota State in 2022. The Battlin' Bears are the top three-point shooting team by percentage this season in the conference, shooting 35.8% as a unit so far.

Rocky has continued their success on the defensive end as well. The Battlin' Bears hold their opponents to an average of 59.3 points per game, force 17.3 turnovers per game, and outrebound their opponents by an average of six rebounds per game. Guard defense has been crucial for Rocky, as Ky Oliver, Gracee Lekvold, and Iliana Moran all rank in the top 10 of the Frontier Conference in steals per game. Oliver has recorded three or more steals in five different games this season as she leads the Frontier Conference averaging 2.2 steals per game.

After Rocky's matchup with the Orediggers on Saturday, they will return home to host #16 University of Providence on Thursday, January 11th, and MSU-Northern on Saturday, January 13th. The weekend set will be the Battlin' Bears' first games in the Fortin Education Center since they hosted MSU Billings on November 15th.

Preview

The 12th-ranked Rocky women will look to get off to a hot start to conference play against an Oredigger team they have defeated eight straight times and have won 18 of the last 19 matchups dating back to the 2017-18 season.

The Battlin' Bears visited Montana Tech twice last season, starting their conference schedule with a 59-42 victory on December 1st and returning to Butte for a 59-54 victory on February 4th. In Rocky's second trip to Butte, the Battlin' Bears trailed the Orediggers in the final three minutes of the game but finished the game on a 9-0 run to secure the victory.

The Orediggers enter the Frontier Conference schedule with a 9-4 record and carry a two-game winning streak going into Saturday's game. Their lone common opponent with Rocky this season was Dickinson State, who the Orediggers defeated 65-64 on November 2nd. The Battlin' Bears defeated Dickinson State twice, most recently on December 30th to the tune of an 81-53 final.

Montana Tech is an athletic group that rebounds the ball well, leading the Frontier Conference with 43.0 total rebounds per game and 15.0 offensive rebounds per game. The Orediggers lead the Frontier Conference forcing 19.8 turnovers per game and have the top-scoring defense, letting up just 50.2 points per game. They do so with a deep rotation of 11 players that all average over 10 minutes played per game who frequently substitute in and out, creating tough matchups for their opponents.

Montana Tech will look to control possessions and force a low-scoring game if they want to upset the 12th-ranked Battlin' Bears, as the Orediggers average a conference-low 60. The Orediggers don't have a player averaging double-digit points so far this season but have four players averaging eight or more and seven that average five or more points per game.

Saturday's matchup will be a 2:00 pm (MT) tip-off, with the men's teams to follow afterward.

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