BOISE, Idaho — Victory! At the buzzer… A last second layup by Montana State’s Marah Dykstra punched the Bozeman Bobcats ticket to the NCAA’s March Madness Tournament.
“Being able to do it with this crowd behind us was so bittersweet. Immediate emotions, immediate tears. We’re so proud of this team,” said Katelynn Martin (11) Montana State Guard.
The Montana State Women’s squad entered the Starch Madness tournament as regular season conference champions, and they proved that top spot Wednesday during the Big Sky Championships.
The Treasure-State Rivalry match up pushed both teams to fight.
Montana’s Lady Griz, started off strong, shutting down the dominant Montana State players. And leading on the scoreboard for the whole first quarter.
But the Cats responded with a solid offensive performance…. Leading by 10 at the start of the 2nd half.
Then with seconds left, Montana's Dani Bartsch hit a crowd-pleasing 3 pointer to give the Lady Griz a 57-56 advantage.
With heartbeats left in the game, Dykstra drove to the hoop and hit the glass on her first attempt, Immediately rebounding to put the ball through the bucket at the buzzer.
Montana State super fan Brenda Karp speaks for all Cats fans when talking about what it was like to experience the win.
“That was just the best! I couldn’t believe it. If they were going to win on anything… that was the way to do it, and that was what our team has done all year!” said Karp.
Montana State Guard Katelynn Martin tells Idaho News 6… they’ll now regroup for March Madness, “Definitely rest, celebrate. Take this in as much as we can, but get prepared when we get back to Bozeman for sure. And then obviously with the dance, there’s a lot of nerves, but we’ll just be ready, with whoever the opponent is that we play, we’re just going to be ready.”
The Men's Big Sky Basketball Championships was between the #1 Northern Colorado Bears and the #2 Montana Griz. The Montana Griz beat the bears 91-83, and will head to the NCAA's March Madness.
