Schoening scores career high 22 points in loss

MISSOULA, Mont. — Former Sandpoint standout Madi Schoening had her best game as a collegiate player, dropping 22 points to go with seven rebounds in defeat as the Montana women lost 73-63 to North Dakota on Saturday in Big Sky Conference hoops action.

Schoening, whose previous season high was 12 against Utah State, matched the total she scored in the previous six games combined. She was 7 for 16, went 7 for 8 from the line and served notice she’s adjusting to the next level well.

“We’ve been waiting for that,” said Lady Griz head coach Shannon Schweyen of her freshman guard. “Madi just hustled and played so hard. She went to the basket hard. She posted strong. She scored from the line. She was just aggressive. She did a little bit of everything. I thought she was fantastic.”

Freshman Emma Stockholm added a season-high 15 off the bench, and Montana (3-14, 0-6 BSC) played its best game of the season, with all 63 of its points being scored by underclassmen, 61 by freshmen.

The Lady Griz shot 39.7 percent, and held the Fighting Hawks (10-7, 5-1 BSC) to 37.3 percent. The first two of Schoening’s 15 second-half points made it 32-30, and a jumper by Taylor Goligoski evened the score at 32-32. Hailey Nicholson had a chance to give Montana its first second-half lead in more than a month, but she missed, and Makailah Dyer hit a three at the other end to give North Dakota a lead it would hold the rest of the game.

“I’m extremely proud of the effort these girls put out,” said Schweyen. “They came out and played their hearts out.”

Montana will host Portland State and Sacramento State next week at Dahlberg Arena.