CHANDLER, Arizona – The Montana Tech women's basketball team dropped a pair of contests against ranked opponents and closed out the road portion of their non-conference schedule at the annual Cactus Classic tournament held at Chandler Gilbert Community College

#14 Vanguard 65 Montana Tech 56

The Lions (8-3, 3-2) proved to be too much for the Orediggers (2-7, 0-2) outscoring Montana Tech in each of the four quarters of the contest. Montana Tech tied the score 15-15 midway through the second quarter on a three-point basket by Dani Urick, before the Lions would go on an 8-3 run to finish the first half with a 23-18 lead.

Vanguard held the lead for the entirety of the second half despite a gritty Montana Tech team that cut the lead to as little as two points.

The Orediggers outshot the Lions with 33.9% from the field and 41.4% from long distance, compared to Vanguards 30.2% from the field and 28.1% from long range. The difference in the game was free throws with the Lions shooting 18 of 19 with the Orediggers making 6 of only 7 tries from the charity stripe.

Urick led three Oredigger scorers in double figures with 16 to go along with 11 rebounds, while McKayla Kloker and Tavia Rooney finished with 12 points and 10 points respectively.
 

#20 Eastern Oregon 78 Montana Tech 62

Montana Tech (2-7, 0-2) capped their Cactus Classic tournament games by falling to #20 Eastern Oregon University (10-1, 5-0) 78-62.

The non-conference road finale finished a difficult early season schedule where the Orediggers have played either an NCAA Division I or NAIA top 25 opponent in seven of their last eight games, with all but one of them being on the road.

Montana Tech led 16-15 after the first quarter before the Mountaineers went on a 18-12 run to finish the first half with a 33-28 lead.

Eastern Oregon stretched their lead in the third quarter outscoring the Orediggers 26-15 in the frame to finish with a 59-43 lead. Each team traded buckets scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter.

Montana Tech was led by Tavia Rooney with 14 points and eight rebounds while Challis Westwater chipped in with nine points.

The Mountaineers shot 60.9% from three-point range knocking down 14 for 23. They had two players eclipse the 20-point mark with Sailor Liefke scoring 22 and Bayley Brenna finishing with 20.

The Orediggers return home for a pair of non-conference matchups against Canadian opponents starting with St. Mary's University on December 29^th and wrapping up their non-conference season against Keyano University on December 30^th.