BOZEMAN, Mont. – Cold shooting combined with an NCAA Division I opponent made for a difficult second half for (18) Lady Argo basketball, losing 75-42 after keeping it within 6 through the first two quarters.
 
"The first half was great. We came out a little bit soft in the third quarter," UGF Head Coach Bill Himmelberg said. "I thought we were playing good defense, we just couldn't make shots. They were making their shot and that just makes it tough when your shots aren't seeming to fall."
 
Things didn't start out so tough. Through the first four minutes of the game that Lady Argos held the Bobcats scoreless and a 3-pointer from redshirt-senior Darah Huertas-Vining helped UGF get out to a 5-0 lead.
 
That lead didn't last long, however, with MSU taking its first lead of the game three minutes later. Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, but 7 offensive rebounds for the Bobcats and 11 turnovers for the Lady Argos led to MSU's lead ballooning to 13 points with a minute left to go in the period.
 
Five straight points from Lady Argo senior Nneka Nnadi and two made free throws from junior Sidney Arant brought the score back to 6 with UGF maintaining hope to climb back into the game in the second half.
 
Both team hit just over 35 percent of their shots from the field in the first half. The only Lady Argo to shot 50 percent or higher with more than one attempt was guard Stephanie McDonagh. The junior scored all of her 9 points in the first two quarters, going 4-8 in the first half.
 
While UGF came out shooting about the same percentage as the first half, the Bobcat's offense starting to operate much more efficiently, hitting over 50 percent in the final 20 minutes.
 
Turnovers also continued to plague the Lady Argos, following up their 11 in the first half with 12 in the second. Those turnovers and a shooting percentage of 30 in the final two quarters made scoring a struggle, with just 16 total points for UGF in the second half.
 
Freshman Jenna Randich and senior Whitney George provided a bit of an inside-outside attack that accounted for 10 of those 16 points. Randich scored all of her 6 points with two shots from long distance, while George scored 4 of her 6 points in the second half.
 
Shots may not have fallen for UGF, but the team did improve in the rebounding department after getting out worked on the glass 55-30 a few days earlier against the University of Montana. Against MSU the Lady Argos still lost the rebounding battle, but the numbers were significantly closer at 42-31.
 
The game was an exhibition for the Lady Argos and the team's record remains 7-0, but it was the third regular season game of the year for the Bobcats. After two straight exhibition games against ranked foes, UGF will return to NAIA play for the Rotary Classic tournament in Jackson, Tenn., on Nov. 25-26. Both of UGF's opponents in the tournament are also ranked in the NAIA Top-25, the first of which will be (21) Talladega College at 6:30 a.m. MT.