Jason Walker, University of Providence Sports Information
BUTTE, Mont. - Reed Hazard scored 13 first-half points as the University of Providence built a 13-point halftime lead, but a blistering second-half from Tavia Rooney and the Orediggers led Montana Tech to its first Frontier Conference win 69-61 Saturday afternoon in the Mining City.
The Argos jumped out to a 29-16 lead after two quarters including a 17-5 advantage in the second 10 minutes to build a lead of as many as 14 behind Hazard who shot 5-9 and made 3 of 5 from the three-point line in the HPER Center. The third quarter was fast paced with Tech outscoring the Argos 25-20 as both teams shot well. Providence hit 40% in the third quarter, but it was the home team Orediggers lighting it up going 10-14 from the field to cut into the Argos lead.
In the fourth, Rooney and the Tech defense took over. The junior from Townsend scored 12 of her game-high 26 points in the period while Tech scored 28 to the Argos 12. The 'Digger D held Providence to just 3 of 18 shooting in the final quarter while the offense went 9 of 12. In all, Tech was 19-26 (73%) in the final 20 minutes.
"Tough game," according to Head Coach Bill Himmelberg. "I thought our girls played really well in the first half. We held them to seven percent shooting in the second quarter. It was a tale of two halves. Third and fourth quarter they shot it better, they got hot. Tavia (Rooney) had a good game shooting. Tech did a great job. We did not do a good enough job defending."
In addition to her 26 points, Rooney also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. Aubrey Rademacher added 14 points for the Orediggers who improve to 5-9 overall, 1-3 in former Belt coach Jeff Graham's first season.
Hazard finished the game with 15 points, Maddy Dixon scored 14 while pulling down seven rebounds. Brooklyn Harn hit 3 of 10 from beyond the arc and finished with 10 points. Alicia Oatis had a team-high eight boards.
The Frontier Conference road trip will continue for the Argos (11-6, 1-3) as the team will head to Helena to battle with 11th ranked Carroll College Thursday. "We will get back to work Monday and continue to get better," says Himmelberg. "The schedule is beast right now. Carroll on the road. It is a tough situation; we just have to continue to get better."
