Kola Bad Bear (Crow Tribe) Leads Cats with 13 Points as MSU Supports No More Stolen Sisters

Tom Schulz, MSU Communications

For the third consecutive game Kola Bad Bear (Crow) scored 13 points. In two previous games the 6-2 forward from Billings tallied a baker’s dozen in the second half. Against Portland State on Saturday afternoon, Bad Bear did most of her damage early as Montana State cruised to a 71-56 win over the Vikings in front of 1,622 fans clad in red to support the No More Stolen Sisters campaign.

Bad Bear recorded five points in the opening frame as Montana State (10-, 5-2) built a five-point advantage in the first 10 -minutes. The Bobcats used a 9-0 run midway through the second quarter to build a 14-point lead. MSU held a 40-28 cushion at intermission, behind nine points from Bad Bear.

Montana State outscored Portland State (5-9, 0-6) 16-9 in the third frame and took its largest lead of the contest at 69-45 with three minutes, 30-seconds left on a pair of free throw tosses by freshman Mia Hughes.

All 12 players in uniform scored for Montana State and all played between four and 25 minutes.

“It was fantastic to get everyone involved today,” said Ellen Kreighbaum Women’s Head Coach Tricia Binford. “Once again, across the board we had a lot of balance. We were able to have fresh legs in for most of the game and get everyone plenty of breathers.

“The bench really produced at a high rate and that’s super critical as we go through this stretch of games,” Binford added. “I loved our consistency and thought the post-to-post action was outstanding.”

Aside from Bad Bear, the only other player to reach double figures was Darian White who finished with 10 points to go along with seven assists and four rebounds.

Defensively, the Bobcats were led by Ashley Van Sickle who pulled down a career-high seven rebounds. Leia Bettie finished with six rebounds, three of which came consecutively on the offensive end before the sophomore guard from Midland, Texas capped the outburst with a three-pointer from the wing.

MSU held the Vikings offense to 26.9% from the field and forced 17 PSU turnovers.

Portland State was led by Jada Lewis with 18 points, which included a 5 of 7 effort from beyond the three-point line.

Montana State hosts Montana on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Worthington Arena.

NOTE:  MSU used its Big Sky Conference game on Saturday afternoon to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – No More Stolen Sisters. Wearing red, the symbolic color for MMIWG, was one way Montana State hoped to bring attention to the issue that’s prevalent in Montana. The Bobcats have one Native American player on their roster: junior forward Kola Bad Bear (Crow). The Billings Senior graduate has known a couple girls who have gone missing and died, including Selena Not Afraid. The number of Native Americans enrolled at MSU has steadily risen over the past decade and was 811 last year, almost 5% of the school’s total enrollment. That made Saturday’s awareness-building game important not just for the team or the fans in attendance, but for the entire university. (note courtesy of 406mtsports.com/Victor Flores)