By Danny Waldo
As busload after busload of students began arriving for Montana State’s 2nd annual Bobcat School Day on November 6th, you could tell the crowd was going to be electric.
Over 6,000 school kids from around the state in grades Kindergarten through 8th were treated to a day of activities, teacher dance-offs, and a great showing by the Lady ‘Cats, and they helped MSU host its first-ever sold out game in program history during a 64-48 victory over Carroll College of Helena.
“It was a fantastic atmosphere,” said MSU 14th-year head coach Tricia Binford “It was super loud and noisy and a lot of fun to compete in.”
The experience provided a good early-season test for the Bobcats, not only because of the crowd noise, but also because of the opponent. Carroll College is ranked in the Top 25 in the NAIA national polls and are the defending league champions of the Frontier Conference. The Saints provided MSU with many challenges, but none quite as difficult as the crowd noise created by thousands of screaming school-aged children.
“The biggest thing is communication,” said Binford. “We’ve got to be able to execute what we want to execute, I thought we let some factors dictate us today. The defense was pretty solid for the most part with communication. On the offensive end, we had way too many turnovers in the first half, we need to clean those up.”
“When everyone starts screaming and you can’t hear anything, that’s what makes it so much fun,” said Claire Lundberg, a Seton Hall transfer who scored 25 points in her Bobcat debut. “This day is just something special.”
While MSU was happy to host their second Bobcat School Day, they were equally happy to pick up a quality win versus a tough opponent to kick off the 2018-19 season. Things will get decidedly more difficult as MSU hits the road for its next four games as participants in the WNIT. The Lady ‘Cats lost their opening-round WNIT matchup with Marquette on November 9th, losing 100-52. They’ll next travel to San Marcos, Texas to face Delaware on November 16th. MSU’s next home game does not come until November 30th when they play host to Long Beach State.
For a complete schedule of all Montana State women’s basketball games, log on to www.msusbobcats.com.
Danny Waldo is a local freelancer covering Bozeman Hawk and Montana State Bobcat athletics.
