Greta Koss scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Saturday to lead Montana to a 72-60 victory over Weber State in the Big Sky Conference women's tournament championship game.
The Lady Griz (24-4) won their third straight Big Sky title and ninth in the past 11 years.With the victory, Montana earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Weber (17-12) hung with the Lady Griz most of the way, largely due to the play of Mika Brown, who scored 26 points and hauled in a game-high 18 rebounds.
Weber had a 9-4 lead with four minutes gone on two free throws by Brown, but Koss - who scored Montana's first 10 points - put the Lady Griz up 10-9 with 14:21 to go in the half.
Montana never trailed again and led 33-24 at the half.
In the second half, the Lady Wildcats cut Montana's lead to 53-47 on a jumper by Shelley Berg with 7:06 to play. Weber came no closer, as Montana then made all eight free throws down the stretch, leading by up to 13 points when Koss completed a three-point play with 3:33 to go.
Sherry Brooks was the only other Montana player in double figures, with 14 points.
Berg joined Brown in double figures for rebounding, hauling in 10 boards as Weber outrebounded Montana 53-40.
Montana's defense held Weber to only 26 percent shooting from the field and forced 16 turnovers.
Koss, a junior forward from Malta, was voted the tournament's most valuable player.