DILLON, Mont. – The Montana Tech women's basketball team couldn't build on their early momentum falling to Montana Western 73-63.
The Bulldogs (15-12, 7-7) jumped out to an early 12-5 lead just over three minutes into the game. The Orediggers fired up going on a 12-0 run to finish the quarter with a 17-12 lead.
Aubrie Rademacher had 8 points in the first quarter. Rademacher was held to 11 in the game.
The Bulldogs charged back in the second outscoring the Orediggers 22-13 taking a 34-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Western's charged offense kept going in the third putting up 27 points and led 64-46 at the end of the third. The lead was too large for the Orediggers.
The Orediggers shot 42.4% from the field and made 6 of 17 three-point attempts.
After a slow start, Western shot 47.4% from the field in the game and created their big lead going 15 for 28 from beyond the arc.
Tech was in charge in the paint outrebounding Western 38-27 with 17 offensive rebounds. The Orediggers had 28 points in the paint and 12 second chance points.
Western converted 20 points off turnovers.
Liv Wangerin led the Orediggers with 13 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Brooklynn Hankwitz had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Challis Westwater led the productive Tech bench with 11 points and 7 rebounds. The Oredigger bench had 26 points.
Jordan Sweeney had a game-high 23 points and finished with 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
Joelnell Momberg had 20 points going 6 for 10 from three-point range. Momberg had 6 assists.
The last game of the regular season is in Great Falls for the Orediggers. Montana Tech wraps up against the University of Providence Saturday at 2 p.m.