The future is bright for MSU women's basketball after injury-filled season

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana State University women's basketball has a lot to look forward to following an injury-riddled 2023-24 season.

After back-to-back losses against BYU and Arizona State to start, the Bobcats won three-straight games before senior forward and Sentinel alum Lexi Deden would be ruled out the rest of the season.

"This team is extremely close," MSU women's head basketball coach Tricia Binford said after the loss of Deden. "They love Lexi, the entire team including the staff was really rattled by it, but at the same time, this is the trial that we are working through that you can't control some certain things but you can control how you respond."

In the first six games of the season, Deden was leading the Bobcats, averaging 13.8 points, 8.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks.

She suffered a knee injury in a 65-62 loss to James Madison in the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 24. At the same time, Deden received Big Sky Player of the Week for her performance in the Cancun Challenge.

The loss to James Madison was the start of a four-game losing streak, all on the road, but Montana State turned it around once it returned to Bozeman.

The Bobcats opened a five-game homestand with back-to-back wins over Wyoming and North Texas before it began Big Sky play.

"Our team is so hype, we're ready for conference play," MSU senior guard Katelynn Limardo said. "It's a new season for us when we start, so we're really excited to go out and start it."

Montana State swept the first week of conference play against Idaho State and Weber State before finishing the homestand with a win over North Dakota State in the first iteration of the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge.

However, that's when the injury bug came back for the Bobcats. Forsyth native Lindsey Hein was ruled out for the season with a foot injury suffered in a loss at South Dakota State.

In 10 games, the 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore averaged 3.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, including a season-high 11 points against Wyoming.

Binford would later rule out sophomores Drea Brumfield and Dylan Philip for the season as well. Brumfield appeared in four games early in the season, while Philip did not play after suffering an injury in an exhibition game at Carroll College.

Some starters even had to miss some games as sophomore Marah Dykstra missed two games with an injury, and Limardo missed three games after hitting the ground hard at the end of the Brawl of Wild win over Montana on Jan. 20.

This required Binford to burn some redshirts as she needed a bench to finish the season. After the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge, MSU's roster consisted of three seniors, one sophomore, and six freshmen.

It was a rough start for the Bobcats with getting swept on the road at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. However, it was the rivalry win over the Lady Griz that showed promise for the young squad.

"These kids are getting thrown in against an all-conference Big Sky player (Carmen Gfeller) in the post and you've got two starting point guards that Natalie Picton is going up against," Binford said. "We've got a lot of things to be proud of with this group and our youth and they're getting great experience."

Under the leadership of graduate guard Madison Hall, and seniors Limardo and forward Taylor Janssen, Montana State finished the season 10-8 in conference play and fourth in the Big Sky.

But after preparing the freshman for Big Sky play, the upperclassmen needed to prepare the underclassmen for the Big Sky Conference tournament in Boise, ID.

"It's not easy. You're going through a lot of teams that are also exhausted as well, I mean, we're all in a grind," Hall said about getting the freshmen ready. "Truly have fun, embrace the moment, let it sink in, have fun with it, feed off of the crowd, and feed off of the other crowd that is not going towards you."

The Bobcats opened the postseason with a 47-44 overtime win over Northern Colorado in the quarterfinals. Montana State though recorded a season-low in scoring in the semifinals as the season came to an end in a 56-39 loss to Eastern Washington.

That was Hall's last game in a Bobcat uniform as she appeared in an MSU-record 132 games, averaging 10.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.1 assists in her final season. Hall though is excited for what this team can do in the future.

"I think next year is going to be something super special," Hall said. "I mean, it's just the way that the freshmen step up, I'm hoping that they'll take the freshmen under their wing as well, along with Marah, and show that defense wins games and what Montana State is about."

Montana State finished the season with a 17-16 record, but it can return a majority of its roster for the 2024-25 season. Deden already announced that she will return to the Bobcats and both Limardo and Janssen have an extra year of eligibility due to the 2020 COVID-19 season.

Even Hall, who was the only player to be out of eligibility, will return to Bozeman. However, she will move from the court to the sidelines as she will join the MSU coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

So far, the only Bobcat that has left the roster is freshman guard Malea Egan. The Colstrip native entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.