# 2021–22 Montana State Bobcats women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Montana State Bobcats women's basketball team represented Montana State University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bobcats, led by seventeenth year head coach Tricia Binford, played their home games at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse and were members of the Big Sky Conference.
They finished the season 22–13, 14–6 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for second place. As the second seed in the Big Sky tournament, the earned a bye into the Quarterfinals where they defeated Weber State. They then defeated Idaho in the Semifinals and Northern Arizona in the Finals to win the tournament for the third time in team history. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and were the sixteen seed in the Spokane Regional. They were defeated in the First Round by one seed Stanford to end their season.

## Previous season

The Bobcats finished the season 17–7, 13–3 in Big Sky play to finish in third place. As the third seed in the Big Sky tournament, the earned a bye into the Quarterfinals where they defeated Sacramento State before losing to Idaho in the Semifinals. They were not invited to the NCAA tournament or the WNIT.

## Schedule

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 6, 2021* 5:00 p.m. | | South Dakota Mines | W 94–43 | – | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse Bozeman, MT |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* Noon, ESPN+ | | Carroll College | W 69–60 | 1–0 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,802) Bozeman, MT |
| November 11, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | | at Gonzaga | L 47–72 | 1–1 | McCarthey Athletic Center (3,301) Spokane, WA |
| November 13, 2021* 2:00 p.m. | | at UNLV | L 42–80 | 1–2 | Thomas & Mack Center (423) Las Vegas, NV |
| November 18, 2021* 5:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at South Dakota State | L 49–78 | 1–3 | Frost Arena (1,262) Brookings, SD |
| November 20, 2021* 1:00 p.m. | | at North Dakota | L 85–89 | 1–4 | Sioux Center (1,323) Grand Forks, ND |
| November 26, 2021* 3:30 p.m. | | vs. North Texas Holiday Beach Classic | L 78–87 | 1–5 | Mott Athletics Center (323) San Luis Obispo, CA |
| November 27, 2021* 3:30 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Cal Poly Holiday Beach Classic | W 67–55 | 2–5 | Mott Athletics Center (341) San Luis Obispo, CA |
| December 2, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Northern Colorado | W 63–57 | 3–5 (1–0) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,223) Bozeman, MT |
| December 4, 2021 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Sacramento State | W 76–69 | 4–5 (2–0) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,338) Bozeman, MT |
| December 9, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | MSU-Billings | W 82–81 $^{2OT}$ | 5–5 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,196) Bozeman, MT |
| December 11, 2021* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Utah Valley | W 67–58 | 6–5 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,178) Bozeman, MT |
| December 18, 2021* 3:00 p.m. | | Seattle | W 76–49 | 7–5 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (372) Bozeman, MT |
| December 21, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | No. 19 BYU | L 67–89 | 7–6 | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,362) Bozeman, MT |
| December 30, 2021 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Weber State | L 63–68 | 7–7 (2–1) | Dee Events Center (212) Ogden, UT |
| January 1, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Idaho State | L 57–67 | 7–8 (2–2) | Reed Gym (910) Pocatello, ID |
| January 17, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Idaho | W 79–69 | 8–8 (3–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,083) Bozeman, MT |
| January 20, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Northern Arizona | W 88–73 | 9–8 (4–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,189) Bozeman, MT |
| January 22, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Portland State | W 71–56 | 10–8 (5–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,622) Bozeman, MT |
| January 24, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Montana | W 73–59 | 11–8 (6–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (2,324) Bozeman, MT |
| January 27, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Eastern Washington | W 65–55 | 12–8 (7–2) | Reese Court (232) Cheney, WA |
| February 3, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Idaho State | W 73–68 | 13–8 (8–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,207) Bozeman, MT |
| February 5, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Weber State | W 74–71 | 14–8 (9–2) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,567) Bozeman, MT |
| February 7, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Idaho | W 96–84 | 15–8 (10–2) | Cowan Spectrum (1,161) Moscow, ID |
| February 10, 2022 6:30 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Southern Utah | L 60–70 | 15–9 (10–3) | America First Events Center (397) Cedar City, UT |
| February 12, 2022 Noon, ESPN+ | | at Northern Arizona | W 83–77 | 16–9 (11–3) | Walkup Skydome (356) Flagstaff, AZ |
| February 17, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Eastern Washington | L 69–76 | 16–10 (11–4) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,515) Bozeman, MT |
| February 19, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | Southern Utah | W 65–47 | 17–10 (12–4) | Brick Breeden Fieldhouse (1,876) Bozeman, MT |
| February 21, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Portland State | W 82–57 | 18–10 (13–4) | Viking Pavilion (364) Portland, OR |
| February 26, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Montana | L 57–71 | 18–11 (13–5) | Dahlberg Arena (4,059) Missoula, MT |
| March 2, 2022 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Sacramento State | W 65–52 | 19–11 (14–5) | Hornets Nest (207) Sacramento, CA |
| March 4, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+ | | at Northern Colorado | L 63–71 | 19–12 (14–6) | Bank of Colorado Arena (946) Greeley, CO |
| Big Sky tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2022 5:30 p.m., ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (10) Weber State Quarterfinals | W 81–60 | 20–12 | Idaho Central Arena (1,387) Boise, ID |
| March 9, 2022 8:00 p.m., ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (6) Idaho Semifinals | W 73–67 | 21–12 | Idaho Central Arena (0) Boise, ID |
| March 11, 2022 1:00 p.m., ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (4) Northern Arizona Final | W 75–64 | 22–12 | Idaho Central Arena (956) Boise, ID |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 18, 2022 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (16 S) | at (1 S) No. 2 Stanford First Round | L 37–78 | 22–13 | Maples Pavilion (3,648) Stanford, CA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=Spokane. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: — = Not ranked :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.