Blue Pony Kyndall Keller giving the Lady Griz a spark

The Montana Lady Griz got a big road win Tuesday afternoon in Seattle. And they owe it to true freshman and former Havre High star Kyndall Keller.

In 19 minutes of Montana's 61-55 win over Seattle University, Keller scored an already-career high and team-high 17 points. In the second half alone, Keller scored 14 points and made four three-pointers, including a crucial one with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter, which put the Lady Griz up six points. The spark was huge from Keller, and she earned high praise from head coach Mike Petrino afterwards.

"Kyndall was amazing today," said coach Petrino to gogriz.com, who leaned heavily on the freshman late in the game, putting her on Seattle's Bree Calhoun, who would finish with a game-high 23 points.

"Everyone will look at those threes, but we put her on their leading scorer near the end of the game when she had 22 points. After we made the change, we held her to one.

"Kyndall got it done on both ends, offense and defense, and she only had one turnover against that press. She grew up a lot today."

Keller scored 14 of the Lady' Griz 30 second-half points, while going 5-for-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line.

"Something clicked. I was on it," Keller told gogriz.com. "I was ready and just really locked in. I was feeling it. I woke up ready to play, I guess.

"I wanted to get in there and do well," she continued. "Just from the get-go, it was exciting and fun. You could feel we had the momentum, and we kept it rolling for a while," she said.

"I was confident and just let the ball fly. I was feeling that shot. When I hit it, I was jacked," she added.

In three games, this in her first year in Missoula, Keller is now averaging six points, two assists and two rebounds per game. She’s shooting 40 percent from the field and a whopping 63 percent from beyond the arc.

Keller and the Lady Griz are back in action against Utah Valley State Monday in Missoula.