February 27, 2026
Photo credit by Gary Marshall, 406 Sports
BUTTE, Mont. — No. 2 seed Montana Tech survived a late surge from No. 7 seed Providence (Mont.) to pull out a 60-57 win Friday afternoon in the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament quarterfinals at the Butte Civic Center.
The Orediggers led most of the way but had to regroup in the final two minutes after the Argos briefly took control. Trailing 54-50 in the fourth quarter, UP’s Madi Reibel drilled a 3-pointer with 2:47 to play to trim the deficit to four and spark a late push. Less than a minute later, Eliannah Ramirez knocked down a jumper with 1:54 remaining to give Providence its first lead of the closing stretch at 55-54.
Montana Tech answered at the free-throw line, where it gained the decisive edge. The Orediggers went 26 of 30 at the stripe, including a perfect 12 of 12 from standout forward Liv Wangerin. With the game tied in the closing seconds, Wangerin stepped to the line and converted late free throws with six seconds left to restore a three-point Montana Tech advantage at 60-57 and effectively seal the win.
Wangerin finished with a double-double, posting a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes to anchor the Orediggers on both ends. She had support from Halle Haber, who scored 13 points and provided two key momentum plays at the end of quarters. Haber buried a 3-pointer at the second-quarter buzzer to send Montana Tech into halftime up 30-23, then added a basket in the final second of the third to keep the Orediggers in front 48-42 entering the fourth.
Providence countered with a balanced effort and strong free-throw shooting of its own, going 21 of 28 at the line. Brooke Dial led the Argos with 14 points and six rebounds while logging 36 minutes. McKenna Reggear added 13 points and went 7 of 8 at the foul line, and Reibel finished with 10 points and six rebounds while hitting two 3-pointers, including the fourth-quarter triple that ignited the late comeback bid.
Both teams struggled from the field, each shooting 16 of 49 (32.7 percent). Montana Tech’s edge came at the stripe, where it shot 86.7 percent compared with Providence’s 75 percent. The Argos held a 42-35 advantage on the glass, including 14 offensive rebounds, but Montana Tech limited its mistakes with just 11 turnovers to Providence’s 16 and converted critical opportunities in the final minute.
Providence opened the game strong, using an early 3-pointer from Camryn Cartwright to build an 8-2 lead, but Montana Tech closed the first quarter on a run capped by a late jumper from Brooke Badovinac for a 17-14 edge. From there, the Orediggers steadily maintained the lead through three quarters before withstanding Providence’s late push to advance in the Frontier Conference tournament.
Montana Tech (23-4 overall record) moves on to the semifinals on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. (MT). The Orediggers wait for Saturday's winner between No. 3 seed Carroll (Mont.) and No. 6 seed Montana Western.
Providence ends season at 15-14 overall record.