Starch Madness: Montana State’s buzzer beater gives us our first glimpse of March magic

You’ve heard of March Madness. We’re here to tell you about Starch Madness.

That’s what the Big Sky calls its conference tournament played in Boise, Idaho — you know, the home of potatoes. And on Wednesday night in its championship game for women’s basketball, the Big Sky made good on its promise of delivering the madness.

With nine seconds left, sixth-seeded Montana took a one-point lead over its rival and top-seeded Montana State. Moments after Dani Bartsch swished that 3-pointer on a feed from Mack Konig, Montana State called a timeout. Seven seconds remained and the Bobcats drew up a SLOB (sideline-out-of-bounds) play.

Marah Dykstra caught the inbounds pass and seemed to holding for a handoff, but a teammate never got free to come over and the play appeared to be broken. With the clock winding down, the 6-foot-2 forward from Vancouver took matters into her own hands.

She spun around her defender and drove toward the basket while dribbling with her right hand and lofted up a shot over two Montana players. It missed, bouncing off the backboard and never touching the rim.

But Dykstra was still there in the paint, close to the rim. And before the buzzer sounded, she jumped up, caught her miss and pushed it back towards the square on the backboard in one motion. As the clock hit zeroes, the ball was falling through the hoop and her teammates were celebrating.

Montana State won 58-57, winning the Big Sky Championship and punching its fourth ticket to the NCAA Tournament — and third in four years under coach Tricia Binford. Esmeralda Morales scored 25 points and Dykstra tallied 10. The Bobcats are now 30-3 on the season, and no matter what happens in the NCAA Tournament, the team will have a magical March moment it can remember forever.