Holmes makes history with Montana Western Bulldogs

BILLINGS – "Winning the national championship was our goal from the very beginning and we all knew what we had to do to get there," said Paige Holmes, 2016 Seeley-Swan High School graduate and guard for the Montana Western University Bulldogs. "I still can't believe that I am a part of the national champion team. It is really a dream come true."

Montana Western Bulldogs took the program's first NAIA Division 1 National title with a 75-59 victory over Oklahoma City University Stars Tuesday, March 19 at the Rimrock Auto Arena at Metro Park in Billings. This was Western's second national championship title with the first won by the wrestling team in 1994.

Growing up, Holmes always knew she wanted to play basketball after high school.

"I worked at it every day," said Holmes. "I was in the gym getting up shots and worked out throughout the summer to get where I'm at today."

Holmes credits her family helping her get ready to play at the collegiate level.

"My whole family was really supportive and came to all of my games in high school which made my love for the game so strong," wrote Holmes.

Holmes' older sister Shelby was playing at Miles City at the time. She said Shelby's experiences and skills were really helpful.

Holmes said her father Shawn was always pushing her to be her best and helped coach her throughout her entire life. Holmes added coaches Mike Haines, Sam Tudor and Chip Tudor also made her a better player.

Holmes' senior year, Bulldogs' Head Coach Lindsay Woolley offered her a basketball scholarship to play for Western. She redshirted as a freshman, practicing and working out with the team but never seeing game time.

"So you are putting in the same amount of work as everyone else but it's just a year to develop as a player," said Holmes. "It was pretty hard at the time but in the end very rewarding."

Playing in college is a lot of work, said Holmes. The Bulldogs practice almost every morning at 6 a.m. and have at least two other workouts a day lifting and putting up extra shots. Holmes said they put in a lot of hard work to get to the championship game.

"It's really a job and you have to love the game to be able to play," wrote Holmes.

The Bulldogs' record was 30-4 for the season. While they fell to Carroll College 50-54 in the Frontier Conference Championship game, they won five games in seven days in the national tournament.

In the semi-final tournament game against Freed-Hardeman University of Tennessee, the Bulldogs were down six points with 40 seconds remaining. They chipped away at the score bringing the score within three points with 2.1 seconds on the clock.

Westerns' top scorer Brianna King hit the season-saving three-pointer to push the game into overtime. The Bulldogs never looked back, winning the game 78-71 and putting them into their first NAIA Division 1 National Championship game.

Western took the floor at the Rimrock Auto Arena Tuesday night as the first team from Montana in the national championship since Billings started hosting the tournament. They were pitted against the Oklahoma City University Stars, a team gunning for its 10th national title with four championships this decade. The "Billings Gazette" reported it was a packed house with 16,000 spectators in attendance, mostly wearing Bulldog colors - red and black.

The game was close in the first quarter with both teams trading buckets. However, Western was leading by 18 points at the half and never looked back. They took the national title with a 75-59 victory.

Western won the battle of the glass out rebounding the Stars 35-27, while dishing out 14 assists. Holmes and teammate Britt Cooper led the Bulldogs with seven rebounds each. Holmes led the team in assists with five.

Holmes said the championship game just felt like any other game. Even though it hasn't sunk in that they won the national championship, "It was the best day of my life and all of the hard work we put in finally paid off."

While Holmes didn't score any points in the championship game, she played 32 minutes, second only to top scorer and National Tournament Most Valuable Player King. She also led the team in assists with five and she and teammate Britt Cooper each pulled down seven rebounds, again at the front of the pack.

Holmes has always felt her role on the team is to do the little things.

"I'm not the leading scorer by any means but I know what I need to do," wrote Holmes. "I always try to work really hard and play great defense. I love getting to guard the best players on the opposing team."

Holmes doesn't have a problem sinking the ball as proven when she led the Bulldogs scoring 20 points in a blowout game against Salish Kootenai College Dec. 9, 2018. However, she said her goal in the championship game was to get the ball moving and give it to the Bulldogs' best scorers King and Britt Cooper in a position where they could score.

"We all came out with a lot of energy and got hot quick, while OCU struggled a little bit," said Holmes. "It was a super fun atmosphere to play in with all of the fans there and we knew what we had to do. We were very confident in ourselves."

Holmes continued, "The National Tournament was the coolest thing I've been a part of in my life. It was like we had a home game every day with the amount of people that came to support us. And the games were all at such a high level of competition it made it super fun."

Holmes has two more years she is eligible to play with Western. She said she will continue to have postseason workouts. In addition to the national championship, Holmes enjoyed hanging out and traveling with the team calling her teammates her best friends. The bus trips and dinners were some of the things she would never forget about this year.

Holmes said, "I love Western and I love my team and coach."