Montana women’s basketball: Goligoski to miss remainder of season

Montana redshirt junior guard Taylor Goligoski, who started the team's first 13 games this year, will miss the remainder of the 2018-19 basketball season.

Goligoski has an osteochondral lesion in her left leg, meaning there is a dime-sized piece of cartilage at the end of a bone near her knee that is damaged and needs to be repaired.

Following surgery, Goligoski will undergo a three- to four-month recovery.

The injury revealed itself at practice nearly two weeks ago. Goligoski sat out the Eastern Washington game on Jan. 10, then started against Northern Colorado two days later before aggravating the injury in the second half and leaving the game.

She sat out the Idaho game on Saturday.

"This is extremely disappointing for Taylor," said Shannon Schweyen, who has had players' seasons come to an end because of knee-related injuries each of her three years as Lady Griz head coach.

"She put in a ton of work in the offseason. Lived in the gym, lived in the weight room. She has worked really hard to become a more complete basketball player. We are certainly going to miss her on the floor and will hope for the best in her recovery."

Goligoski led Montana in scoring as a redshirt freshman, in 2016-17, and started the final 22 games last year after returning from an early-season injury.

She was averaging 6.8 points and 3.5 rebounds this winter prior to the injury, with a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, while playing more than 23 minutes per game.

Montana is also without junior Madi Schoening (foot) and sophomore Sophia Stiles (knee) this season.