The Griz are going to the Big Dance.

Senior guard Virgil Matthews scored a game-high 21 points and freshman forward Jordan Hasquet added 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Montana Grizzlies basketball team to a 73-60 win over No. 1-seed Northern Arizona Wednesday night.

The Big Sky Conference tournament title game was held at NAU.

The Grizzlies (23-6) now move on to their second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Tournament pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon on CBS.

The Griz got into the championship game by beating No. 3 Eastern Washington 73-71 in overtime Tuesday in the tournament semifinal. Senior guard Kevin Criswell scored a team-best 25 points against the Eagles.

Professor Daniel Dreisbach of American University in Washington, D.C., will present “How Thomas Jefferson’s ‘Wall of Separation’ Redefined Church-State Law and Policy” at noon Tuesday, March 21, in UM’s Law Building Room 202.

The presentation, hosted by UM’s chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Dreisbach is the author of “Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State” and “Real Threat and Mere Shadow: Religious Liberty and the First Amendment.” He also is editor and contributor to several other books, including “The Sacred Rights of Conscience,” “The Founders on God and Government” and “Religion and Political Culture in Jefferson’s Virginia.”

Dreisbach received a doctor of philosophy degree in 1985 from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1988.

Following law school, he served as a judicial clerk for Judge Robert F. Chapman of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for two years practiced public interest law, specializing in civil and religious liberties.

Enceladus, the icy sixth moon of Saturn, has sprung a leak.

Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft -- including researcher Dan Reisenfeld at UM -- have discovered a plume of gas venting from the moon’s south pole. This plume evidently explains the mysteriously high levels of water vapor found in Saturn’s magnetosphere.

The team’s Enceladus findings will be published in the March 10 issue of Science, one of the world’s leading research journals, under the title “The Interaction of the Atmosphere of Enceladus With Saturn’s Plasma.”

Before becoming a UM astronomy and physics professor, Reisenfeld worked on NASA projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico from 1998 to 2004.

The historical context and the cultural impact of immigration in America will be discussed at a town hall meeting Thursday, March 16, at UM.

“Immigration: The American Enigma” begins at 7 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

A diverse panel of experts will provide background information for the meeting, followed by a community dialogue. The goal of the dialogue is to take participants beyond the rhetoric of cable news shows and pundits to a place of understanding.

Panel members are Ykari Zednick, an adviser at UM’s Foreign Student and Scholar Services; UM sociology Assistant Professor Sergio Romero; and Mary Groom-Hall, a teacher and multicultural adviser at UM. Iranian graduate student Makon Fardis will facilitate the panel.

The MultiCultural Alliance hosts two Town Hall Meetings each semester at UM to foster community dialogue about issues of social justice.

Three UM forensics program teams will compete in national debate tournaments this month in Oregon.

UM junior Jessica Reynolds of Helena and senior Blake Zollar of Bakersfield, Calif., are currently ranked No. 13 among the top 48 two-person forensics teams that have been invited to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence March 18-19 at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Reynolds and Zollar, political science majors at UM, began the year by splitting first place at an instructional camp in Springfield, Mo., in August. They have appeared in finals at Western Washington University and semi-finals at Lewis and Clark State College.

Two additional UM forensics teams will compete at the National Parliamentary Debate Association competition March 24-27 at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

The UM squad of 20 students is now ranked 27th in the nation out of more than 400 schools that participate in parliamentary debate.

The students involved in UM’s Footbridge Forum won both first place and “Best of Festival” in this year’s Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts Student Audio Competition.

The students’ entry, “Developing South Campus: Finding the Fairway,” was the last in a series of five programs on the topic. During the winning program, which aired April 25, 2005, on KBGA College Radio, forum panel members discussed the University’s proposal to develop housing in the South Campus area.

The award-winning show was produced by Abby Lautt and Tyler Claxton, students in UM’s Department of Radio-Television. Denise Dowling, assistant R-TV professor, is program director for the Footbridge Forum.

KBGA, UM’s student-run radio station, serves campus and the local community.

Stan Pillman, a senior in broadcast journalism at UM, took first place in the recent radio-news round of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program -- considered the Pulitzers of college journalism.

A student from Chicago, Pillman received $2,000 for his efforts and the opportunity to advance in the competition. If he performs well in the next round, he will be invited to the June finals in San Francisco.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is presented each year by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with full funding by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

“Keeping Your Eyes on the Skies” is the title of the next Saturday Science Day offered by the Health Careers Opportunity Program on April 1.

The event, which is open to all area ninth-grade students, will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at UM.

During “Keeping Your Eyes on the Skies,” students will work alongside UM researchers to study real-world atmospheric chemistry issues.

Participants will measure air pollution components such as volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, as well as get a hands-on demonstration of how geographic information systems technology is used to document and map findings in environmental health studies.

To be considered for the April 1 program, students must fill out a short application form. Students selected to attend will receive a $30 stipend. Those who come from outside Missoula also will be given an additional sum to help with transportation costs.

Deadline for applications is Friday, March 17.

The Regional Learning Project at UM has scoured archives across the continent, seeking historical maps depicting Big Sky Country. The latest finds -- 20 maps titled “West of the Divide/Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Kootenai” -- have just been published.

The maps are the third in a series called “Discovering Our Own Place, A Map Saga for Montana.” The newly printed 9-by-12-inch full-color images show areas west of the Continental Divide in Montana at various stages of development. The set includes two maps by Jesuit priest Pierre Jean DeSmet.

The “West of the Divide” maps are available for $54 at The Bookstore at UM. Also available are the other two sets in the series, “Hi-Line & Judith Basin/Gros Ventre” and “Rocky Mountain Front/Blackfeet,” at $49 each. Educational discounts are available.

Janet Finn and Ellen Crain, co-editors of “Motherlode: Legacies of Women’s Lives and Labors in Butte, Montana,” will be at The Bookstore at UM on Saturday, March 18.

The two will sign copies of the book from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. as part of the Faculty Author Series at UM.

Finn teaches in UM’s School of Social Work. Crain is director of the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. The two hatched the idea for the book three years ago when they realized there were many untold stories of dynamic 20th century Butte women.

“Motherlode” is a collaboration of 20 writers who bring a chorus of women’s voices to life on the page. Their stories provide diverse accounts of women who influenced both their lives and the city’s rich history. Women’s perspectives on and contributions to labor, family and community are at the forefront of all the stories in the book.

The Montana World Trade Center at UM will host a Marketing for Artists Workshop on Saturday, April 15.

The workshop will run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Gallagher Business Building Room 106. Artists will learn business skills and receive resources related to their profession. The $45 registration fee ($25 for students) includes lunch.

Topics will include the artist as a businessperson, principles of marketing for artists, Indian art and using the Internet to market artwork. Prominent artists such as Monte Dolack, Leslie Van Stavern Millar, George Ybarra, Kendahl Jan Jubb and Kent Epler are scheduled to appear. A full schedule is available on the MWTC Web site.

To register, send your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and a check made payable to the Montana World Trade Center to MWTC, Gallagher Business Building Suite 257, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812-6798. For more information, call (406) 243-6982.

Idaho State took away UM’s chance to host the Big Sky Conference Tournament last Thursday with a 71-57 victory over Montana at Reed Gym in Pocatello, Idaho.

Saturday, the Lady Griz earned the No. 2 seed in next week's Big Sky Conference postseason tournament with a 65-51 victory at Weber State. Idaho State won the BSC regular-season title outright and tournament hosting rights in Pocatello with a 77-75 win over Montana State Saturday afternoon.

Montana will play its first game in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament Friday night at 5:30 p.m., facing the highest remaining seed from Thursday's quarterfinals at Reed Gym in Pocatello.

Saturday's championship game will be played at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on Altitude Sports. The Big Sky tournament champion earns the league's automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.