Lady Jackets Overcome Slow Start to Down Western New Mexico (Feb. 19, 2004)
Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – Despite committing sixteen first half turnovers and scoring just eight points in the first ten and a half minutes, Montana State-Billings ran away from Western New Mexico for a 79-60 win Thursday night.  Robyn Milne’s fourteenth double-double of the season led the way for the Yellowjackets, who improved to 14-11 with their first four game winning streak of the season.

Milne finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds, hitting 8 of 12 shots from the field.  She grabbed 13 of her boards in the first half as the Jackets built a 33-21 lead at the break.  The Yellowjackets fell behind 11-8 after Mustangs center Ivana Stojkovic scored on consecutive possessions.  Following a scoreless stretch that lasted over five minutes for MSU Billings, the Jackets went on a 20-6 run over a span of eight minutes, taking a 28-17 lead with two minutes left in the half. 

Tanya Petersen scored eleven points in that run, including the first seven.  Petersen scored 13 of her team-high 19 points in the first half on 5 of 5 shooting from the field.  She was good on 7 of 8 attempts in the game, including one 3-pointer.

Stojkovic scored eight points in the first five minutes of the second half to keep the Mustangs within ten points.  The Yellowjackets used the second five minutes of the half to increase their lead to 18 behind six points from Milne.  Back-to-back 3-pointers from Shannon Harvey and Jenny Langford gave the Jackets a 20 point lead with 6:48 to play, putting the game out of reach. 

Harvey scored ten points and handed out a career-high eight assists.  Langford added eight points and two 3-pointers.  After a rough start to the game against the Mustangs’ aggressive man-to-man defense, the Yellowjacket guards finished with a solid night.  Jennifer Skrifvars chipped in six points and five assists as the starting guard combination of Harvey, Skrifvars and Langford combined for sixteen assists in the game.

Stojkovic, who scored 29 points in the Mustangs’ loss on Tuesday, netted a game-high 25 Thursday on 10 of 21 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 from the free throw line.  She also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.  Tamara Goodliffe finished with 13 points.

The same teams meet again on Friday with tip off at 7:00 p.m. at Alterowitz Gymnasium.  The Yellowjackets close the season next Monday against Montana State-Northern.