Bison Charge over Lady Jackets with Big Second Half (Jan. 29, 2005)
Box Score

FARGO, ND – North Dakota State stayed unbeaten with an 82-56 win over the Montana State-Billings women Saturday night.  The Bison, who play as a Division I independent, improved to 19-0.  The Lady Yellowjackets fell to 14-5.  MSU Billings returns to action on February 3 when the Jackets travel to Lacey, WA for a key regional rematch with St. Martin’s.  The Saints upset the Jackets in Billings on January 6 and are ranked three spots ahead of MSU Billings in the latest NCAA West Region poll.

The Yellowjackets never led in Saturday’s game, although they were able to stay close in the first 30 minutes.  North Dakota State built a 27-14 lead with eight minutes left in the first half when Katie Lorenz knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Bison their biggest of the half. 

The Yellowjackets battled back, cutting the lead to six at 29-23 with 4:31 remaining in the half.  Junior Tanya Petersen (Billings, MT) scored all nine of the Jackets’ points during the 9-2 run.  MSU Billings couldn’t climb any closer, however, settling for a 10 point halftime deficit, 39-29.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Lisa Jellum (Jr., Gillette, WY) to start the second half helped the Yellowjackets cut the lead to eight.  The Bison responded with a 13-4 run to build a 56-39 lead with 12:40 to play.  The Jackets were able to make just one more run when consecutive layups from Jellum and Petersen pulled MSU Billings to within 56-43.

After a nearly three minutes scoreless spell for both teams, the Bison outscored the Yellowjackets 28-13 over the final nine minutes of the game.  MSU Billings turned the ball over 17 times in the game, 13 in the second half.  The Bison held an 18-5 advantage in points off turnovers and 38-22 in points in the paint.

Leah Klabo, a 6-foot-4 senior center, led the Bison with 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.  Lorenz finished with 15 points and nine assists.  Brandee Gibbs and Amanda Krenz added 10 points apiece.  The Bison blocked seven shots and out rebounded the Jackets 42-37.  Lacey Johnson had three blocks for NDSU.

Petersen finished with 19 points to lead the Yellowjackets.  She was 9-of-20 from the field and also added seven rebounds.  Jellum scored 16 points, hitting 4-of-5 from 3-point range.  She has played solid over the last two weeks, scoring in double figures in four of the last five games and averaging 10.4 points.

Kayla Frize (Miles City, MT) scored eight points for the Jackets, connecting on 3-of-3 from the line.  MSU Billings was 9-of-13 from the line in the game.  Michelle Lieber (So., Gillette, WY) added six points and nine rebounds.  Senior center Robyn Milne (Richey, MT) played just 13 minutes in the game and two minutes in the second half.  She had four rebounds and three blocked shots.

“Overall it was a good experience for us to play a quality team on the road,” said Yellowjacket coach Kevin Woodin.  “I think it will make us better.  The key was in the second half when we had a couple great stops and great shots.  We had a chance to get it down to 10, but we could not.  You have to give them a lot of credit.  We had a really hard time guarding Klabo in the post.  Robyn came down with the flu this morning and played limited minutes.  Hopefully she’ll be able to go when we play at St. Martin’s next week.  A lot of our players had good performances.  Tanya did a good job in the post and Lisa hit some threes that we needed.  We just needed to get some more stops.” 

After the Yellowjackets’ game at St. Martin’s, MSU Billings returns to Alterowitz to host North Dakota State on February 12.