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2006-2007 Women’s Basketball Wrap Up
BILLINGS, MT – They entered
the season feeling that they had something to prove. After
being upset at home in the first round of the conference
playoffs a year ago, the Montana State-Billings women’s
basketball team dominated the Heartland Conference in
2006-2007. The result was a conference championship and an
eleventh trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Kevin Woodin scheduled
an ambitious non-conference schedule for ’06-‘07. Included in
the Jackets’ first 10 games were North Dakota, Missouri Western
State, Northwest Missouri State, Abilene Christian, and Missouri
Southern State. The only one of those games that were played at
home was against North Dakota, which defeated the Jackets in the
championship game of the Chinook Wireless/Holiday Inn Grand
Montana Yellowjacket Classic.
After a 2-3 start, the
Yellowjackets won five-straight games to wrap up the early
non-conference slate with a 7-3 mark. Wins against Abilene
Christian and Missouri Southern at the Hoop-n-Surf Classic in
Honolulu seemed to give the Jackets a spark. Those two games
came in the middle of a nine-game winning streak that put the
Yellowjackets into the NCAA South Central Region top 10.
After an 85-82 upset at the
hands of Oklahoma Panhandle State on January 12, the
Yellowjackets ran off another six wins to improve to 17-4
overall and 5-1 in the conference. It was around that time that
senior captain Michelle Lieber was forced to take a seat with a
stress fracture in her foot. The loss of the defending
Heartland player of the year was a factor in the Jackets’ losing
five of seven games late in the season.
Lieber returned just in time
to carry the Yellowjackets to three important victories. Her
first game back was the regular season finale at St. Edward’s on
February 24. Lieber scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed
12 rebounds in the 70-67 overtime win that gave MSUB the
Heartland Conference regular season title and the No. 1 seed in
the conference tournament.
Lieber posted a double-double
in each of the conference tournament games, leading the Jackets
to wins over St. Mary’s and Incarnate Word for the conference
crown. With the conference tournament title, the Yellowjackets
earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, their tenth
trip in the last 14 years and their eleventh appearance
all-time. It was the second time in the last three years the
Yellowjackets have qualified for the Big Dance.
MSU Billings was the No. 8
seed in the South Central Region, drawing top-seeded Missouri
Western State on the Griffon’s home court. Lieber’s
fifth-straight double-double (26 points and 14 rebounds) was not
enough to keep the Yellowjackets close as their season ended in
an 80-59 defeat.
The 2006-2007 season was a
success by all measures for the Lady Yellowjackets. Their 22-10
record marked the ninth time in the program’s history that they
won at least 20 games. For third-year coach Kevin Woodin, it
was his second 20-win season, and he was named the Heartland
Conference coach of the year. Woodin is already tied for the
third-most career wins at the school with 61. Frank McCarthy
holds the record with 191 wins, and Ted Anderson is second with
102. Both McCarthy and Anderson are in the Yellowjacket Hall of
Fame & Distinction.
Lieber received a host of
honors throughout the year, including four conference player of
the week awards. She was named the 2007 Heartland Conference
Player of the Year, an award she won for two-straight years, and
was also selected to the Daktronics All-South Central Region
Second Team. She was also named to the Division II Bulletin
All-American honorable mention team.
Lieber led the nation in field
goal percentage, shooting 68.1 percent for the season. In her
three-year career at MSUB, Lieber became one of only seven
players to amass over 1,000 career points and 700 career
rebounds. She finished with 1,115 points and 740 rebounds,
ranking seventeenth and sixth in school history respectively.
Her 66.45 percent career field goal percentage broke the old
school record by nearly six points; she set the top three
single-season marks for field goal percentage at MSUB in her
three years.
Sophomore guard Alira
Carpenter had a breakout year and was named to the
all-conference first team. She tied the school record for
3-pointers in a game and broke the school record for 3-pointers
in a season. After just two years, Carpenter is only 61
three-pointers away from the all-time career school record. She
averaged 16.9 points per game for the season, becoming just the
tenth player in school history to score over 500 points in a
season. At her current rate, Carpenter will likely smash the
school’s 3-point record and have a chance to break Tera
Silvius’s school scoring mark of 1,630 points.
In support of Lieber and
Carpenter, the Yellowjackets benefited from five other players
who averaged at least six points a game. Sophomore Kayla
McPherson averaged 9.2 points per game, mostly off the bench.
The long range specialist knocked down 64 three-pointers, the
fourth-most in school history.
Jetton Meadors, Shantell
Marquis, and Jen Smith each averaged just over seven points a
game, and Dani Henderson added six points per game. Marquis, a
freshman from Great Falls, became an immediate impact player and
finished the season with 73 steals and 20 blocked shots. Both
Marquis and fellow freshman Henderson were selected to the
all-conference honorable mention team. Senior Jennifer
Skrifvars played some of her best basketball down the stretch of
the season and finished her career having played in all 114
games during her four years at MSUB.
Individual Single Game
School Records
Michelle Lieber – 5th for FG% (14/16 vs. Okla. Panhandle)
Michelle Lieber – 5th for field goals (14 vs. Okla. Panhandle)
Michelle Lieber – 5th for FT% (9/10 vs. St. Mary’s & Okla.
Panhandle)
Michelle Lieber – 6th for free throws made (12 vs. St. Edward’s)
Michelle Lieber – 14th for free throws made (10 vs. St.
Edward’s)
Michelle Lieber – 15th for points (32 vs. St. Edward’s)
Michelle Lieber – 24th for rebounds (16 vs. Western Oregon)
Michelle Lieber – 36th for blocked shots (4 vs. TX A&M-Int’l)
Alira Carpenter – 1st for 3-pointers (7 vs. Okla. Panhandle)
Alira Carpenter – 1st for 3-point% (5/5 vs. St. Mary’s)
Alira Carpenter – 5th for 3-pointers (6 vs. Incarnate Word & St.
Edward’s)
Alira Carpenter – 9th for 3-point% (4/5 vs. Abilene Christian &
Mary)
Alira Carpenter – 18th for 3-pointers (5 vs. TX-Permian Basin,
St. Mary’s, Lincoln, & MSU-Northern)
Kayla McPherson – 5th for 3-pointers (6 vs. TX-Permian Basin)
Jetton Meadors – 5th for 3-pointers (6 vs. Okla. Panhandle)
Jetton Meadors – 9th for 3-point% (4/5 vs. MSU-Northern)
Shantell Marquis – 2nd for steals (8 vs. TX A&M-Int’l)
Shantell Marquis – 36th for blocked shots (4 vs. Lincoln)
Individual Single Season
School Records
Michelle Lieber – 1st for FG% (68.1)
Michelle Lieber – 3rd for free throws made (152)
Michelle Lieber – 11th for points per game (17.2)
Michelle Lieber – 12th for rebounds per game (9.12)
Michelle Lieber – 16th for blocked shots (25)
Alira Carpenter – 1st for 3-pointers made (88)
Alira Carpenter – 1st for free throw percentage (88.57)
Alira Carpenter – 5th for points (542)
Alira Carpenter – 9th for 3-point% (42.51)
Alira Carpenter – 10th for field goals (196)
Kayla McPherson – 4th for 3-pointers made (64)
Kayla McPherson – 14th for 3-point% (39.75)
Shantell Marquis – 4th for steals (73)
Shantell Marquis – 20th for blocked shots (20)
Individual Career School
Records
Michelle Lieber – 1st for FG% (66.45)
Michelle Lieber – 4th for rebounds per game (9.1)
Michelle Lieber – 5th for free throws made (289)
Michelle Lieber – 6th for rebounds (740)
Michelle Lieber – 6th for blocked shots (64)
Michelle Lieber – 8th for points per game (13.77)
Michelle Lieber – 11th for FT% (73.91)
Michelle Lieber – 17th for points (1,115)
Alira Carpenter – 2nd for 3-point% (40.30)
Alira Carpenter – 5th for 3-pointers (133)
Alira Carpenter – 6th for points per game (14.54)
Alira Carpenter – 22nd for points (858)
Kayla McPherson – 5th for 3-point% (39.81)
Kayla McPherson – 13th for 3-pointers (84)
Jetton Meadors – 10th for 3-point% (36.27)
Team Single Game School Records
Points, Combined – 4th (82-95 vs. NW Missouri St.); 11th (89-81
vs. Incarnate Word)
3-pointers – 2nd (15 vs. TX-Permian Basin); 10th (12 vs. Rocky);
15th (11 vs. Incarnate Word, Lincoln, Okla. Panhandle St., and
MSU-Northern)
Free throws made – 3rd (31 vs. St. Edward’s)
Free throw% – 11th (91.7 vs. MSU-Northern)
Rebounds – 5th (64 vs. Western Oregon)
Assists – 4th (29 vs. TX-Permian Basin); 8th (28 vs. TX-Permian
Basin)
Steals – 10th (17 vs. TX A&M-Int’l)
Team Single Season School Records
Points – 1st (2,317)
Points per game – 7th (72.4)
Consecutive victories – 3rd (9)
Field goals – 5th (801)
3-pointers – 1st (230)
3-point% – 5th (36.9)
Free throws made – 1st (485)
Free throw% – 9th (70.8)
Rebounds – 5th (1,167)
Assists – 2nd (515)
Blocked Shots – 11th (71)
Heartland Conference Statistical Rankings, Team
Scoring offense – 1st (72.4)
Scoring defense – 5th (66.5)
Scoring margin – 1st (+5.9)
FT percentage – 3rd (70.8)
FG percentage – 1st (43.0)
FG percentage defense – 5th (40.8)
3-point FG percentage – 1st (36.9)
3-point FG percentage defense – 4th (33.3)
Rebounding margin – 4th (-1.8)
Blocked shots – 4th (2.22)
Assists – 1st (16.09)
Steals – 5th (7.84)
Turnover margin – 2nd (+1.62)
Assist/turnover ratio – 1st (0.94)
Offensive rebounds – 4th (11.91)
Defensive rebounds – 3rd (24.56)
3-pointers made – 2nd (7.19)
Heartland Conference Statistical Rankings, Individual
Michelle Lieber – 1st for scoring (17.2)
Michelle Lieber – 1st for rebounding (9.1)
Michelle Lieber – 1st for FG% (68.1)
Michelle Lieber – 1st for offensive rebounds (3.65)
Michelle Lieber – 2nd for defensive rebounds (5.46)
Michelle Lieber – 3rd for blocked shots (0.96)
Michelle Lieber – 4th for minutes played (31.04)
Michelle Lieber – 5th for FT% (75.6)
Alira Carpenter – 1st for 3-pointers (2.75)
Alira Carpenter – 2nd for scoring (16.9)
Alira Carpenter – 2nd for 3-point% (42.5)
Alira Carpenter – 4th for FG% (43.7)
Alira Carpenter – 6th for minutes played (30.78)
Alira Carpenter – 10th for assists (2.34)
Kayla McPherson – 3rd for 3-point% (39.8)
Kayla McPherson – 4th for 3-pointers (2.00)
Kayla McPherson – 6th for FG% (39.8)
Kayla McPherson – 12th for scoring (9.2)
Jen Smith – 20th for rebounding (3.8)
Jen Smith – 21st for scoring (7.4)
Jetton Meadors – 2nd for assists (3.41)
Jetton Meadors – 3rd for assist/turnover ratio (1.10)
Jetton Meadors – 4th for 3-point% (37.9)
Jetton Meadors – 12th for 3-pointers (1.13)
Jetton Meadors – 23rd for scoring (7.3)
Shangell Marquis – 2nd for steals (2.28)
Shantell Marquis – 5th for assists (2.78)
Shantell Marquis – 7th for blocked shots (0.63)
Shantell Marquis – 9th for defensive rebounds (3.75)
Shantell Marquis – 12th for rebounding (4.7)
Shantell Marquis – 24th for scoring (7.2)
Dani Henderson – 9th for rebounding (5.7)
Dani Henderson – 7th for defensive rebounds (3.94)
Dani Henderson – 12th for offensive rebounds (1.78)
NCAA Statistical Rankings, Team
3-point FG% – 14th (36.9)
3-pointers made – 22nd (7.2)
Assists – 36th (16.1)
Scoring average – 42nd (72.4)
FG percentage – 53rd (43.0)
Turnovers – 68th (17.1)
Scoring margin – 77th (+5.9)
NCAA Statistical Rankings, Individual
Michelle Lieber – 1st for FG% (68.1)
Michelle Lieber – 45th for rebounding (9.1)
Michelle Lieber – 56th for scoring average (17.2)
Alira Carpenter – 16th for 3-point% (42.5)
Alira Carpenter – 19th for 3-pointers made (2.8)
Alira Carpenter – 61st for scoring average (16.9)
Kayla McPherson – 37th for 3-point% (39.8)
Kayla McPherson – 89th for 3-poitners made (2.0) |
