2006-2007 Headlines

NCAA Announces WBB Stats Leaders (4/3/07)

BILLINGS, MT – The NCAA has compiled the final statistics for the 2006-2007 Division II women’s basketball season.  Montana State-Billings senior forward Michelle Lieber and sophomore guard Alira Carpenter were each ranked in the top 100 in the nation in three statistical categories.  As a team, the Yellowjackets received a top 100 ranking in seven categories.

Lieber (Gillette, WY) is the NCAA II field goal percentage champion with a 68.1 percent average.  She led the nation for most of the season, at one point eclipsing the 70 percent mark late in the year.  Lieber also ranked 45th in the nation for rebounding average at 9.1 per game and 56th for scoring average at 17.2 points per game.  For her senior season, Lieber was voted as the Heartland Conference Player of the Year for the second time, named to the Daktronics All-South Central Region Second Team, and selected to the Division II Bulletin All-America Honorable Mention Team.

Carpenter (Lewistown, MT) was ranked in the top 20 in the country for the NCAA’s two 3-point shooting categories.  The first team all-conference guard ranked sixteenth in the nation for 3-point field goal percentage at 42.5 percent and nineteenth for 3-point field goals per game at 2.8.  Carpenter also ranked 61st in NCAA Division II for scoring at 16.9 points per game.

In addition to Lieber and Carpenter, sophomore guard Kayla McPherson (Glendive, MT) had two top 100 rankings.  The sharp-shooting southpaw ranked 37th nationally for 3-point field goal percentage at 39.8 percent and 89th in the nation for 3-pointers per game at 2.0.  Carpenter and McPherson will enter their junior campaigns ranked fifth and thirteenth respectively for career 3-pointers at MSU Billings.

Carpenter and McPherson combined for 4.8 of the Jackets’ 7.2 made 3-pointers per game in 2006-2007.  As a team, MSUB ranked 22nd in NCAA II for made 3-pointers and fourteenth for 3-point field goal percentage at 36.9 percent.  The Lady Jackets also ranked 36th nationally for assists per game (16.1), 42nd for scoring average (72.4), 53rd for field goal percentage (43.0), 68th for turnovers per game (17.1), and 77th for scoring margin (+5.9).

MSU Billings finished the 2006-2007 season with a 22-10 overall record.  They won the Heartland Conference regular season title for the second-straight year and captured the Heartland Conference Tournament championship.  The Lady Jackets qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the tenth time in the last 14 seasons and the eleventh time overall.