February 9, 2008
 

Central Washington Nips Lady Jackets, 73-71

   Box Score
   MSUB Season Stats

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington’s Kristina Klapperich scored a layup with 11seconds left to lift the Wildcats to a 73-71 victory over Montana State Billings Saturday afternoon.  With the heartbreaking loss, the Yellowjackets fall to 8-12 on the year and 5-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  CWU improves to 12-7 overall and 4-7 in conference play.

After a furious second half comeback by the Yellowjackets, capped with a game-tying layup by junior Alira Carpenter with 49 seconds left, Klapperich came up with the defensive stop on the potential game-tying layup sophomore Shantell Marquis at the buzzer with a block.

Carpenter led the Lady Jackets with 22 points, while sophomore Dani Henderson had 16 points, junior Jen Smith added 14 and freshman Kayla Ryan chipped in 11 of the bench.

Jenn Jacobs led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Hanna Hull added 16 and Ashley Fenimore and Elyse Maras chipped in 11 and 10, respectively.

Central Washington spent all but 52 seconds of the first half with the lead and led by as many as 10 points twice in the half.  MSUB rallied in the final 3:30, going on an 8-2 run to close the half.  MSUB opened the game with first points on a layup by Smith, but played catch-up the rest of the half.  CWU held a 32-29 lead at intermission.

Smith led the Yellowjackets in scoring in the half with 10 points.  Carpenter was held in check with just six points and 2 of 9 from the field, along with 0 of 4 from beyond the arc.  MSUB was 13 of 36 from the field as a team and was 0 of 9 from beyond the arc.

The Wildcats were 10 of 23 from the field, 5 of 11 from beyond the arc and 7 of 8 from the charity stripe.  Maras led the team with eight points in the half.  CWU held a 19-18 lead in rebounds, but committed 11 turnovers while MSUB had just five turnovers.

CWU held a lead of eight points twice during the first ten minutes of the second half.  That’s when the Yellowjackets made their run, cutting the deficit to one with a 9-2 run capped with a Henderson hoop-and-harm foul for a 54-53 Wildcat advantage with 7:54 left.

The game was tied four times down the stretch as neither team led by more than three.  Henderson scored a layup with 3:03 left, but Hull came right back with a trey to tie the game.  Henderson also had another hoop-and-harm with 1:19 left putting the Yellowjackets up 69-68 with 1:19 left.  Jacobs had the answer with a momentum-changing 3-pointer moments later.  Carpenter answered with her game-tying layup with 49 seconds left.

The teams shot almost identical from the field (41.8 percent for MSUB compared to 41.7 for CWU).  The game may have been decided from beyond the arc as the Yellowjackets were a season-low 2 of 15 from long range and the Wildcats were 9 of 25.  Every other statistic was almost identical. 

The Yellowjackets return home to face Seattle University next Saturday at 5 p.m. at Alterowitz Gym.  Live video streaming, free live stats, and free internet broadcast can be accessed by visiting http://www.msubillings.edu/athletics/broadcasts.htm.