Lady Jackets’ Game Effort Falls Short at Wyoming (Dec. 13, 2003)
Box Score 

CASPER, WY – Wyoming used a 29-17 advantage in points off turnovers Saturday night to down MSU Billings, 62-51, at the Wyoming Shootout at the Casper Events Center.  The Lady Yellowjackets committed 28 turnovers in the game and fell to 3-4 for the season.  Wyoming of the Mountain West Conference won for just the first time this year, improving to 1-5.

The Yellowjackets trailed by just eleven at halftime despite committing 15 turnovers.  The Cowgirls converted those turnovers into 21 points in the first half, accounting for all but 11 of their first half points.  Conversely the Lady Jackets scored just five points off turnovers in the opening stanza and trailed by 11 at the break despite out rebounding the Cowgirls 19-9.

A  Sophia Forney layup with 9:48 to go in the first half cut Wyoming’s lead to 12-10, but the Cowgirls used a 10-0 run over the next minute and a half to open a 12-point lead.  The run was fueled by Yellowjacket turnovers as MSUB committed six during the 90-second stretch.  In the middle of the run, the Jackets turned the ball over on five straight possessions in a span of 1:08.

Wyoming opened its lead to 44-27 in the first five minutes of the second half and stretched it to 19 by the midway point of the half.  MSUB committed six turnovers in that time. 

The Lady Jackets trailed by 19 as late as the 5:58 mark, but rallied to cut into the Cowgirls’ lead using full court pressure.  Sophia Forney scored four points between the 1:54 and 1:11 marks of the second half to cut the Wyoming lead to 12.  After a pair of Cowgirl free throws from Ashley Elliott--the game’s leading scorer with 21--extended the lead to 14, a Jenny Langford 3-pointer cut the lead to the final score of 62-51.

Tanya Petersen led the Yellowjackets with 13 points, but didn’t score in the final 15 minutes of the game.  Forney added 10 points and junior captain Robyn Milne just missed her fifth double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.  Nine of Milne’s boards came in the first half.

MSU Billings now travels to Washington to take on West Region rival Western Washington on Monday.  They will they fly to Alaska for games against Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks.