Turnovers, Wildcats Down Lady Jackets (Jan. 22, 2005)
Box Score

ELLENSBURG, WA – Thirty turnovers were too much to overcome for the Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team Saturday night.  The Yellowjackets lost an important West Region road game, 81-63 at Central Washington.  The Yellowjackets fell to 13-4 while the Wildcats improved to 11-5.

The 30 Yellowjacket turnovers led to 30 Wildcat points.  Central Washington held a 30-19 advantage in points off turnovers.  The Wildcats also out rebounded the Jackets 43-31 for a 20-9 advantage in second chance points.

The Wildcats took over the game midway through the first half, ending the half with a 33-13 run.  Central took a commanding 46-25 lead by halftime, thanks in large part to 17 first half turnovers by MSU Billings.

The Jackets opened the second half with a 15-0 run, cutting Central’s lead to eight at 48-40 with 15:40 to play.  They were able to trim the lead to seven points on back-to-back layups from Tanya Petersen (Jr., Billings, MT) with 10:57 remaining.  The Yellowjackets’ comeback attempt ran out of gas, however, and the Wildcats used a 15-3 run to take a 19 point lead with five minutes to play, putting the game out of reach.

“Central Washington put tremendous pressure on us from the perimeter in the first half,” said Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin.  “We dug ourselves a deep hole.  We made a nice run in the second half and got it down to seven points, but they had a nice run to push it back up to double digits.  I like the way we came back and competed in the second half, but the game was won by them in the first half.  We have to come ready to play in the first half on these difficult road games.  We turned over the ball way too many times, and we have to limit those because those possessions are very valuable.”

Petersen led the Yellowjackets with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field.  She was a perfect 3-of-3 from 3-point range and also added eight rebounds and three steals.  Lisa Jellum (Jr., Gillette, WY) finished with 11 points, knocking down 3-of-4 3-pointers.  Shannon Harvey (Jr., Billings, MT) added nine points, all coming on 3-pointers.  The Yellowjackets were 12-of-19 from behind the arc (63 percent).

Center Robyn Milne (Sr., Richey, MT) was held to four points, but grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked five shots.  She now ranks 23rd in NCAA Division II history with 235 career blocked shots.  She needs two blocks to move to No. 22, eight to move to No. 21, and 17 to move to No. 20.

The Wildcats were led by Loni Ainslie’s 19 points.  She was 7-of-14 from the field and 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.  Jamie Corwin added 18 points, six rebounds and six assists.  Central outscored the Yellowjackets 24-12 in the paint, an area MSU Billings usually dominates.

The Yellowjackets will look to rebound on Wednesday when they host Western Oregon.  Tip of is set for 7:00 p.m. at Alterowitz Gym.