Lady
Jackets Drop Third Straight (11/26/05)
Box
Score
CANYON, TX – West Texas A&M continued to roll
in the early season with an 87-52 win over visiting Montana
State-Billings in regional women’s basketball action Saturday
night. The Lady Buffs used a 52-point second half to win going
away.
The Yellowjackets lost their third-straight
game for the first time since February of 2004 to fall to 1-3 on
the season. MSU Billings will wrap up its first road trip of the
season on Monday at Oklahoma Panhandle State. The game will be
the first Heartland Conference women’s basketball game of the
season. The Yellowjackets then hit the road again next weekend
for two tough games in Denver, playing at Metro State on Friday
and at Regis on Sunday.
West Texas A&M remained unbeaten at 4-0 on
the season. The Buffs are averaging 92 points a game with an
average margin of victory of 35 points. Their closest game of the
season was an 86-58 win over Adams State in the season opener, and
they’ve scored at least 90 points in two of their four games.
“They’re the best team we’ve played in my two
years,” Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin said of the Lady
Buffs. “They’re an elite team that plays with relentless
pressure. In the first half we played with more intensity than we
did the night before. We missed three or four layups in the first
half, otherwise it could have been close at halftime. I know the
score looks like we were blown out, but I was pleased with our
effort tonight.”
The Yellowjackets hung with the Buffs for the
first 22 minutes. MSU Billings led twice in the early going, the
last coming at 12:44 of the first half when a pair of Alira Carpenter (Fr., Lewistown, MT) free throws gave the
Jackets a 9-8 advantage. Two possessions later, the Buffs’ Emily
Brister scored on a jumper to give WTAMU the lead for good.
The Buffs took a 35-26 lead into halftime.
Over the first two minutes of the second half the teams traded
baskets. Then the floodgates opened. Between 18:17 and 10:01 in
the second half, West Texas A&M outscored MSU Billings 24-8 to
open a 61-36 lead.
Brister finished the night with 21 points on
7-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the line. The
freshman guard was named the tournament’s MVP. Keisha Monroe
posted a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds off the
bench. Jennifer Brock added 13 points and five assists. She was
8-of-9 from the charity stripe. The Buffs outscored the Jackets
25-12 at the line.
MSU Billings was paced by 13 points from
Carpenter. She was 4-of-14 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point
range. Carpenter also had a team-high six rebounds and two steals
and was named to the all-tournament team. She scored 12 points in
Friday’s loss to Eastern New Mexico and is averaging 9.0 ppg for
the season.
“Offensively Alira is making some shots,”
said Woodin. “She still has some work to do defensively, but she
really played a consistent game. For a freshman she’s stepped up
and made some crucial shots for us.”
Tanya Petersen (Sr., Billings, MT) scored in double figures
for the fourth straight game, netting 10 points on 4-of-12
shooting. She became the 17th player in school
history to score 1,000 points in a career.
Michelle Lieber (Jr., Gillette, WY) added nine points and six
rebounds. Guard Lisa Jellum (Sr., Gillette, WY) finished with seven points and
a game-high five assists.
The Yellowjackets again struggled in
protecting the ball. They committed 26 turnovers that led to 27
WTAMU points. For the season the Yellowjackets are averaging 21.3
turnovers per game. MSU Billings also continued to have trouble
at the free throw line, making 12-of-20. Through four games the
Lady Jackets are shooting 58.7 percent from the stripe.
“We have to be better at protecting the
ball,” concluded Woodin. “Teams in this region really like to
pressure the ball and speed up the game. Other than that I was
pleased with the way we competed. Turnovers and free throws are
two areas that we’re obviously working on. As far as turnovers
go, we have to work on creating that defensive pressure in
practice. That’s hard to do. Some of these teams have better
team speed. The free throws we’ve talked about and we’re working
on it. It has been a thorn in our side so far. Hopefully it’s
something we can get going in the right direction. But overall I
was pleased with our effort tonight. We have to realize Monday’s
game is a conference game. It would be nice to start the
conference season with a road win.”
SBC/Coca-Cola Thanksgiving Shootout
All-Tournament Team
Alira Carpenter, MSUB
Natalie Wheeler, WTAMU
Jennifer Brock, WTAMU
Elizabeth Richards, ENMU
Tiana Bryant, ENMU
Emily Brister (MVP), WTAMU |
