Lady Jackets Top St. Edward’s, 76-57 (1/6/07)
Box Score
Game Photos
Coach Woodin post game audio

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings Lady Yellowjackets held off the visiting St. Edward’s Hilltoppers, 76-57, en route to their eighth straight victory Saturday at Alterowitz Gym.  With the win, MSUB improved to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play.  The loss drops St. Edward’s to 2-10 and 1-1 in the league. 

Last season the Hilltoppers took two of the three meetings from MSUB and slipped into the role of conference rival.  Saturday’s game began with a 10-2 Jacket run and it seemed as if MSUB was poised to run away early.  However, St. Edward’s battled back in the second half, tying the game with 18:40 to go.  The Jackets’ offense finally came alive with Alira Carpenter (Lewistown, MT) and Michelle Lieber (Gillette, WY) providing the spark midway through the second half. 

The Lady Jackets stretched their lead to double digits with 6:11 left in regulation on a layup by Shantell Marquis (Cascade, MT).  Seven different Lady Jackets contributed points in the final minutes with Carpenter putting the exclamation point on the win with back-to-back 3-pointers with the last coming with 1:30 left in the game.

“We started off the second half well and continued it down the stretch,” said Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin.  “They did a good job with their zone defense, and I thought we got a little stagnant in the first half.  Defensively, we played a lot better in the second half.  We were much more solid and able to get Michelle a few touches.”

Carpenter led the Lady Jackets in scoring, highlighted by an impressive 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.  Shooting 9-of-17 from the field, Carpenter tied her career-high with 28 points.  She also handed out five assists.  Sophomore Kayla McPherson (Glendive, MT) knocked down four 3-pointers finishing with 12 points.  Marquis handed out five assists and netted eight points.  Lieber turned in a physically dominating game, grabbing 13 boards and hitting 9-of-13 from the line for 13 points.  Her double-double was a team-leading sixth of the season. 

“She’s tough and she’s a competitor,” said Woodin of Lieber.  “She gets after anybody, anytime.  I’ve just been real lucky to have three years with her.  She’s our leader both on and off the floor.  We have good team leadership with her and Jennifer Skifvars; they’ve done a nice job with a bunch of young players.”

As a team, the Jackets shot 20-of-56 from the floor, and nailed 10-of-25 from 3-point range.  The Lady Jackets were out-rebounded 39-33, but managed to convert 22 Hilltopper turnovers into 24 points.

“We’re starting to get a little more consistent,” added Woodin.  “They made a run on us, and not panicking we ended hitting some shots late in the game.  It was a good win.”

Sophia Holguin led the Hilltoppers with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.  She also grabbed six boards.  Jackie Saathoff was the only other Topper to score in double figures with 10 points.

The Hilltoppers shot 20-of-56 from the field, and were a dismal 3-of-19 from 3-point range.  They were 14-of-16 from the charity stripe for 87.5 percent.

“We’re looking forward to our game tomorrow," said Woodin.  "It’s really tough to beat somebody two nights in a row, but we’ll be ready and we know it will be a good challenge.  We hope people come out and see a couple good teams play really hard.” 

The Lady Jackets will square off again with St. Edward’s Sunday night at 5:30 p.m. in a non-conference game.  Following Sunday’s game, the Lady Jackets hit the road for two games against Oklahoma Panhandle (2-11, 0-2) January 12 and 13.  The first game of two will be a Heartland Conference match-up, while the second game will be a regional counter.  The Lady Jackets picked up their first conference victory of the season over the Aggies, winning 84-60 on December 30.  Following the games against Oklahoma Panhandle, the Jackets will travel to Odessa, Texas, for one game against University of Texas-Permian Basin (0-8).  The games can be heard live on AM 970 KBUL.