Tigers Bite Lady Jackets Again (2/3/07)
Box Score
Coach Woodin post-game audio

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – For the second time in as many nights, Lincoln University upset the Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team in a close game.  The Blue Tigers came from behind in the second half to force overtime, where they pulled away to win 75-71. 

The Blue Tigers’ weekend sweep of the Yellowjackets improved them to 5-16 overall.  The Yellowjackets, who had a six-game winning streak snapped by the Tigers on Friday, fell to 17-6.  Saturday’s game was a non-conference game.  MSU Billings still sits in first place in the Heartland Conference at 5-2.  MSUB entered the weekend ranked fifth in the NCAA South Central Region.

It took the Yellowjackets three minutes to score their first points of the night, spotting the Blue Tigers a 5-0 lead.  Alira Carpenter (Lewistown, MT) responded by scoring seven of the Jackets’ first 10 points.  Her 3-pointer at 14:29 of the first half tied the game.  Two possessions later, Jen Smith (Belgrade, MT) knocked down a 3-pointer for MSUB’s first lead of the night at 13-12.

Following Smith’s triple at 13:12 of the first half, the Yellowjackets did not trail at any point for the remainder of regulation.  There were six ties after that point, but the Blue Tigers never held the lead.  The Yellowjackets led by five at halftime and built the lead to as many as 10 early in the second half.

With 23 seconds left in regulation, Jetton Meadors (Billings, MT) hit one of two free throws to give the Yellowjackets a 68-65 lead.  The Blue Tigers’ Brezette Elder-Wade answered with a traditional 3-point play to tie the game with 16 ticks on the clock.  The Jackets’ chance at the final shot was squandered when Meadors turned the ball over with 11 seconds left.  Elder-Wade missed the potential game winner as time expired on the other end.

The Blue Tigers owned the extra period despite not scoring a single field goal.  They held the Yellowjackets to just three points on a Michelle Lieber (Gillette, WY) free throw and a Meadors jumper.  Meadors’ basket was the only field goal by either team in overtime.  All seven of the Tigers’ points came at the charity stripe.  The Jackets were just 1-of-6 from the field in overtime, and they committed two of their 26 turnovers in the extra stanza.

“We had our chances, but we just couldn’t quite finish the deal,” said Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin.  “We made some errors and missed a lot of free throws again.  All year we’ve been good (at the line), but for some reason it got away from us.  Down the stretch we had the shots; we just missed them.  We needed to make a couple more plays in the last few minutes.  We had too many unforced errors.”

Carpenter scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting.  She was 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the line.  Lieber posted her ninth double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds.  Carpenter and Lieber were the only Yellowjackets in double figures, accounting for over half the team’s points.  Smith scored seven points, and Jennifer Skrifvars (Brea, CA) added six.  The Yellowjackets shot 43 percent from the field, but made just 19-of-32 attempts from the line.

Elder-Wade dropped in 25 points for the second night in a row.  She was 8-of-16 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line.  Jasmine Washington scored eight of the Blue Tigers’ first 10 points of the game and finished with 17 points.  Cherika Ramsey came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers and score 15 points.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Yellowjackets down the homestretch of the conference season; they don’t play a conference game at home the entire month of February.  MSUB will play three games in Texas next weekend, including conference counters against the two teams chasing the Jackets in the conference standings.  They will play at St. Mary’s (7-13, 3-3) on Thursday and at Incarnate Word (9-12, 3-3) on Saturday.  St. Mary’s edged UIW 59-58 on Saturday night.  The Jackets will play an additional non-conference game at St. Mary’s the following Monday.

"We understand how difficult it is to win on the road," said Woodin.  "These close games are good for us.  They will prepare us for the conference tournament at the end of the season.  We have to shore up some things and get ready for next week.  We need to break through on the road, especially in our remaining conference games."