Yellowjackets Pull Away From the Lady Bulldogs

Box Score

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BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings overcame hot shooting to post a 90-75 win over Montana Western, Friday night.  This was an exhibition game for both squads.  MSUB closes out the exhibition season, Tuesday, Dec. 11 against Rocky Mountain College.  The home game is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m.

Montana State Billings came out firing on all cylinders.  The Yellowjackets hit on five of their first nine shots to take a 13-4 lead after just four minutes. Montana Western came back with seven straight points to make it 14-13, MWU with 12:19 to go.

The Bulldogs proved to be very pesky.  A pair of free throws by Jamie Lake made it 48-45 with four seconds to go.  MSUB came down and Shantell Marquis nailed a 38-footer at the buzzer to deadlock the game at 48-48.

Both squads lighted it up from behind the arc.  Montana Western was 8-of-12 for 66.7% while Montana State Billings hit 7-of-13 for 53.8%

In the second half, the Jackets went on an 8-2 run to lead 58-50 at the 16:44 mark.  Genna Rucker swished a triple to make it 58-53 just 20 seconds later.  Over the next nine minutes, MSUB went on a 23-6 run to put the game out of reach.

The Yellowjackets put a lid on the Lady Bulldog basket.  MWU shot just 29.6% from the floor and 28.7% from behind the arc.  MSUB meanwhile shot 53.3% from the floor and scored 19 points off of turnovers.

“We fought really hard in the first half to stay in the battle, “ said head coach Kevin Woodin.  “I thought we came out pretty good but I have to give Montana Western credit.  Because of foul trouble, we were forced to change tactics and as a result we had a lot of different line-ups out there.  They out executed us so it was nice to be tied at half.  Our bench was really effective in the second half for us.  They really helped us get back on track in the second half.”

For Montana State Billings, Alira Carpenter had 21 points, Marquis had 17 points, 12 assists and six steals while Kayla Ryan had 12 points and blocked two shots.  Kayla McPherson scored 13 points and Jen Smith had 12 rebounds, all defensive.

For Montana Western,  Jamie Lake and Genna Rucker had 15 points each and Heather Brooks scored 10.