Jackets Soar High in First Action of the Season

Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State University Billings drew first blood with a 94-71 win over Rocky Mountain College, Tuesday night.  This was an exhibition game for the Yellowjackets, their first action of the season.  MSUB will host another exhibition game, Friday, Dec. 7, taking on Montana Western. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

The two teams started out very sluggish, combining to miss the first seven shots of the game.  At the 17:59 mark, Jetton Meadors hit a free throw to make it 1-0.  Rocky Mountain came back with a layup by Janie Rayback to make it 2-1, RMC.

Although that was the only lead for the Battlin’ Bears, they hung in there.  Liz Lewis drained a three pointer to make it 20-18 with 8:43 left.  The Yellowjackets ended the half with a 28-15 run to lead by 15.

In the second half, Rayback scored two minutes into the period to make it a 13-point game.  MSUB scored seven straight points and maintained at least a 20-point lead the rest of the way.  A big story of the game was the fact the Jackets forced 22 turnovers and scored 35 points.  RMC managed just 13 points off 17 turnovers.

“I was very pleased with our intensity tonight,” said head coach Kevin Woodin.  “I thought we came out very aggressive and kept the pressure on them.  Because of our size, we need to push the tempo and wear our opponents down.  We did a nice job of sharing the ball and getting everyone involved.  I thought we got great production off the bench.”

For MSUB, Alira Carpenter scored 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor, three-of-five from behind the arc and four-of-four from the line.  Shantell Marquis scored 16 points with 11 assists and six steals while turning the ball over just three times.  Jen Smith scored 13 points and Kayla Ryan had a solid night with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

For Rocky Mountain College, Tana Stewart had 15 points, Shaylynn Conroy had 14 points and Liz Lewis scored 13 points.