Yellowjackets Use a Little Charity to Get Past Shepherd

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawaii –  They say charity begins at home.  Montana State Billings will take charity wherever they can get it.  The Yellowjackets shot well from the line to take a 96-89 overtime win over Shepherd, Wednesday morning.  MSUB closes out the Surf and Hoop Tournament, Thursday, Dec. 18 against Chaminade.  The game is scheduled to start at noon.

The first nine minutes of the contest were evenly matched.  Neither team could build a lead of more than four points.  Kayla Ryan scored twice in the first two minutes to put Montana State Billings up, 4-0.

Twice the Yellowjackets had leads of four points.  The last time was 8-4 at the 16:03 mark.  Shepherd came back with two buckets from Krissy Grosselin and a jumper from Colleen Shumaker.  That gave the Rams their first lead, 10-8 with 14:35 to go.

The teams traded buckets until Kayla McPherson hit a driving layup to make it 12-12 with 12:10 left.  Shepherd came back with field goals from Grosselin and Katie Warehime.  That made it 16-12, Rams with 11:26 to go in the first half.

The Yellowjackets pushed the pace noticeably after that.  Over the next six minutes, MSUB scored 15 straight points.  Jen Smith scored in traffic to make it 27-16 at the 4:28 mark.

Shumaker drove in for a bucket to make it 27-18, 20 seconds later.  The Jackets pushed the lead up to 19 with 2:18 to go.  Shepherd finished strong, scoring the last five points to trail 41-28 at intermission.

MSUB shot 43.9% from the floor in the first half but it was its defense that made the difference.  The Rams shot just 30.8% from the floor and were outrebounded by an almost 2-1 margin on the offensive boards.

“I thought we played very well in the first half,” said head coach Kevin Woodin.  “Kayla (Ryan) had a strong offensive effort for us.  Jen really did a good job on the boards.”

Montana State Billings kept the pressure up early in the second half.  They opened the second stanza with a 9-5 run over the first four minutes.  That made it 50-33 and it appeared that the fat lady was ready to sing.

Shepherd though decided they weren’t quite ready to hear her sing yet.  Over the next five minutes, the Ram went on a furious 20-1 rally.  Grosselin nailed a 15-footer to put Shepherd on top, 53-51 with 10:21 to go.

Warehime scored on a lay-up at the 6:57 mark.  That gave the Rams their biggest lead of the game at six, 59-53.  The Yellowjackets rallied with a bucket from Ryan and two three-point bombs by Alira Carpenter to make it 61-59 at the 4:57 mark.

MSUB pushed the lead to five, 66-61 with 3:27 to go.  Shepherd though refused to go away and was matching buckets.  The last minute of the game was action packed.

Katie Biggs popped in a three-pointer to make it 71-70, Rams with one minute to go.  Eleven seconds later, Shantell Marquis was fouled and hit both free throws, 72-71.  Following a missed jumper, the Rams were forced to foul until they got the Jackets into the bonus.

With 17 seconds left, Carpenter hit a free throw.  Shepherd called timeout to try and freeze her out.  Carpenter came back and broke the ice with another charity toss to make it 74-71.

With defenders in her face, Grosselin drained a triple with three seconds left.  That dead locked the game at 74-74.  The Jackets missed a three at the buzzer and into overtime we went.

In the second half, the Jacket shot 37.5% from the floor.  The Rams heated up hitting 19-of-38 from the floor for an even 50%.

“Shepherd really took it to us for the first 15 minutes of the half,” said Woodin.  “We played well down the stretch.  We defended Grosselin really well on that last shot.  She just made a great shot.”

In overtime, the teams played balanced for the first two minutes.  A bucket by Camile Wilmer cut the Jacket lead to one 78-77.  Smith arched in a triple and Carpenter hit a 10-footer to make it 83-77 with 2:32 to go.

Grosselin hit two free throws to cut the margin to four, 83-79 with 2:06 to go.  Marquis got a three-point play the hard way, a bucket and one.  That made it 86-79 at the 1:54 mark.

Shepherd could never get closer than five points the rest of the way.  The deciding factor was the Yellowjackets hitting 8-of-10 from the line over the last two minutes.

“In overtime, we executed well,” said Woodin.  “Our free throw shooting was critical to the win.  Especially over the last two minutes of the contest.  I thought Kayla (Ryan) played exceptionally well.  Jen really battled hard the entire game.  She was a key to our victory.”

For Montana State Billings (6-2), Carpenter, who is the second leading scorer in Division II, ended up with 29 points, two steals, hit four triples and shot 7-of-8 from the line.  She needs just two points to become the all-time leading scorer.  Ryan scored a career-high 23 points to go along with 10 boards and 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. 

Marquis once again had a solid all-around game with 18 points, nine assists, four steals, blocked three shots and turned the ball over just twice.  Her assists tied her career-high.  Smith scored nine points and pulled down 13 boards.

For Shepherd (3-6), Grosselin had a solid night leading all scorers with 34 points.  She also hit four triples and had 12 rebounds.  Warehime, Anna Kauffman and Wilmer all scored 10 points each.