Vikings Sail by Yellowjackets

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash.–  Western Washington used perfect free throw shooting to knock off Montana State Billings, 86-73, Saturday afternoon.  The Vikings were 16-of-16 from the line.  MSUB remains on the road, taking on Northwest Nazarene, Thursday, Jan. 29.  The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.

For the first ten minutes, both squads played on even terms.  Jen Smith hit a seven-footer to close the gap to one.  Montana State Billings forced a turnover and Shantell Marquis drove in for the score.

That made it 7-6, MSUB with 16:50 to go.  Western Washington came back with six unanswered points over the next two minutes.  The Vikings took the lead, 12-7 at the 14:48 mark after that run.

The Yellowjackets came back with a 6-0 run of their own.  Alira Carpenter hit back-to-back tough jumpers.  Kalli Stanhope got a twisting layup to fall, making it 14-13, MSUB with 13:43 to go.

WWU pushed the lead to seven, 24-17 with 10:50 to go.  Kayla Ryan pounded the ball in the hoop at the 9:24 mark to make it 24-19.  The Vikings finished the half on an 11-6 run to lead, 35-25.

Western Washington pushed the tempo for the first half of the second stanza.  The Vikings led by as much as 14.  The lead was double-digits as late as the 11:22 mark.

Down 58-48, Montana State Billings started to make a run.  Ryan scored in traffic off a great pass from Marquis.  Marquis then hit a jumper followed by a bucket from Ryan.

All of a sudden, with 9:51 to go, the Jackets were down four, 58-54.  WWU came back with an 8-2 run.  Jessica Summers laid the ball in to make it 66-56 with 6:56 left to play.

Once again, the Yellowjackets came storming back.  Stanhope banged in a triple and Smith dropped a trifecta in as well.  That cut the margin to four, 66-62 with 5:42 to go.

“Our goal at halftime was to cut the margin to under five,” said head coach Kevin Woodin.  “Kalli and Jen had clutch three’s for us.”

Western Washington pushed the margin to nine, 74-65 with 4:39 to go.  Mandy Jacobs came off the bench and hit a turnaround jumper at the 4:21 mark.  That made it, 74-67, WWU.

Down the stretch, the Vikings used hot shooting to hold off the Yellowjackets.  They were four-of-five from the floor and hit all four free throws.  A big difference in the game was bench scoring as WWU had 55 off the bench to 16 for MSUB.

“I was very pleased with the way we competed,” said coach Woodin.  “We met a very talented WWU team and battled all game long.  Kayla Ryan played extremely hard and was very effective on both ends of the floor.  I was very pleased with her performance.  I though Mandy and Kalli played well and sparked us.”

For Montana State Billings (3-3 GNAC, 11-6), Carpenter had 19 points and Ryan scored 16 points.  Smith had eight points and five assists and Stanhope scored eight points.

For Western Washington (2-2 GNAC, 10-5), Summers had 17 points, Liz McCarrell scored 14 and Claire Pallansch had 11.