Yellowjackets Fall as Carpenter Hits Milestone

Box Score

ANCHORAGE, Alaska–  No. 5 Alaska Anchorage (14-2 GNAC, 27-3) clinched a share of the GNAC women’s basketball championship with a 74-52 win over Montana State Billings (8-8 GNAC, 16-11) Saturday night.  With 6:45 left in the game, Alira Carpenter hit a three-pointer to raise her career total to 2000 points.  She becomes the fourth female collegiate player in the state of Montana to score 2000 points.  MSUB has finished the regular season and will now wait to see if they will be selected to play in the NCAA Division II National Championships.

For the first two minutes, the game was tight.  Kiki Taylor broke the scoring ice hitting a free throw just nineteen seconds into the game.  Ruby Williams drove the lane and scored to make it 3-0 with 19:22 to go.

Kayla Ryan got Montana State Billings on the board with 18:41 to go.  She spun around two defenders and dropped the ball through the hoop.  That made it 3-2, Alaska Anchorage.

The Seawolves then started to pull away from the Yellowjackets.  Over the next six minutes, UAA score 11 straight points to lead 14-2.  Carpenter nailed a jumper just inside the three point range to stop the run.

Anchorage got triples from Nikki Aden and Jackie Thiel and a bucket from Bashova.  That pushed the lead to 18, 22-4 with 10:45 to go.  Carpenter also ended that scoring run driving the baseline and putting the ball in.

With 6:19 to go, Jetton Meadors got a three-point play the hard way.  She drove the lane, was fouled and got her shot to drop.  Meadors hit the free throw to make it 29-11 at the 6:19 mark.

With six minutes to go, Aden hit a lay-up to push the margin back to 20.  MSUB could not get closer than 22 the rest of the half.  UAA led 44-16 at halftime.

The story in the first half was shooting and turnovers.  Alaska Anchorage hit 53.1% from the floor including 58.3% (7-12) from behind the arc while MSUB shot 36.8% from the floor.  Turnovers were a big factor as the Seawolves scored 26 points off of 22 Yellowjacket turnovers.

Montana State Billings played a better second half.  They outscored UAA 36-30 while shooting 58.3% (7-12) on triples compared to 16.7% in the first half.  The Jackets also turned the ball over just 13 times allowing the Seawolves to score only six points.

Down 65-28 with 8:40 to go, MSUB went on a tear.  The three point squad showed up and started raining down triples.  Meadors, Shantell Marquis, Carpenter and Mandy Jacobs all connected on three-pointers.

Jen Smith decided she wanted to get into the act.  She drove the lane, scored and was fouled by Aden.  Smith then hit the free throw to complete her three-point play.  That made it 15 straight points and it was 65-43, UAA with 4:54 to go.  The Jackets could get no closer than that the rest of the way.

For MSUB, Carpenter had 14 points, two steals and hit two three-pointers.  She pushed her career total to 2000 points joining Bobbie Suhr (Montana Western, 1999-03), Shannon Cate (Montana, 1989-92) and Jolene Fuzesy (Carroll College, 2004-07) in an elite group.

Meadors scored 11 points with two steals, Ryan blocked three shots and Smith had seven rebounds, all defensive.

For UAA, Kiki Taylor had 19 points, five steals and hit three three-pointers while Rebecca Kielpinski scored nine points.