Yellowjackets Take No. 13 Seawolves to Buzzer

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets women’s basketball team gave the 13th ranked Seawolves of Alaska Anchorage all that they could handle for the second consecutive year on Wednesday night at Alterowitz Gymnasium. But the Yellowjackets upset bid came up just short, dropping a heartbreaking 65-63 decision to drop to 10-14 on the season and 3-10 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference Play.

Although the Seawolves led wire-to-wire, MSUB was able to erase a 10 point deficit at the break, tying the game at 59 with 3:04 remaining in the game when Sarah McNamee hit two of her team-high 19 points at the free throw line. Anchorage then went on a 6-0 run to lead, 65-59, capped by a pair of free throws from Nikki Aden.

Mandy Jacobs then drew a foul from Anchorages’ Hanna Johansson, and hit her free throws to get the lead back down to four, 61-65. The Jackets then fouled Aden, hoping for a miss on the front-end of a one-and-one and got the result they needed.

After Kayla Ryan corralled one of her 13 rebounds on the night, she gave the ball off to Kalli Stanhope who drove straight to the hole and laid the ball up and off the glass with a foul to get the Seawolves lead back down to two, 65-63, with 30 seconds remaining. Stanhope missed the free throw but McNamee was there to get the rebound and give the Yellowjackets another shot.

After a missed layup by Ryan, Tamar Gruwell was fouled with eight seconds left and proceeded to miss her free throw that could’ve sealed the game. Ryan grabbed the rebound again and gave an outlet pass to Stanhope who swung the ball back underneath to Ryan, taking the final shot at the buzzer, but the ball careened off the side of the iron to give the Seawolves the victory.

“I was pleased with the way we played all game long,” said head coach Kevin Woodin. “We never gave up when we got down by ten and we were able to execute well throughout the night. Callie (Kautzmann) played one of her best games in a long time and there were a lot of other people helping on both ends of the floor to keep us in the game. Anchorage is a tough team and deserve a lot of credit for the way they were able to pull out the win.”

Ryan had another double-double on the year, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 boards. McNamee had three rebounds and a pair of assists to go with her 19 points, while Callie Kautzmann had a big game with 17 points, five boards, five assists and three steals.

As a team, the Yellowjackets shot 41.2 percent from the field and were 8-of-20 from downtown and hit 72.2 percent of their free throws. The Jackets were able to keep pace with the Seawolves by creating 16 turnovers and re-bounding the ball 31 times.

Johansson led the way for the Seawolves, scoring 25 points and grabbing nine boards as she was only player in double figures. Gruwell scored eight and had four boards, while Kelsie Gourdin had nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.

UAA outscored the Yellowjackets in the paint 26-18 and off the bench 12-2. MSUB turned the ball over 18 times, giving up 26 points off of those turnovers. The lead changed hands twice during the game and there were three ties.

The Yellowjackets will wrap-up their four-game home stand and their 2009-10 home schedule this Saturday, Feb. 27, at 2:00 p.m. against Western Oregon. Saturday will also celebrate the career of Rachel Hansen; MSUB’s only senior on this year’s squad.