Bobcats Top ‘Jackets in Exhibition, 71-59

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State Billings women’s basketball squad got the 2009-2010 season started with an exhibition game against Montana State University on Sunday afternoon at Worthington Arena in Bozeman. The Yellowjackets stayed with the ‘Cats throughout most of the contest, but were outscored in the second half, 34-24, to fall 71-59.

“This was a great opportunity for us to see where we’re at,” said head women’s basketball coach, Kevin Woodin. “I was really pleased with the team effort tonight. The first half, I thought we played very well, especially in our transition play, but we struggled on our inside defense. They (MSU) are a very solid team and their size inside play provided us with some problems, but I was proud of our teams’ ability to stay with them on the boards.”

Sophomore Callie Kautzmann led the way for MSUB with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 boards in 33 minutes. Junior transfer Sarah McNamee, recorded 11 points and six boards coming off the bench, while Kalli Stanhope was the third ‘Jacket in double-figures, scoring 10 points and five assists.
The Yellowjackets got off to a great start, holding its largest lead of the game at 20-15 midway through the first half when Shantell Marquis hit a jumper in the paint. The Bobcats slowly chipped away at the lead, regaining the advantage with 7:45 to go in the half, 23-22.

As the half wound to an end, both teams battled back and forth for the lead. With MSUB trailing 34-32, Kautzmann dropped a three-pointer with 23 seconds remaining to take a brief lead. Montana State took a two point lead into the half when Ally Schmitt hit one of her two three’s at the buzzer to give MSU a 37-35 lead at the break.

MSU came out of the break on fire, building an eight point lead at 44-36 on a pair of buckets by Erica Perry and another three by Schmitt. MSUB cut the lead to two with 13:34 remaining as McNamee hit a three.
That was as close as MSUB would get, as the Bobcats stretched the lead out to 13 with 1:19 remaining. MSU finished off the game with another jumper by Schmitt with seven seconds left to win by 12.

“Montana State was able to build that lead to start the second half,” Woodin added. “I thought our girls did a great job to battle back and stay within reach. We had a couple of opportunities to tie the game with some shots, but couldn’t get them to fall. Overall, I thought it was a great opportunity and there were a lot of positives to take from this game.”

MSUB finished the night shooting 31.4 percent (22-70) from the field and 25.0 percent (7-28) behind the arc. The Yellowjackets out rebounded the Bobcats 45-44 for the game and had 12 assists with a block and five steals as a team.

Montana State was led by Sarah Strand who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of work. Perry finished the game with 14 points and three assists, while Lyndi Seidensticker had 10 points and five boards.

As a team, MSU shot 40.3 percent (25-62) from the field and 68.2 percent (15-22) from the line. They had 11 assists to go along with five blocked shots and eight steals.
MSUB will continue its pre season with an exhibition game at home against Montana Western on Friday, November 6, starting at 7 p.m.