-

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Yellowjacket Women’s Basketball Returns Home to Host Rocky

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings women’s basketball team returns home after its season-long six-game road trip to host cross-town rival Rocky Mountain College Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Alterowitz Gymnasium.  MSUB enters the game with a 3-4 record and a 1-1 record in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Rocky stands at 6-4 overall and will host South Dakota Tech prior to facing MSUB this week.

Saturday’s game follows the men’s game versus Dixie State College at 5:15 p.m.  The game theme is Live United Residence Hall Blowout Night.  At halftime of the women’s game, MSUB will honor its women’s soccer team as it made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season, defeating No. 19 Cal State-Los Angeles 1-0 and then lost at No. 9 Seattle Pacific 2-0 last month.  The Yellowjackets finished the 2010 season with a 13-6-1 record tying the school record for most wins in a season.

Prior to the women’s game, the Yellowjackets will honor MSUB women’s basketball seventh-year head coach, Kevin Woodin, with a commemorative basketball as he won his 100th game at the helm of the Yellowjacket program earlier this season.  Woodin’s 100th victory came in a 67-37 demolishing of Cal State Dominguez Hills at the Notre Dame de Namur Classic in Belmont, Calif., Nov. 19-20.  Woodin now is 102-73 all-time at MSUB, and is tied for second in school history in wins with Ted Anderson (1982-88).

The Yellowjackets are coming off of an impressive opening weekend in GNAC play.  The Yellowjackets downed Simon Fraser in both team’s conference openers last Thursday in Burnaby, B.C.  The Jackets posted a 66-59 win handing SFU its first home loss in three years.  In the game, the Yellowjackets were led by senior forward Kayla Ryan who posted her second consecutive double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.  Senior forward Beata Bak also added 18 points, while senior Sarah McNamee had her best game of the young season with 11 points.  The Jackets held SFU to just one player in double figures in Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 20 Western Washington was next on the docket for MSUB.  The Jackets gave a valiant effort battling back to tie the game late and force overtime at 64-64.  In the overtime period, the Vikings raced out to a 12-1 lead and won 80-70.  Despite the loss, Ryan posted her third double-double in as many games, while Bak added 25 points and eight rebounds.  All five starters for Western Washington were in double figures.

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets this season is Bak who is averaging a team-high 17.1 points per game.  Bak ranks second in the league in scoring, and leads the team with 43 made field goals.  She also leads the team with 13 blocks, ranking her fourth in the league.  Ryan is second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game and leads the team averaging 9.9 rebounds which also is good for second in the league.  Only Raincock-Ekunwe leads in both categories. Ryan leads the team and ranks sixth in the league with a .846 free throw percentage on 22 of 26 from the line.  Ryan earned GNAC Co-Player of the Week honors Monday for her back-to-back double-doubles last week at Simon Fraser and Western Washington.

From range, McNamee leads the team with eight triples, while junior Kalli Stanhope has seven.  Stanhope leads the league with a .550 percentage from beyond the arc.

As a team, the Yellowjackets are shooting .353 from the field on 145 of 411.  They have knocked down 40 triples for a .278 average (40 of 144) and are shooting 69 percent from the line on 93 of 134.  MSUB is averaging 38.6 rebounds per game and ranks third in the league in blocks with 32.

The opposition is shooting .361 percent from the field on 144 of 399 and is at a .276 clip from beyond the arc at 34 of 123.  From the line, the opponents are 95 of 146 for a 65 percent average.  MSUB is allowing 41.7 rebounds per game.

Rocky enters the week with a 6-4 record and Saturday’s game will be an exhibition for the Battlin’ Bears, but a counter for MSUB.  The Battlin’ Bears defeated MSUB 68-65 in the Fortin Center, Nov. 9, as it was a counter for Rocky and the final exhibition game for MSUB.  The Yellowjackets held a 19-3 lead in the first half and a 30-20 lead at intermission.  The Battlin’ Bears roared back in the second half and took their first lead since early in the first half with 1:58 left on a banked home triple from Amie Jensen.

Ryan and Bak had 20 points each while Ryan tallied 13 rebounds.  Austin Hanser had a game-high 21 points off the bench for Rocky, while Dani Hosking and Callie Kautzmann each had 15 points.

Leading the way for the Battlin’ Bears is Hosking who leads the team at 11.6 points per game.  Hanser is second in scoring at 11.3 points, while Kautzmann is third at a 9.8 clip.  Hanser leads the team with 40 made field goals, while Hosking leads with 11 triples and 31 made free throws.  Hanser also leads the team with a 6.6 rebounding average and Kautzmann is second at 6.3.

As a team, the Battlin’ Bears are shooting .395 for the year on 254 of 643.  They have knocked down 61 triples and are 151 of 239 from the free throw line for a .632 average.  Rocky is averaging 45.5 rebounds per game and averaging 72 points per contest.

The Yellowjackets continue their season-long, five-game home stand Sat., Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. versus Minot State.  Following the Christmas Holiday, the Jackets host Chadron State (Dec. 29, 7 p.m.), Alaska Anchorage (Jan. 1, 5:15 p.m.) and close out the home stand Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. versus Alaska Fairbanks.  All games will be streamed live with both video and audio and will have live statistics.  Please check back with www.msubsports.com for more information.

No comments:

Post a Comment