Yellowjackets, Lady Yellowjackets to Hold Blue-Gold Scrimmages Saturday (Nov. 6, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – The official start of the NCAA basketball season is just over a week away and the MSU Billings men’s and women’s basketball teams will tune up Saturday with a double-header of Blue-Gold scrimmages.  The women’s team will tip off at 6:00 p.m. at Alterowitz Gymnasium, and the men’s team will follow at 8:00.  Admission is free.

The first official date of practice for NCAA II basketball teams was October 15.  Both Yellowjacket teams have been practicing six days a week since then to prepare for their season openers.  The first official date of NCAA competition is November 15, with the Lady Jackets tipping off November 17 and 18 at home against Sonoma State, and the men’s team opening November 22 at home against Minot State.

The Lady Yellowjacket will be under the direction of first-year coach Melissa Slone.  For the past five years Slone was the head coach at College of Charleston.  MSU Billings returns four players from last year’s team that was 21-7 and advanced to the West Region semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.  Captain Robyn Milne (6-3 Jr., Richey, MT) is the top returning scorer and rebounder, netting 8.7 points and grabbing 8.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore last season.  She also blocked 43 shots in 21 games—missing seven games with a broken hand—and is second on the school’s all-time career list with 100 blocks.  The Jackets also return Kayla Frize (Jr., Miles City, MT) and Lisa Jellum (So., Gillette, WY) from season-ending knee surgeries as well as Jenny Langford (So., Reedpoint, MT) who started 23 games.

The Yellowjacket men’s team is guided by Craig Carse in his ninth season.  The Yellowjackets were 18-9 overall and 9-7 in the Pacific West Conference last season.  Despite losing three players to season-ending injuries at different points of the season, the Jackets still finished second in Division II for scoring (89.3 ppg) and three point shooting (10.7 per game).  PacWest Freshman of the Year Cameron Munoz (So., Chino, CA) returns after finishing his freshman campaign as the PacWest’s leading three-point shooter with 96 threes.  His 3.7 three-pointers per game ranked fifth in Division II.  Also returning are four seniors, including three that missed a combined 46 games with injuries.  Captains Jerett Skrifvars (Sr., Brea, CA) and Dave Carse (Sr., Billings, MT) missed a majority of last season with thumb surgery and shoulder surgery respectively.  Bill Day (Sr., Boise, ID) missed the final four games with a torn MCL.  Justin Hassell (Sr., Brooklyn, NY) also returns after averaging 13.4 points per game last year.