Lady Yellowjackets Finish Season with Win, Await Tournament Seeding (March 1, 2003)

SPARTANBURG, SC – The MSU Billings women’s basketball team closed out the 2002-2003 regular season with a 72-64 win over Nova Southeastern Saturday night at the Converse College Tournament.  The Jackets were 2-0 at the tournament and finish with a 20-6 mark.  They are now assured of a spot in the NCAA West Region Tournament on March 14-17.  The tournament pairings will be announced March 9.  The Yellowjackets are currently ranked No. 4 in the region and should be at least a top five seed.

In her final regular season game, senior Natalie Visger again carried the Yellowjackets with a double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds.  She added three assists and made 7-of-8 free throws while playing 33 minutes.  She now has 1190 career points, moving her past Alicia Cahill for 11^th all-time in school history. 

Unlike the first game of the tournament in which the Yellowjackets opened a comfortable lead, Saturday’s game was much closer with MSUB taking a 36-33 halftime lead.  The Yellowjackets’ Jessie Henigman dominated the opening twenty minutes with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.  She got into foul trouble, however, picking up four in the first half.  She fouled out after playing just one minute of the second half.

Sophomore center Robyn Milne filled in with her second double-double in a row.  She scored eight of her 14 points in the second half and finished with 14 rebounds and six blocked shots, tying a career high.  Joan Langford also netted double-digits with 11 points including three three-pointers.

The Jackets shot 40 percent from the field in the game and were a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the second half.  They sank 19-of-21 from the charity stripe in the game while Nova was just 16-of-24.

Tahaji Felder led the Knights with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field.  Jessie Pate had 14 points and Charity Rainey added 10.  Nova fell to 12-15 overall and was 1-1 at the tournament after knocking of the host team Converse College on Friday.

The Yellowjackets will now have two weeks off before the NCAA Tournament.  It appears that Seattle Pacific will host the West Region Tournament after remaining unbeaten this weekend by sweeping Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks.  SPU is two games away from a perfect season and will host Western Oregon and Humboldt State next week.  Yellowjacket fans can watch the NCAA selection show on the internet.  A link will be set up on the Yellowjacket homepage at www.msubillings.edu/athletics to connect to the March 9 announcement.