Lady Jackets Blister Nets, Lions for Fifth Straight “W” (Dec. 21, 2004)
Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – From Jenny Langford’s 3-pointer on the opening possession, Montana State-Billings cruised for a wire to wire 79-44 win against Saint Leo on Tuesday.  The Yellowjackets shot 47 percent from the field and all 12 players scored as MSU Billings won its fifth straight game to improve to 9-2.  Saint Leo dropped to 1-8.

“I was very pleased with our overall performance," said Yellowjacket coach Kevin Woodin.  "I thought we played a lot more consistent than we did last night.  I felt we did a good job of defending in the half court and we were able to create some transition baskets.  Offensively, our players were very unselfish and I was happy with our ball movement.  It was a total team effort and a nice game to have before the holiday break.” 

Langford (Jr., Reedpoint, MT) fired up a three on her first touch and Michelle Lieber (So., Gillette, WY) scored on a layup on the next possession to spark the Jackets to a 5-0 lead.  The Lions’ Marina Arkhipova dropped in a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two a minute and a half into the game, but that was as close as Saint Leo would get. 

No player logged more than 26 minutes in the game for MSU Billings as all 12 Jackets found the scoring column.  Three players scored in double figures, led by Robyn Milne (Sr., Richey, MT) who led all players with 15 points and 11 rebounds.  She also blocked five shots and handed out four assists.

The Yellowjackets led by as many as 17 points on three different occasions in the first half before settling for a 39-26 halftime lead.  MSU Billings put the game out of reach with 25 points in the first 10 minutes.  The Jackets shot 53 percent from the field in the first half.

MSU Billings took a 31 point lead on a Tanya Petersen (Jr., Billings, MT) jumper with 6:52 to play.  From that point the Yellowjacket bench finished out the game with 10 of the 12 Yellowjackets playing more than 10 minutes.

Petersen netted 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.  Jessica Bratton (So., Casper, WY) added 10 points off the bench, hitting 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line.  The MSU Billings starters combined for 48 points in the contest.  Lisa Jellum (Jr., Gillette, WY) finished with nine points, Langford added seven, and Lieber had four.

Jennifer Skrifvars (So., Brea, CA) was the Jackets’ second-leading scorer off the bench with six points.  She was 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.  Shannon Harvey (So., Billings, MT) added five points, and Kayla Frize (Jr., Miles City, MT) and Angela Lessard (Jr., Elizabeth, CO) each finished with four points.

The Lions were able to keep Monday’s game close by shooting 52 percent from the field in the first half.  The Yellowjacket defense responded on Tuesday by holding Saint Leo to just 31 percent shooting in the opening half and 23 percent in the game.  Rosetta Little led the Lions with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  She was 4-of-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line.  Danielle Hoeffner added 11 points and seven boards, and Arkhipova finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Yellowjackets are idle until December 31 when they will play an alumni exhibition at 6:00 p.m.  Several players from the Lady Jackets’ 1998-1999 Elite Eight team will be in uniform to face the Yellowjackets.  MSU Billings returns to regular season action on January 3 when the Jackets travel to Nampa, ID to face Northwest Nazarene.  They return home on January 6 to host St. Martin’s.