Lady Jackets Host OPSU in First Round Playoff (2/28/06)
Game Day Info Packet

BILLINGS, MT – College basketball’s second season starts for the Montana State-Billings women Wednesday night when the Lady Yellowjackets play host to Oklahoma Panhandle State University in the first round of the Heartland Conference playoffs.  The Yellowjackets, regular season conference co-champions, are the No. 1 seed in the HLC playoffs and will have home court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.  The Aggies are the No. 4 seed.

MSU Billings was 18-8 overall during the regular season and finished with a 9-3 mark in the Heartland Conference.  That conference record tied the Jackets with St. Edward’s University for the regular season championship.  The Yellowjackets earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs by virtue of their 2-0 conference record against No. 3 seed St. Mary’s University.

Oklahoma Panhandle State was 14-13 overall in the regular season and 7-5 in the Heartland Conference.  The Aggies, who were 6-2 in the conference and in second place with four games remaining, lost three of their last four conference games to finish one game behind St. Mary’s. 

Four of the five Yellowjacket starters average double figures for scoring.  Junior forward Michelle Lieber leads the team in both scoring and rebounding at 15.0 ppg and 9.8 rpg.  She ranks first in the conference for both rebounding and field goal percentage.  Lieber had 13 double-doubles for points and rebounds in 26 regular season games, including seven in a row to end the season.  She was named the Heartland Conference player of the week three times.

Freshman guard Alira Carpenter has finished the season strong and averages 11.9 ppg.  In her last 10 games she has averaged 13.1 ppg and made 22 three-pointers.  She was named the conference player of the week once.  Senior forward Tanya Petersen averages 11.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.  She leads the conference with 48 blocked shots and was twice named the conference player of the week.  This season Petersen became the only player in school history with over 1,200 career points, 600 career rebounds, and 100 career blocked shots.

Senior guard Jenny Langford adds 10.0 ppg and leads the Heartland Conference in 3-point field goal percentage.  Senior point guard Lisa Jellum leads the league in assists and averages 6.7 points a game.  Junior guard Shannon Harvey comes off the bench to add 8.5 ppg.

The Aggies are led by junior forward Nina Kuleff who averages 14.5 points and 9.6 rebounds a game.  Kuleff, a two-time player of the week in the Heartland, shot over 50 percent from the field during the regular season and blocked 24 shots. 

Guards Brandi Lewis and Taneisha Rogers average 13.4 and 12.4 ppg respectively.  The pair has combined for 105 of the team’s 172 made 3-pointers.  They have also combined for over 100 assists.  Lewis was named conference player of the week once.  Freshman guard Sarah Furgeson leads the Aggies in assists with 108 for a 4.0 apg average. 

In Wednesday’s other conference semifinal game, St. Mary’s will play at St. Edward’s.  The winners of Wednesday’s games will play for the conference championship on March 4 at the higher remaining seed.  If MSU Billings wins on Wednesday, the championship game will be played in Billings since the Jackets are the No. 1 seed.  If Panhandle State wins Wednesday, the championship game will be played in Texas at either St. Edward’s or St. Mary’s.