Lady Jackets Run by Roadrunners (12/2/05)
Box Score

DENVER, CO – The Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a convincing 87-62 win at Metro State on Friday evening.  The Yellowjackets improved to 2-4 on the season, dropping the Roadrunners to 3-2. 

The Yellowjackets, who hadn’t won since their season opener on November 18, trailed only twice to a Roadrunners team that many considered to be among the best in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  Metro State held leads of 2-0 and 14-3 in the early going, but a pair of Michelle Lieber (Jr., Gillette, WY) free throws with 14:07 left in the first half erased what would be the Roadrunners’ final lead of the game.

The Yellowjackets shot a blistering 60.7 percent from the field in the first half and took a 40-34 lead into the locker room.  Lieber had 16 first half points, missing just once from the field in eight attempts.  Senior Jenny Langford (Reedpoint, MT) dropped in a pair of first half 3-pointers and 10 points to spark the Yellowjacket guards.  Langford had missed the last three games.

The Jackets’ hot shooting continued in the second half as they put together one of their best offensive performances of the last several years.  MSU Billings shot 63.3 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game with a 62.1 field goal percentage.  The last time a Lady Yellowjacket team shot over 60 percent for a game was February 19, 2000 when they did it against Seattle University.

The Yellowjackets pulled away early in the second half and never allowed the Roadrunners to find any offensive rhythm.  A pair of Lisa Jellum (Sr., Gillette, WY) free throws with 15:18 to play gave MSU Billings a double-digit lead that it never relinquished.  The Jackets built their first 20-point lead of the night by the 5:30 mark.

Lieber was a big factor in the Jackets’ incredible shooting percentage.  She didn’t miss a shot in the second half and finished the night 11-of-12 from the field for a career-high 24 points.  In Monday’s loss at Panhandle State, Lieber scored 21 points, the first time she’s scored over 20 as a Yellowjacket.

Most of Lieber’s points came on layups after nice feeds from either Tanya Petersen (Sr., Billings, MT) or Jellum.  Petersen finished the night with a career-high nine assists, many of them on high-low lob passes to Lieber in the post.  Jellum handed out seven assists, finding Lieber several times in transition.

Petersen narrowly missed the first triple-double of her career.  She had 17 points and 12 rebounds to go with her nine assists.  She was an efficient 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.  Petersen also blocked three shots on the defensive end.  The inside tandem of Petersen and Lieber helped the Yellowjackets outscore Metro 36-18 in the paint.

Jellum finished with seven points to go with her seven assists.  Langford scored 15 points on the night, hitting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and also handing out six assists.  Freshman guard Alira Carpenter (Lewistown, MT) added nine points in her third start of the season.

Senior guard Angie Lessard had a big night while playing in front of friends and family.  The Elizabeth, Colo., native scored a career-high seven points and added four rebounds and two assists.  She gave the Yellowjackets a spark off the bench with five first-half points.

The Roadrunners were led by 14 points apiece from Jessica Von Tillow and Danielle Ellerington.  Ellerington had eight rebounds, six on the offensive end.  Top scorer Paige Powers was held to 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.  She was 0-for-5 from 3-point, and the Roadrunners as a team connected on just 4-of-20 from long range.

“This was a big win for us,” said Yellowjacket coach Kevin Woodin.  “We needed to play well and get a little confidence back.  It was big for us to have Jenny Langford back.  She’s one of our leaders.  I thought Michelle and Tanya did an excellent job in the post playing the high-low game.  They didn’t really have an answer for that.”

The Yellowjackets will try to put together their first two-game winning streak of the season on Sunday when they play at Regis University in Denver.  The Rangers are 5-1 and ranked 25^th in the nation.  Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on AM 970 KBUL.