Lady Jackets Bury Saints with Threes (12/16/05)
Box Score                      Game Photos

BILLINGS, MT – A barrage of 3-pointers lifted the MSU Billings women’s basketball team to a 99-56 blowout of visiting St. Martin’s University Friday night.  The Yellowjackets buried a school-record 17 threes from seven different players to even their record at 4-4 on the season.  The Saint, an NCAA regional semifinalist last year, dropped to 2-4.

St. Martin’s was one of just two visiting teams to win at Alterowitz Gym last year, grinding out a 59-50 win in January.  Friday night’s game started as another even match up with the teams trading buckets through the first eight minutes.  The Yellowjackets broke away briefly from a 12-11 advantage to lead by as many as eight, but the Saints whittled the Jackets’ lead to 22-21 with 5:23 left in the first half.

MSU Billings responded with five 3-pointers in a span of three minutes to break open a double-digit lead that it would never relinquish.  The Yellowjackets went into the break with a 45-29 lead and never looked back.  Both Jenny Langford (Sr., Reedpoint, MT) and Alira Carpenter (Fr., Lewistown, MT) scored a dozen first half points, combining for six of the team’s seven 3-pointers in the half.

“We shot the ball really well the last 30 minutes of the game,” said Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin.  “I didn’t think we played great in the first ten minutes.  I thought their posts were hurting us inside, and usually we’re able to defend the post really well.  We had a lot of wide open threes that were kind of in and out.  We haven’t played a game for a couple weeks, so I thought we would start to make those shots.”

The second half started the way the first half ended with the Yellowjackets knocking down three 3-pointers in the first three and a half minutes.  Forward Michelle Lieber’s (Jr., Gillette, WY) first collegiate 3-pointer with 16:29 to play gave MSU Billings a 20-point lead and the route was on.  The Yellowjackets scored 54 points in the second half, hitting 10-of-16 from behind the arc.

Carpenter scored a career-high 21 points in just 19 minutes of action.  The five Yellowjacket starters averaged just over 20 minutes of playing time in the game.  Carpenter was 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. 

“Alira is a great shooter if you can get her open,” said Woodin.  “She actually moves very well without the ball.  She’s an excellent athlete, and she was in a zone there in the first half and early in the second half.”

Langford finished the night with 15 points coming on five 3-pointers.  Her last triple of the night moved her ahead of her sister Joan on the school’s all-time 3-point shooting list with 150.  Her next step will be to overtake assistant coach Kami Malnaa’s 171 3-pointers for second place in school history.

Five different Yellowjackets scored in double figures.  Joining Carpenter and Langford were Tanya Petersen (Sr., Billings, MT) with 12, Lieber with 11, and Kayla McPherson (Fr., Glendive, MT) with 10.  Petersen needs 11 points in next Tuesday’s game against Abilene Christian to move to sixteenth on the school’s all-time scoring list.  She currently has 1,057 career points as a Yellowjacket.

Shannon Harvey (Jr., Billings, MT) and Jen Smith (Fr., Belgrade, MT) added nine and eight points respectively.  Freshman Jetton Meadors (Billings, MT) scored a career-high seven, and Jennifer Skrifvars (Jr., Brea, CA) added four.  Point guard Lisa Jellum (Sr., Gillette, WY) dished out a career-high seven assists as the Jackets handed out 30 assists as a team, second-most in school history.

The Saints were led by Ashley Kitzman’s 17 points off the bench.  Hilary Wick added a dozen points.  Leading scorer Beth Layton was held to just nine points after entering the game averaging 23 points a game.

“Jenny Langford did a great job on Layton early, and she made her work hard to get the ball,” said Woodin.  “Jenny’s just playing at a higher level than she ever has.  She was a very good player before, but I think she’s taken that step to greatness.  We’re asking her to defend the opponent’s best guard, and at the same time you’re seeing her start to feel more comfortable in the offense.”

The Yellowjackets will host Abilene Christian (TX) next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Alterowitz Gym in an important regional game.  The Wildcats lost at home to Angelo State Friday night to fall to 4-4 overall.  St. Martin’s and Abilene Christian will meet each other in a neutral site game at Alterowitz Gym at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission to Sunday’s game is free.