Lady Jackets Secure Playoff Berth (2/17/06)
Box Score          Game Photos

BILLINGS, MT – The quest for a Heartland Conference Championship is on the horizon for the Montana State-Billings women’s basketball team.  The Lady Jackets downed St. Mary’s (TX) Friday, 85-72 at Alterowitz Gymnasium.  The win secured a playoff position for the Jackets who can finish no worse than second in the standings.  That gives the Lady Jackets the home court advantage in game one of the playoffs.  The Lady Jackets are now 17-6 on the season and 9-2 in the Heartland Conference.  The Rattlers dropped to 14-11 and 7-4 in league play.

St. Mary’s came to Billings to play basketball keeping it close for the first half of play.  The second half was a whole different ball game as the Jackets out-shot, out-scored, and out-played the Rattlers.  At 15:06 of the first half, the Rattlers’ Dawn Killian nailed a 3-pointer to give her team the one point lead.  Jenny Langford (Sr., Reed Point, MT) returned the favor knocking down a three of her own to regain the Jackets’ lead.  The two teams traded buckets and the Jackets headed to the locker room with the 32-29 lead.

The bright spot for the Rattlers in the second half came from freshman Natalie Gamez.  Gamez came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers in a matter of three minutes and 15 seconds.  Most impressive was that each three was shot from six feet behind the arc.  The Lady Jackets as a team played strong in the perimeter and put away six threes in the second half, accounting for 18 of the Jackets’ second half points. 

As a team the Lady Jackets put down 10-of 23 from 3-point range, shot 29-of-53 from the field and went 17-of-26 from the charity stripe.  Five Lady Jackets scored in double figures.  They were led by Alira Carpenter (Fr., Lewistown, MT) who netted a career-high 22 points.  Carpenter shot 8-of-13 from the field and went 4-of-8 from the perimeter.  Michelle Lieber (Jr., Gillette, WY) earned her tenth double-double on the season scoring 13 points and grabbing a career high 15 rebounds.  Langford moved into the No. 22 spot for career points scoring 16 points with 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.  Tanya Petersen (Sr., Billings, MT) also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Lisa Jellum (Sr., Gillette, WY) added 11 points and handed out a game-high six assists.

The Rattlers were led by Flavia Azinheira who had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards.  Gamez scored 13 points and teammate Charlena Rodez added ten.

These two teams will square off again on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. for what will be the Lady Jackets’ final regular season home game.  Saturday is senior night for the Jackets’.  Angie Lessard (Sr., Elizabeth, CO), Shannon Harvey (Jr., Billings, MT), Petersen, Langford and Jellum will be honored.  The players will be announced twenty minutes prior to the start of the women’s game.