Lady Jackets’ Lieber, Petersen Ranked by NCAA (1/5/06)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State-Billings forwards Michelle Lieber and Tanya Petersen were each ranked nationally in two statistical categories by the NCAA this week.  The ranking period, the NCAA’s first of the year, included games through January 3. 

Lieber, a 6-foot-0 junior from Gillette, WY, ranks fourth in the nation for field goal percentage at 66.2 percent.  She currently leads the Heartland Conference in field goal percentage and has shot over 80 percent from the field during the Yellowjackets’ current five-game winning streak.  Lieber also ranks 39th nationally for rebounding at 9.3 per game. 

Petersen ranks 43rd in NCAA Division II for rebounding and 46th for blocked shots per game.  The 6-0 junior from Billings is averaging 9.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. 

As a team, the Yellowjackets rank seventeenth in the country for made 3-pointers per game at 7.7.  They made 13 in a win over Western New Mexico Wednesday evening.  The Jackets also rank 41st nationally for 3-point field goal percentage at 36.1 percent.

MSU Billings, 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the Heartland Conference, hosts Oklahoma Panhandle State at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and again at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.  The Aggies handed the Yellowjackets their only conference loss at the end of November.  That was the Yellowjackets’ last loss preceding their current winning streak.