The last time the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team played a nationally-ranked University of Alaska Anchorage team they just missed out on recording an upset over the then ninth-ranked Seawolves. Thursday night, it was a similar result, this time on the Yellowjackets' home court, as MSUB was unable to pull off the upset over eighth-ranked Alaska Anchorage as the Seawolves held on over the closing seconds to secure a 56-51 win.
With their four-game winning streak broken, the Yellowjackets move to 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action while the Seawolves bounced back from a Thursday-night letdown at the hands of Seattle Pacific University to record the win, improving to 20-4 overall and 11-2 in the league.
"I was very happy with how we competed tonight," said head coach Kevin Woodin. "I thought we were mentally ready to go and was very proud to see that from our players. You have to give Anchorage a lot of credit, are very talented and very well-coached; they guarded Bobbi hard all night, but we started making the extra pass and that opened some shots for some other people there in the first half.
"The big difference in the game came in the second half as we appeared to run out of gas," Woodin stated. "We had several open looks that we were hitting in the first half, but we just couldn't get them to go down there in the second."
A poor shooting performance in the second half cut the Yellowjackets' bid for the upset short as MSUB struggled from the field, hitting just 20.7% (6-29) of their second-half shots. Overall, MSUB hit on just 27.9% of their looks from the field and were out-rebounded by Anchorage 47-34.
Freshman Quinn Peoples led the way for the Yellowjackets with 16 total points including sinking four three-pointers. The Butte,canada goose parka Mont. native recorded 11 of her points, and three of her treys in the first half of play.
Behind Peoples, MSUB had an extremely balanced attack as six other Yellowjackets recorded at least two points. Bobbi Knudsen and Kalli Stanhope each finished the game with nine points while Kayleen Goggins recorded eight points. Knudsen recorded a game-high five assists and two steals and matched Stanhope with four rebounds.
Alaska Anchorage was led by guard Haley Holmstead with a game-high 19 points as she went 7-17 from the fiend and hit four of her seven free throw attempts. Behind Holmstead, Kaylie Robison went 6-8 from the field en route to tallying 14 points as part of a double-double that included 13 rebounds.
Despite the final outcome, the young Yellowjackets showed signs of brilliance throughout the game, playing at an extremely high-pace with the nationally-ranked Seawolves.
The game was close all game long after Goggins started the scoring off with a short jumper. MSUB would control the early going of the game and established a seven-point lead when Brooke Tolman drained her lone three-pointer of the game just six minutes into the half.
The Seawolves battled back over the next three minutes to eventually claim a short lead after Holmstead hit an open three-pointer, but the Yellowjackets would regain the lead with four minutes remaining in the half.
The lead would be extended out to five points (32-27) by the time the buzzer sounded for half time with the momentum slightly favoring the home squad which Stanhope attempted to bolster by draining an open trey with just 15 seconds ticking off the game clock into the second half.
But Holmstead would have an answer with a three-pointer of her own, and before long, the Yellowjackets would be scrapping for every point they could muster. At one point, the Seawolves went on a 16-8 run over a 13 minute stretch to claim the lead. During that stretch, MSUB hit just two shots from the field.
The Yellowjackets made a furious attempt to find the bottom of the net, but were unable to overcome the deficit.
As they have done all season, MSUB was able to out-score their opposition 13-5 in regards to points off of turnovers, but Alaska Anchorage dominated the paint and under the basket as they out-scored MSUB 34-6 in the paint. That number included an 18-4 advantage off second-chance looks in favor of Anchorage.
Despite the setback, Coach Woodin was still confident following the game that his team was making strides.
"I feel like foul trouble underneath hurt us down the stretch as we weren't able to compete with their three, four and five girls under the basket," Woodin said. "But I was very proud of our team because they fought all the way to the end. We are looking forward to this last segment of the season and it is important that we continue to work hard all the way through to the end."
The Yellowjackets will now prepare to hit the road for the final time this season. MSUB will first travel to Central Washington University on Thursday, Feb. 9 before turning their focus on Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday, Feb. 10. Thursday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. while Saturday's match will commence at 1:30 p.m.
With their four-game winning streak broken, the Yellowjackets move to 16-8 overall and 8-5 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action while the Seawolves bounced back from a Thursday-night letdown at the hands of Seattle Pacific University to record the win, improving to 20-4 overall and 11-2 in the league.
"I was very happy with how we competed tonight," said head coach Kevin Woodin. "I thought we were mentally ready to go and was very proud to see that from our players. You have to give Anchorage a lot of credit, are very talented and very well-coached; they guarded Bobbi hard all night, but we started making the extra pass and that opened some shots for some other people there in the first half.
"The big difference in the game came in the second half as we appeared to run out of gas," Woodin stated. "We had several open looks that we were hitting in the first half, but we just couldn't get them to go down there in the second."
A poor shooting performance in the second half cut the Yellowjackets' bid for the upset short as MSUB struggled from the field, hitting just 20.7% (6-29) of their second-half shots. Overall, MSUB hit on just 27.9% of their looks from the field and were out-rebounded by Anchorage 47-34.
Freshman Quinn Peoples led the way for the Yellowjackets with 16 total points including sinking four three-pointers. The Butte,canada goose parka Mont. native recorded 11 of her points, and three of her treys in the first half of play.
Behind Peoples, MSUB had an extremely balanced attack as six other Yellowjackets recorded at least two points. Bobbi Knudsen and Kalli Stanhope each finished the game with nine points while Kayleen Goggins recorded eight points. Knudsen recorded a game-high five assists and two steals and matched Stanhope with four rebounds.
Alaska Anchorage was led by guard Haley Holmstead with a game-high 19 points as she went 7-17 from the fiend and hit four of her seven free throw attempts. Behind Holmstead, Kaylie Robison went 6-8 from the field en route to tallying 14 points as part of a double-double that included 13 rebounds.
Despite the final outcome, the young Yellowjackets showed signs of brilliance throughout the game, playing at an extremely high-pace with the nationally-ranked Seawolves.
The game was close all game long after Goggins started the scoring off with a short jumper. MSUB would control the early going of the game and established a seven-point lead when Brooke Tolman drained her lone three-pointer of the game just six minutes into the half.
The Seawolves battled back over the next three minutes to eventually claim a short lead after Holmstead hit an open three-pointer, but the Yellowjackets would regain the lead with four minutes remaining in the half.
The lead would be extended out to five points (32-27) by the time the buzzer sounded for half time with the momentum slightly favoring the home squad which Stanhope attempted to bolster by draining an open trey with just 15 seconds ticking off the game clock into the second half.
But Holmstead would have an answer with a three-pointer of her own, and before long, the Yellowjackets would be scrapping for every point they could muster. At one point, the Seawolves went on a 16-8 run over a 13 minute stretch to claim the lead. During that stretch, MSUB hit just two shots from the field.
The Yellowjackets made a furious attempt to find the bottom of the net, but were unable to overcome the deficit.
As they have done all season, MSUB was able to out-score their opposition 13-5 in regards to points off of turnovers, but Alaska Anchorage dominated the paint and under the basket as they out-scored MSUB 34-6 in the paint. That number included an 18-4 advantage off second-chance looks in favor of Anchorage.
Despite the setback, Coach Woodin was still confident following the game that his team was making strides.
"I feel like foul trouble underneath hurt us down the stretch as we weren't able to compete with their three, four and five girls under the basket," Woodin said. "But I was very proud of our team because they fought all the way to the end. We are looking forward to this last segment of the season and it is important that we continue to work hard all the way through to the end."
The Yellowjackets will now prepare to hit the road for the final time this season. MSUB will first travel to Central Washington University on Thursday, Feb. 9 before turning their focus on Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday, Feb. 10. Thursday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. while Saturday's match will commence at 1:30 p.m.
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