‘Jacket women held to season-low 43 points in loss at Seattle Pacific

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, February 4, 2016 ‘Jacket women held to season-low 43 points in loss at Seattle Pacific

Seattle Pacific stifles MSUB’s offense, as the ‘Jackets score just 16 points in the first half of a 52-43 loss to the Falcons Thursday night.

SEATTLE – Eight different players scored for the Montana State University Billings women’s basketball team, but none had more than 10 points as host Seattle Pacific University held the Yellowjackets to a season-low in scoring in a 52-43 Great Northwest Athletic Conference setback Thursday evening at Brougham Pavilion.

Though SPU stifled MSUB and allowed just 16 points in the first half, the Falcons scored only 17 in the opening two quarters. The difference came midway through the third, when SPU went on a 9-0 run and took a 33-25 lead.

Courtney Hollander finished with a game-high 15 points, while Jordan McPhee added 14 as the Falcons returned the favor and evened the season series after a 61-50 Yellowjacket win in Billings on Jan. 9.

“I was impressed with Seattle Pacific’s effort tonight,” said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. “They were well prepared and they took us out of our offensive flow. We missed too many open looks and struggled from the foul line, and that led to the loss.”

The Yellowjackets made just 16 of 46 shots (34.8 percent) from the field, and 4 of 16 from 3-point range (25.0 percent).

MSUB was also uncharacteristically off target from the free-throw line, making just half of its 14 attempts.

The Falcons were even less accurate from the field at 30.4 percent (17-for-56) and from long range at 11.1 percent (2for-18), but made 16 of their 19 free throws (84.2 percent).

The Yellowjackets lost their second straight game, and fell to 14-7 overall and 10-3 in GNAC play. Seattle Pacific improved to 8-13 on the season and is now 5-9 in conference games. The Yellowjackets currently sit in third place in the GNAC standings, trailing Alaska Anchorage (25-1, 12-1 GNAC) and Western Washington (15-6, 11-2 GNAC) atop the leaderboard.

McPhee hit a jumper to open the fourth quarter, which kept momentum on the side of SPU as the Falcons increased their lead to nine points at 36-27. The home team never looked back from that point, as it was the closest the ‘Jackets got the rest of the game.

SPU led by as much as 12 in the fourth quarter, and the ‘Jackets did not make back-to-back field goals in the final 18:30 of the game. Marissa Van Atta made 4 of 10 shots from the floor and was the only ‘Jacket to reach double figures with a team-best 10 points. Junior Alisha Breen was held under 10 points for just the fourth time this year, as she scored nine on 4 of 7 accuracy from the field.

Senior Janiel Olson led the ‘Jackets with nine rebounds Thursday evening.

Senior Janiel Olson led all players with nine rebounds in the game, while Monica Grimsrud had a team-high four assists to go with seven points, six boards, and two steals.

The Yellowjackets out-rebounded the Falcons 39-36, but committed 18 turnovers while SPU had just 10. Four Falcons had multiple steals, and McPhee and Hollander led with three each as their team created extra possessions with a dozen takeaways. Almost half of SPU’s points came off of turnovers (23), while MSUB had just three points off of turnovers in the game. Brianne Lasconia and Hollander tied for the team lead with five rebounds apiece.

“We are going to have to rebound quickly and we need to play a lot better in order to come out on top on Saturday,” Woodin commented.

THE BUZZ: MSUB’s previous low score on the season came in a 72-52 loss to Cal Baptist on Nov. 13…in all four of the games Breen hasn’t reached double figures she has finished with nine points…MSUB’s seven made free throws were its second-fewest this season, and its 14 attempts were its fifth-fewest…Grimsrud was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game for the ‘Jackets.

UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets challenge Saint Martin’s University on Saturday in another GNAC contest in Washington.

Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m. Mountain time at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, the site of the 2015-16 GNAC Basketball Championships coming up in March.

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