Breen named Player of the Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu

November 16, 2015 Breen named first GNAC Player of the Week for the season Women’s Basketball on Facebook MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU GNAC Release 2015-16 MSUB GNAC Players of the Week

Alisha Breen scored 52 points in MSUB’s two games during the GNAC/PacWest Yellowjacket Challenge.

A career-high and a MSUB record leads junior Alisha Breen to be named the first GNAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the 2015-16 season.

PORTLAND, Ore. – A career-high 37 points against Academy of Art and 52 points during the two days of the GNAC/PacWest Yellowjacket Challenge sponsored by the Billings Hotel and Convention Center and ExxonMobil, led junior Alisha Breen to be named the GNAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week announced by the conference office Monday.

Playing on opening weekend during the tournament at Montana State University Billings, Breen scored 52 points while pulling in 17 rebounds, and making eight steals. The 5’10” forward shot 41.7 percent (15-36) from the floor and 90.5 (1921) percent from the free-throw line.

Against No. 3 Cal Baptist, Breen scored 15 points, recorded eight rebounds, and tallied three steals. In the game against AAU, Breen scored 37 points and was just one off a double-double with nine rebounds, while also contributing five steals.

The 37 points eclipses Breen’s previous career-high of 30 points which she did twice last season, last against Western Washington on Jan. 29, 2015. She also bested her previous record of steals in a game with the five against Academy of Art. Breen played in all 40 minutes in the game against the Urban Knights and was sent to the free-throw line 21 times. She made good on 19 of those shots which moves her ahead of the MSUB single-game record of 16 set by Shelley Altrogge in 1990.

Breen’s career-high ties the seventh highest for a single game in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Among those sharing the record with Breen is former MSUB All-American Bobbi Knudsen who completed her 37 points in a game at home against Western Washington on Jan. 4, 2014.

“Alisha is very deserving of this honor,” MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. “She worked very hard in the offseason to improve her game. I thought she did a tremendous job on both ends of the floor last weekend. She is a tough matchup for opponents as she has the ability to score in several different ways.”

En route to being named to the GNAC/PacWest Yellowjacket Challenge All-Tournament Team, the native of Choteau, Mont., recorded the second-high point total during the weekend and the third highest number of rebounds. This is the first GNAC Player of the Week accolade for Breen.

NEXT UP: MSU Billings (0-2) hits the road for two games this week. On Friday, Nov. 20, the Yellowjackets are set to face the team they lost to in the NCAA Division II west region championship two years ago in Cal Poly Pomona. MSUB then makes the trek 41 miles east for a tilt against Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday, Nov. 21.

THE BUZZ: Breen was a GNAC Preseason All-Conference selection this year. Last season, Breen was named to the GNAC Honorable Mention Team. She was the MVP at last year’s Yellowjacket Classic scoring 49 points in two games, including her first 30-point game of the season, which she did against Montana Tech.

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