FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu February 23, 2016 MSUB finishes 2 weeks on the road with games at NNU and CWU MSUB Women’s Basketball on Facebook | MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU | GNAC Standings Preview Interviews with sophomores Marissa Van Atta and Lexi Prevost and head coach Kevin Woodin GNAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Info. | GNAC On-Line Tickets
Marissa Van Atta and the MSUB women’s basketball team play their last two regular season games on the road this week.
Although the MSUB women’s basketball team has secured a place in the conference tournament, the Yellowjackets play two more regular season games this week on the road for a chance to move up in the standings. BILLINGS, Mont. – After a wild week on the road where both MSUB game were determined by two points, this week’s games won’t be any easier as the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team returns to the road and has a chance to finish in a higher spot in the conference rankings. Although five of the six berths at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament have been settled, the order of the first three places and the last spot at the tournament has come down to the final week of competition.
At 17-1, co-No. 1 Alaska Anchorage has secured at least a share of the regular season title. Western Washington sits behind at 15-3, with two losses to MSUB and one to Central Washington. The Vikings finish their season with games at Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and Alaska on Saturday. Alaska Anchorage’s one conference loss this season was to Western Washington on the road, so Thursday’s game will be an important one for both teams. MSU Billings (18-8, 14-4 GNAC), is one game back of Western Washington at 14-4. The Yellowjackets split their road trip last week, taking a loss at Simon Fraser (63-61) and coming out on top against the Vikings (48-46) for a season sweep over WWU. This week, the Yellowjackets have the potential to move up in the standings to second in the conference, earning a bye in the first game of the GNAC tournament, but they will need to win both games on the road and holding the tie-breaker over WWU, have the Vikings drop at least one of their final two contests. Neither upcoming game will be an easy task for the Yellowjackets. First up for MSUB is Northwest Nazarene. The Crusaders dropped three straight in the middle of their season, but right now are on a 3-game win streak, including a big 91-68 victory over Concordia (Ore.) last Saturday that secured NNU a place in the conference tournament. On Saturday, MSUB will face Central Washington. The Wildcats are on the cusp of playing into the final spot in the GNAC tournament and will be looking for two wins in order to advance to the postseason. CWU ended the week with a 61-46 win over Western Oregon, and the Yellowjackets will be playing the Wildcats on their home court during the final regular game of the season. Defense and the details will be big factors in the games this week. In the loss against Simon Fraser, MSUB allowed the Clan to shoot 48.9 percent from the field (22-45) and 40.9 percent (9-22) from 3-point territory. The Yellowjackets were also outrebounded 34-29. In the win over Western Washington, MSUB held the Vikings to a season low of 46 points and froze the No. 4 team in the nation to a season low of 33.3 percent shooting from the field (21-63) and just 2-9 from 3point territory (22.2 percent). The Yellowjackets were outrebounded again 39-34, but had more points off of turnovers (16-14) and more second chance points (9-7). MSU Billings was also solid on the outside, shooting 6-17 (35.3 percent). BREEN’S ALL-AROUND GAME: Against Western Washington, Alisha Breen scored 16 points on 7-13 from the field while adding in five rebounds, three assists, and four steals. The junior is third in the league in points per game with 16.6 and 12th in rebounds with 5.7. While Breen topped 1,000 career points earlier in the season, this week the native of Choteau, Mont., has moved onto the MSUB all-time career list at No. 21 with a cumulative total of 1,084 points. She also passed the 500 mark in rebounds to tie No. 19 Tera Silvius (1992-95) at 505. OLSON ADJUSTS: Janiel Olson scored a team-best 12 points and had seven rebounds against Simon Fraser. For the week, Olson finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The forward is second in the GNAC in rebounds per game with 8.3 and is adding in 7.4 points. The Billings West High School graduate is now 11 rebounds shy of tying the all-time rebounding record at MSUB (Robyn Milne, 957, 2002-2005) and seven short of tying the No. 4 all-time in the GNAC (Heather Laats, 952, 1998-02). GRIMSRUD GAINING GROUND: Monica Grimsrud continued her double-digit scoring streak with games of 11 and 13 points last week and is averaging 10.3 points per game. The forward had five 3-pointers last week and has amassed 48 on the season. She is ranked sixth in the GNAC in made 3-pointers per game at 1.8. Last week, Grimsrud topped 600 career points (6-8) and is closing in on 400 career rebounds with 388 total.
POINTING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Point guard Rylee Kane finished with eight assists and 10 points last week. The sophomore also contributed three steals and three rebounds for the Yellowjackets. Kane is averaging 7.3 points on the floor for MSUB and is fourth in the GNAC with 4.6 assists per game. FILLING THE GAPS: Sophomore Marissa Van Atta scored nine points and added a block and steal in the game against Simon Fraser. Against WWU, Van Atta had seven points and a team-high eight rebounds. She also made two steals and an assist. The Billings Senior High School graduate is leading the team and is 11th in the conference in steals with 1.6 per game. A 3-POINT SPARK: In the game against Simon Fraser, junior Tiana Hanson scored seven points, including a 3-pointer that sparked the offensive restart of the MSUB team in the second half. Hanson just passed the 150 mark in points at MSUB and needs just one more rebound for 75 as a Yellowjacket. The junior is second in the GNAC in free-throw percentage at 88.0 (66-75). ON THE ARC AND FAST HANDS: Sophomores Vanessa Stavish and Lexi Prevost contributed important minutes in Tiana Hanson had 13 points and 6 rebounds in the first game vs. CWU. last week’s games. In 17 minutes against Simon Fraser, Stavish shot 3-4 from the 3-point arc and collected four rebounds for MSUB. Prevost was 2-2 from the free-throw line against Western Washington and had an assist and steal in six minutes off the bench. Stavish is seventh in the GNAC in 3-point percentage at 37.7 (29-77). Before MSU Billings heads to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington, the Crusaders will host the Wildcats on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 25 – at Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders – 5:15 p.m. 2015-16 Record: 11-13, 9-9 GNAC Head Coach: John Hartman (interim) First Meeting: MSUB 78, NNU 68 (at Alterowitz Gym, December 5, 2015) Although NNU has secured a spot in the postseason, this week the Crusaders are looking to improve their seeding. If Northwest Nazarene wins both games, they have the chance to move up a spot, and if they do, the Crusaders will play the team in fourth place rather than the team in third. NNU dropped games against Simon Fraser, Western Washington, and Alaska Anchorage, but since then have won games against Alaska, Western Oregon, and Concordia (Ore.). It has been over two and a half months since the Crusaders were in Billings, and since then NNU has made several adjustments, including a mid-season coaching change and the team’s starting lineup.
Ellie Logan (13.8 ppg) and Taylor Simmons (11.8 ppg) continue to lead the offense for the Crusaders. Behind Alaska Anchorage, NNU ranks second in the conference in points per contests at 71.5. The Crusaders are leading the GNAC at the free-throw line at 76.8 percent, are second in offensive rebounds with 39.9 per game, and are third in the league in steals with 9.5 per game. Behind Alaska Anchorage, the Crusaders are also the hottest team in the GNAC right now with their three-game win streak. CoCo Gall leads the team in rebounds (4.8 pg) with Logan (4.3 pg) just behind. Simmons is averaging a team-leading three steals per contest and is fifth in the GNAC in assists with 4.3 per game. Logan leads the league in free-throw percentage at 88.9 percent (96-108) with Simmons at sixth (82.7 percent, 81-98). Against Concordia (Ore.) last week, Logan had 18 points and was 6-6 from the free-throw line, while Simmons poured in 21 points and collected five rebounds. Starting forward Elayna Rice finished with a team-best eight rebounds while Simmons and starting guard Katie Swanson split the assists with four each. The last time NNU faced MSUB, Gall finished with 14 points, Simmons 13, and Logan 11 points and five rebounds. Rice had eight points and five rebounds. For MSUB, Breen poured in 25 points with Olson adding in 13 points and eight rebounds. The Series: (15-9, Away 5-7) Although MSUB holds an overall winning record (15-9) against the Crusaders, the games played in Nampa have been a tougher prospect. MSUB had a five-game win streak broken last season with an 86-85 loss on the road, having not dropped a game at NNU since the 2011 season. Last Time Out: The Yellowjackets shot 44.2 percent from the field and were 26-32 (81.3 percent) from the free-throw line. MSUB held its own off the glass, 37-36. Both teams had high turnovers 18-16, but MSUB held a slight edge in points from those 17-14. The bench provided 17 points for the Yellowjackets. NNU went to the free-throw line 19 times, making 14 of those and shot 4-16 from the 3-point arc. Saturday, February 27 – at Central Washington University Wildcats – 6:15 p.m. MTN 2015-16 Record: 16-10, 9-9 GNAC Head Coach: Jeff Harada, 2nd season First Meeting: MSUB 61, CWU 51 (at Alterowitz Gym, December 3, 2015) The Wildcats pulled themselves out of a five-game slump last week with a 61-46 win at home against Western Oregon. Although CWU had lost the five previous games, all of them were close, including a 69-61 run at Alaska Anchorage on the road. The Wildcats have several big wins on the season, including road wins against Seattle Pacific, Simon Fraser and Western Washington. Defense has been the hallmark of the Wildcats the past two seasons and this year Central Washington is second in holding teams defensively behind Alaska Anchorage. CWU is third in the GNAC in field goal percentage at 43.0 percent. Three players are heading up the offensive efforts for the Wildcats. Sophomore Jasmin Edwards (11.2 ppg), and seniors Jasmine Parker (10.4 ppg), and Mandy Steward (10.1 ppg) are all figuring in the double-digits. Alexis Berrysmith is adding 8.2 points per game and 5.2 rebounds. Parker is fifth in the GNAC in field goal percentage (51.2) and sixth in rebounds (7.7 pg). Edwards is third in the league in assists per game at 5.3, sixth in 3-point percentage (38.3), and third in assist/turnover ratio at 1.5.
In the first game of the conference season between CWU and MSUB, Edwards scored 17, Parker 15, and Steward 11 points and five rebounds. Edwards was 4-5 from the 3-point arc while Steward was 3-7. Breen (17), Hanson (13), and Kane (10) all had double-digit points. Hanson had six rebounds and three players finished with five each. Olson had a season-high six steals in the game to go along with seven points and five rebounds. The Series: (19-9, Away 8-5) MSUB has won the last 7-8 games against Central Washington, but did split the series last season against the Wildcats with a loss at home (75-54), but a win on the road (60-41). Last Time Out: MSU Billings played four solid quarters for the win over the Wildcats. In the first GNAC game of the season for both teams, each team shot above 40.0 percent from the field with MSUB slightly ahead 42.1-40.0. CWU was also above 40.0 percent from 3-point territory making 8-20, while MSUB was 5-15 (33.3 percent). The Yellowjackets had their lowest free-throw outing of the season, shooting 8-19 from the line (42.1 percent). Where the ‘Jackets did compete better was in the paint and in turnovers and transition points. MSUB outscored CWU 32-18 inside the key and forced 20 turnovers (making 12 steals) and scoring 18 points off of those turnovers. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--