FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu February 8, 2017 MSUB heads out for road trip to Oregon MSUB Women’s Basketball on Facebook | MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU | GNAC Standings Preview Interviews with Brina Hull and head coach Kevin Woodin
Brina Hull and the Yellowjackets are headed out on the road for the last GNAC regular season road trip.
MSU Billings is finishing their GNAC regular season road slate with a pair of games at Western Oregon and Concordia Portland. BILLINGS, Mont. – With three weeks left in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season, the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team is heading out for their last road trip with games at Western Oregon and Concordia Portland. Montana State University Billings earned a split last week in a pair of games at home with a 71-57 win over Saint Martin’s followed by a 98-57 loss to Seattle Pacific. In the GNAC, three teams have secured a place in the conference tournament as Alaska Anchorage (14-0), Western Washington (13-1), and Simon Fraser (11-3) have all won enough games to be included in the top-6 places at the championships taking place Mar. 2-4, in Lacey, Wash.
With six games left in the regular season, at 4-10, the Yellowjackets are in a tie for eighth place in the conference. Alone in the fourth spot Seattle Pacific has a 9-5 conference record, Alaska is an even 7-7, Northwest Nazarene is 6-8, and Concordia is 6-9. The ‘Jackets are tied with Central Washington who also have a record of 4-10 in the conference standings. With three weeks left to reach the conference championships, MSUB would have to win a significant amount of games and have some help in order to secure one of the three remaining spots. The first challenge comes this weekend as the Yellowjackets have their final regular season road trip against two teams MSUB defeated earlier in the season at home. Both games at home were extremely competitive and the Yellowjackets had to play complete games on both ends of the floor with standout performances in several areas in the wins. SENIOR LEADERSHIP: As the one active senior on the roster, Tiana Hanson has been an instrumental leader for the Yellowjacket squad. The 6-foot forward from Shepherd, Mont., is fourth in the GNAC in points with 15.7 per game and fifth in rebounds at 6.7. Hanson is also seventh in the GNAC in free-throw percentage at 84.9 percent (107-for-126). In the win over Saint Martin’s, Hanson matched a career-high of 24 points adding in eight rebounds and five assists. In career points, Hanson topped the 500 mark last week at 507. FLOOR GENERAL: Junior point guard Rylee Kane is averaging 11.7 points per game and is third in the GNAC in assists (5.4 pg). Kane finished with 17 points and 14 assists last week. Kane was one assist shy of her career-high of 10 against Saint Martin’s. CONSISTENT VAN ATTA: Marissa Van Atta finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for MSUB last week. Against Saint Martin’s, Van Atta posted 14 points and nine rebounds, including shooting 2-for-3 from the 3-point arc. The junior is averaging 9.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Against Seattle Pacific, the junior forward continued her streak at the free-throw line shooting 2-for-2, making her 21-for-21 in the last 11 games, having not missed a shot from the foul line since the game against Alaska on Dec. 29, 2016. STARTING ROLE: Lexi Prevost provided 11 points against SMU and eight versus SPU. The junior from Sidney, Mont., had four rebounds in each game with five total 3-pointers. Prevost leads the team and is 13th in the GNAC in 3-pointers made per game with 1.3 with 28 total this season. Grace Weeks was just shy of a double-double against SMU with eight points and nine rebounds. The junior is averaging 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. MSUB RESERVES: Sophomore Brina Hull scored a career-high 14 points in the win against Saint Martin’s. She shot 5-for8 from the field and 3-for-5 from the 3-point arc. Hull also had three rebounds and an assist last week. Taylor Cunningham had four points and three rebounds last week. Jeanann Lemelin contributed 17 minutes on the floor for MSUB. BY THE NUMBERS: MSUB is averaging 59.5 points per game and 29.5 rebounds. The ‘Jackets are shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 28.5 percent from outside. Thursday, Feb. 9 – at Western Oregon University Wolves– 8:00 p.m. Mountain time New P.E. Building | Monmouth, Ore. | Live Stats | Live Video 2016-17 Record: 7-14, 3-11 GNAC Head Coach: Holli Howard-Carpenter, 4th season 2015-16 Record: 4-24, 3-17 GNAC, 11th
Western Oregon will be looking to get back into the win column as the Wolves are on a five game skid. WOU fell to Concordia Portland on Tuesday, but prior to that faced the top-4 teams in the GNAC. Western Oregon is averaging 61.5 points per game and 35.6 rebounds. Shelby Snook is leading the Wolves with 14.6 points per game and is fourth in the GNAC with 2.2 3-pointers. Snook is also second in the GNAC in minutes on the court with 34.8 per game. Sydney Azorr is factoring into double-digits with 10.3 points per game. Jasmine Miller leads the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. In Billings against the Yellowjackets, WOU poured in 15 3-pointers, led by 30 points and 8 3-pointers from Snook. MSUB worked to a 23-17 lead after the first 10 minutes and won each of the remaining quarters by a single point in the win. Kane with a career-high 25 points and Hanson just one shy of her career-total at 23 points were the ballasts for MSUB. Kane shot 12-for-24 from the field. Hanson had a double-double with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Prevost had 10 points and five assists. MSUB led by 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter. Snook had four 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes, including one that dropped the deficit down to six points, 70-64, with 26 seconds remaining. Solid free-throw shooting in the game and in the final five minutes kept the ‘Jackets ahead. Hanson was 9-for-9 from the foul line. This game will be WOU’s Play for Kay Night. Last year in Billings was the ROOT SPORTS Game of the Week and Pink Night for the Yellowjackets. All-Time Record (26-11): MSUB has won the last seven of eight games against the Wolves and hasn’t lost to WOU on the road since Jan. 5, 2013. Saturday, Feb. 11 – Concordia University Portland Cavaliers – 3:00 p.m. Mountain time LCEF Court | Portland, Ore. | Live Stats | Live Video 2016-17 Record: 9-14, 6-9 GNAC Head Coach: Sean Kelly, 12th season 2015-16 Record: 6-22, 4-16 GNAC, 10th At 6-9 in the GNAC, the Cavaliers are very much in the hunt for a place in the GNAC tournament. On Tuesday, CU defeated Western Oregon on the road 69-56. In the GNAC statistics, the Cavaliers are in the middle of most categories, with the exception of blocked shots, where they lead the conference with 4.8 per game. Danielle Hartzog is averaging 12.1 points per game. Bailey Cartwright in fourth in the GNAC with 6.9 rebounds per game. The Cavaliers have the top-2 leaders in blocked shots. Jordyn Peacock is posting 2.3 blocked shots per game with Cartwright second at 1.2. In the last game against CU, the ‘Jackets held on for a 69-65 win. MSUB had a good first half, scoring 24 points in the first quarter, leading 37-24 at half-time. The Yellowjackets withstood a rally by the Cav’s in the third quarter, but produced an even final quarter for the win. Concordia Portland caught up in the last quarter, taking the lead on a jumper from Peacock for 59-56. A crucial steal by Van Atta turned into a 3-point play that tied the game. After a pair of free-throws from Cartwright, Van Atta came up
clutch again. With one second on the shot clock, Kane dished the ball to Van Atta who just managed to hit a jump shot to keep the score tied. Hanson was 4-for-4 in the final 20 seconds at the free-throw line. All-Time Record (3-0, 1-0 Away): MSUB has won all three games against the Cavaliers since CU joined the GNAC last year. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--