FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu November 11, 2016 Career-highs from Kane and Edwards in 88-60 loss to No. 17 UC San Diego MSUB Women’s Basketball on Facebook | MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU | Box Score
Junior Rylee Kane led the Yellowjackets scoring 16 points in the opening-season loss to No. 17 UC San Diego.
At the San Marcos Classic, the MSUB women’s basketball team falls behind in the second quarter and unable to make up the difference comes away with an 88-60 loss to No. 17 UC San Diego during the first game of the 2016-17 season. SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Yellowjackets held their own for the opening quarter, but a strong all-court surge from No. 17 UC San Diego led to a 25-8 scoring margin in the second quarter as MSU Billings fell 88-60 during the opening-season game for both teams at the Cal State San Marcos Classic Friday at The Sports Center. Junior Rylee Kane poured in a career-high 16 points and sophomore Taylor Edwards topped her career best with 13, but the Yellowjackets were unable to find an answer for a tough all-court effort from the nationally-ranked Tritons during the first regular season game for both teams. “We were very inconsistent tonight in a couple of the quarters,” MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. “I thought we played well in the first and third quarters, but we just didn’t have the stamina to play with UCSD. They are an excellent team and you can tell why they are ranked so high.”
“I saw glimpses of good basketball from us,” Woodin continued. “We are just going to be a work in progress as we adjust to playing with the roster we have now. Our effort was very good, we will just need to execute better. Tonight I thought Rylee had a solid game especially in the second half. She is going to need to score more this year and she did that. Taylor also competed hard and made some shots.” Kane scored 16 points on 50.0 percent shooting from the field (6-12) and was 4-4 from the free-throw line. The guard from Red Lodge, Mont., matched her career-high of eight assists with no turnovers, and added two rebounds. Edwards finished with 13 points on 44.4 percent shooting, 4-9 from the field, and was also 4-4 from the foul-line. Led by a game-high 18 points from junior Dalayna Sampton, five players from UCSD (1-0) scored points in double-digits. The Tritons combined for 11 3-pointers from the outside on 37.9 percent shooting. MSU Billings finished with four 3pointers on 14 attempts for 27.6 percent. From the field, MSUB shot a respectable 33.9 percent (20-59), but were outdone by 50.7 percent (34-67) from UCSD. Off the glass, the Tritons out-rebounded MSUB 40-33. At the free-throw line MSUB finished ahead, completing 16-22 (72.7 percent) while UCSD was 9-15 (60.0 percent). Montana State University Billings (0-1) matched-up well in the first 10 minutes, falling behind earlier by 10, 15-5, but able to make it a one-point game at the start of the second quarter. Free-throws from Edwards and Marissa Van Atta cut the deficit to four, 17-13, with just under two minutes left in the opening quarter. A jump shot from Van Atta off an assist from Tiana Hanson closed the gap to three points, and a pass to Edwards from Kane led to a just a single point difference in the scoreboard, 20-19, at the start of the second quarter. Pulling away, the Tritons embarked on a 20-6 scoring run to open up a 40-25 lead at half-time. The UC San Diego defense played a cleaner quarter and the Tritons offense began to benefit from their ball movement, creating uncontested shots throughout the court. The Yellowjacket offense began forcing shoots and missing open looks as the Tritons closed ranks under the rim. Not giving up, MSUB made adjustments at half-time, coming back out onto the floor and out-scoring UCSD 19-12 in the third quarter. The Yellowjackets finished the third frame on a 15-3 scoring swell. A Kane jump shot kicked-off the scoring splash. Hanson knocked-down a 3-point shot and Lexi Prevost made her own 3-point bucket to pull MSUB within 13, 5340. Kane dropped the gap to 11 at the end of the quarter, sinking a pair of free throws and a jump shot after a defensive rebound from Prevost for 55-44. The Tritons scored 31 points to 16 from MSU Billings in the final 10 minutes. USCD notched six 3-pointers in the quarter, including back-to-back long range shots from freshman Sydney Sharp. MSUB’s Grace Weeks scored her own consecutive baskets, a layup and a jump shot in the middle to close to 14 points, 67-53, with 6:18 left in the game. Another scoring spurt from the Tritons resulted in a 21-7 run leading to the largest gap of the game at 30 points. Edwards finished the game’s scoring with a jump shot. Hanson posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Yellowjackets. Weeks added eight points, Prevost seven, and Weeks six. Three Yellowjackets pulled in four rebounds. Jeanann Lemelin and Taylor Cunningham recorded a steal each in their collegiate debut. THE BUZZ: Kane broke her previous career-high of 15 points which she completed in a game last season in California against Cal State San Bernardino…Edwards’ previous high was four points…Hanson recorded a career-high in rebounds
with 10, besting her previous high of six‌MSUB is now 3-1 against UC San Diego having previously won the last three meetings‌ Kane chosen the St. Vincent Healthcare Athlete of the Game in the first contest of the 2016-17 season. UP NEXT: MSUB has one more game at The Sports Center during the San Marcos Classic. The Yellowjackets will play host CSUSM on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 8:30 p.m. Mountain time. Links to live coverage for the game are available on msubsports.com. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--