Coach Woodin earns 200th career victory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu January 16, 2016 Coach Woodin earns 200th career victory in 60-37 defeat of Western Oregon MSUB Women’s Basketball on Facebook MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU GNAC Standings Interactive Box Score

MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin earned his 200th career victory with the 60-37 win against Western Oregon.

A combination of sharp shooting and stifling defense propels MSUB to a 60-37 victory over Western Oregon, improving the Yellowjackets to a 7-1 record in the GNAC. MONMOUTH, Ore. - Stifling defense and sharp shooting from the MSUB women's basketball team earned the Yellowjackets a 60-37 win at Western Oregon Saturday. The victory improves MSU Billings to a 7-1 record in the GNAC and gives head coach Kevin Woodin his 200th career win at the helm of the Yellowjacket women's basketball program.

Montana State University Billings (11-5, 7-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 23-10 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Senior Monica Grimsrud delivered all of her team-high 14 points in the first half. For the game, Grimsrud shot 5-10 from the field and 4-6 from the 3-point arc.

Senior Janiel Olson registered 12 points and eight rebounds while sophomore Rylee Kane chipped in six assists. The Yellowjackets finished the game shooting 21-47 for 44.7 percent from the field and made 9-21 from 3-point territory.

The MSUB defense held Western Oregon (3-13, 2-6 GNAC) to the lowest score of the season in GNAC women’s basketball at 37 total points. The Yellowjackets made nine steals and recorded 23 points off of turnovers in the contest.

MSUB led by as many as 29 points in the game as the ‘Jackets forced 18 turnovers and held WOU to 30.0 percent (15-50) shooting.

“It was a great win for us,” Woodin said. “I thought our entire team contributed in a positive way today. I really liked our focus from the beginning of the game and throughout. I wish I could bottle this up I was so impressed with how hard we were competing.”

“We had a goal to have a 2-0 road trip this year so it is nice to achieve that,” Woodin continued. “Coach Heringer had our team well-prepared defensively. I though our help-side was very good tonight. We had great pressure on the ball as well. Offensively, Monica was really hot early and I though we shot the ball extremely well in the first half and then overall were very good.”

Four minutes into the game, a layup from WOU’s Emily Howey gave the Wolves an early 6-4 lead, but MSUB fired back with a 19-4 scoring drive to finish the quarter ahead by 13 points. Olson shot a 3-pointer from the outside and Grimsrud rained in three 3-point buckets in-a-row for a big momentum shift.

Olson led off the second quarter with MSUB’s fifth 3-point shot of the game and Marissa Van Atta stretched the MSUB lead to 20 with a short jump shot on the outside of the key. Kane converted a WOU turnover into a 3-point play with a layup and free-throw after a foul and Alisha Breen finished the half with a layup pushing the ‘Jackets ahead 37-15 at the break.

“In the second half, give Western Oregon credit,” Woodin said. “They came out with more intensity than us to cut into our lead, but I thought we responded and finished the quarter very well. I think our bench was important tonight. I thought Lexi helped us and Vanessa hit a couple of big three’s, but it was definitely a total team victory.”

Western Oregon engaged on a 6-0 scoring effort including a jumper from Kelsey Henry to drop the deficit to 18, 39-21.

The Yellowjackets responded with another offensive onslaught. Vanessa Stavish shot back-to-back 3-pointers and a 3pointer from Breen at the end of the third quarter gave MSUB its largest lead of the game at 54-25.

The fourth quarter was the slowest of the game as MSUB picked up just six points. Tiana Hanson and Lexi Prevost each collected a free-throw and Olson made two layups. Western Oregon won the last 10 minutes of the game scoring eight points. WOU’s Jazmin Bembry ended the game with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close out the scoring.

Sydney Azorr led Western Oregon with seven points and four assists. Howey had six rebounds. The Wolves collected seven steals with Henry swiping three.

THE BUZZ: Coach Woodin earned his 200th career victory with the win over Western Oregon… Woodin became the winningest women's basketball head coach at MSUB back on Dec.3 against Central Washington and now holds a 200130 career record.

UP NEXT: MSU Billings returns home to host four straight GNAC contests. Next week, MSUB hosts Western Washington on Thursday, Jan. 21, followed by a game against Simon Fraser on Saturday, Jan. 23. Both games are double-headers with the MSUB men’s team. The women’s games will begin at 5:15 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday is the inaugural Military Appreciation Night at MSUB where all U.S. military members with a valid I.D. and their families are admitted to the games free-of-charge.

“It will be nice to be home for a couple of weeks,” Woodin said. “I look forward to playing Western Washington and Simon Fraser as they are two great teams so it should be excellent GNAC competition.”

--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--