Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Montana State-Billings outscored Alaska 46-25 and held a commanding 32-15 advantage on the glass in the second half en route to an 84-58 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory Saturday afternoon at the Patty Center.
“I think we did a really good rebounding in the first half, we just needed to carry that over to the second,” head coach
Cody Burgess said. “We had a lot of looks that we wanted but didn't get as many shots to go in.
Bobbi Knudsen led five Yellowjackets (11-6, 3-3 GNAC) in double figures with a team-high 17 points on seven of 12 shooting, to go with her four assists, which tied a game-high.
Quinn Peoples and
Kayleen Goggins each contributed 15 points apiece, while
Monica Grimsrud and
Brooke Tolman added 13 and 11 points off the bench, respectively.
Janiel Olson led the Billings with 11 rebounds while Tolman tied Knudsen with four dimes.
MSUB shot better than 43-percent (29-67) for the game, while limiting the Nanooks (4-11, 0-5 GNAC) to just 28-percent (18-64). From beyond the arc, the Jackets made 11 treys to finish just shy of 41-percent (11-27), while the 'Nooks struggled from outside, making only six of 25 tries (.240). It was dominant on the boards by a 53-37 margin, including 19-17 on the offensive end and also dished out 15 assists on its 29 made field goals in the win.
Burgess touched on the team taking 15 more outside shots today, as opposed to the 10 it took Thursday. “We drove quite a bit in the first half and Benissa and Nicole were able to get to the rim,” Burgess said. “Billings tried to change it up a bit on us and get us out of sync and they did that with the 2-3 zone.”
Redshirt senior
Nicole Bozek (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak) paced the UAF offense as she posted her third double-double of the season with game-highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds. She made it to the free throw line 13 times, connecting on 11 attempts (.846).
“
Nicole Bozek had a good game and worked very hard under the basket,” Burgess said.
Freshman guard
Nicole Hartzog (Beaverton, Ore./Beaverton) also scored in double figures with 16 points, while freshman guard
Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino Fundamental) added nine points in her first career start.
The first half went back and forth as neither team held a lead greater than five points. There were five lead changes and three ties, but with the Yellowjackets leading 30-29 with just over two minutes remaining, they scored eight the half's final 12 points to take their largest lead of 38-33 into the locker room.
Billings surged out of the break with a 10-0 run in the first 2:27 to hold a 48-33 advantage. After Bozek completed an old-fashioned three-point play with the hoop and a free throw on the ensuing possession, MSUB came right back with 13 of the game's next 16 points to take control at 61-39 with 12:09 to go. The Nanooks never came closer than 19 the rest of the way as the Yellowjackets led by as many as 31 late in the contest.
Alaska returns to action next Thursday when it opens up a two-game road trip at Western Washington, followed by a Saturday matchup at Simon Fraser. Both games are set for a 7 p.m. (PST) start.
For next week, Burgess said the team will work on simply, “team defense.” “If someone gets beat, you have to know your teammates are there for you. We will try to work on our full-court press a little bit more and right now, it's just about heart and being ready to play 40 minutes.”
