ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Montana State University Billings women's basketball team finished on the wrong end of the scoreline in a tightly contested battle against Minnesota State University Moorhead, falling 61-55 on the second day of the CWU DII Tipoff Classic.
The Yellowjackets (0-2) were forced to overcome another deficit after a slow-shooting first quarter, and outscored the Dragons (2-0) in each of the three remaining quarters as they looked to come from behind for the second straight night. But despite the improvement in play, cutting the lead to one score multiple times, the Yellowjackets were unable to complete the rally, falling in a nail-biter for the second consecutive day.
"Today was another tough loss for us," MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. "We played against a tough, well coached Minnesota Moorhead team. The game was similar to yesterday where we just fell behind big early when we struggled to put the ball in the basket, and it forced us to work from a deficit. Again our team did a great job to fight back and make the game close, we fought to get the game within one possession, but just faded late and couldn't get it done."
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For the 'Jackets, Rae Smart led the team in scoring with 18 points, shooting an efficient 8-13 from the field and adding six rebounds, and a pair of assists and steals. Cassie Chesnut and Molly Hays each scored 10 points, with Chesnut posting her second straight double-double with 11 rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Hays meanwhile added four assists, four rebounds and two steals to her stat line. Lauren Kuhbacher and Brooklynn Brennan each scored five points, while Layla Baumann and Tailey Harris each scored four, with Baumann adding three rebounds to go with a block and a steal, and Harris dishing out four assists while collecting two steals.
A difficult first quarter saw MSUB shoot just 2-19 (10.5%) across the opening 10 minutes, struggling out of the gate while the Dragons jumped out to a 16-4 lead. Moorhead maintained a strong performance in the second quarter, but the Yellowjackets began to bounce back on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 50% from the field and knocking down 3-7 (42.9%) of their looks from beyond the arc. The gap remained double digits as both teams played nearly even though, with MSUB trailing 31-20 heading into halftime.
The Yellowjackets came storming back as the third quarter began, opening the period on a run to come storming back to within one point of regaining the lead. The Dragons responded with baskets throughout the rest of the quarter to keep the lead just out of reach for MSUB, before hitting a big 3-pointer late in the third to push the lead back to six for MSU Moorhead heading into the fourth quarter. The 'Jackets continued to push their opposition to the brink, but despite the Yellowjackets forcing them to bend, the Dragons never broke, with a mid-quarter 8-2 run restoring a small cushion that they held onto the rest of the way, taking the win over the 'Jackets.
"Our staff and our players know that we need to just stick together and find a way to perform better early," Woodin said. "We haven't held a lead once in the tournament so far, and our slow starts have been the main cause of our defeats. These are great learning experiences, and hopefully tomorrow we are able to get off to a better start and get our first win of the season. There's lot of great competition, but time is of the essence for us to figure things out. I'm confident that we will get better and we have another opportunity to improve tomorrow."
The buzz
Smart was named the Player of the Game.
Up next
The Yellowjackets wrap up their final day of CWU DII Tipoff Classic action Oct. 31 when they face off against Midwestern State University. Tipoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. MT (9 a.m. PT), with live video available on the GNAC Network, and live statistics available online here.
