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BILLINGS, Mont. – Youth was served Saturday as a core of young players contributed strong opening performances to the Montana State University Billings' women's basketball team as the Yellowjackets (1-0) opened their 2011-12 regular season with an emphatic 77-50 win over the visiting Eagles of Chadron State College (0-1) Saturday afternoon inside Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
“I really liked our intensity and teamwork throughout the entire game,” said head coach Kevin Woodin. “Our team played better team defense and rebounded a lot better than we did at Rocky on Wednesday night during the exhibition game. I also felt like offensively, we made the extra pass a lot more which was nice.”

Freshman Janiel Olson kicked off her freshman campaign with a double-double effort, tallying 13 points and corralling in a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Yellowjackets. The freshman forward was 6-13 from the field and brought in six of her boards off the offensive glass.
 
Sophomore returning guard Bobbi Knudsen registered a team-high 14 points to lead MSUB in scoring. She also led all players with three steals and six assists.
 
The third and final Yellowjacket in double-digit points at the end of the contest was two-sport athlete Brooke Tolman who had 11 points to go along with two steals and three boards.
 
Chadron's Kaitlin Petri led all scorers with 21 points, but as a team, the Eagles struggled to shoot 27.8% (15-54) from the field.
 
MSUB entered the intermission clinging to an eight-point lead (39-31) after Knudsen knocked down a jump shot with nine seconds remaining.
 
Coming out of halftime, it would be Knudsen once again scoring, this time off a layup to kick-start the second half.
 
The Eagles would respond however and the two teams would trade points back and forth over the opening minutes of the second half as the 'Jackets slowly added to their lead.
 
With 9:18 remaining in regulation, MSUB had extended their lead to 19 points before Knudsen knocked down another jumper to extend the lead up to 21.
 
Petri knocked down a pair free throws to pull CSC within 18 with 6:34 remaining but the Yellowjacket lead would not dip below 20 for the rest of the contest. Instead, MSUB stretched the lead out to as many as the final 27 points with the final 3:11 of the game passing scoreless.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets hit 45.1% (32-71) of their shots from the field and went 5-9 from the charity stripe.
 
“Overall, I was very pleased,” stated Woodin. “Everyone on our team contributed to this victory which I feel prepared us for Montana – Western next Friday. They have a very good team that will be a great challenge for us.”
The Yellowjackets will now turn their attention to the University of Montana – Western who will travel to Billings for a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Nov. 18.