Box Score

BURNABY, B.C. – Freshman forward Kayleen Goggins led the Montana State Billings women's basketball team with 12 points and seven rebounds, but it was not enough to lift the Yellowjackets to victory as they dropped their fourth-straight game of the season, this time to the Clan of Simon Fraser University 62-52 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon in the SFU West Gym.
 
The loss marks the first time the Clan has defeated the Yellowjackets since the two programs started playing each other as the Yellowjackets fall to 3-4 overall and are now 0-2 in league action after opening the season on a three-game winning streak. The Clan is now 5-1 overall, 2-0 GNAC, and have now stretched their current winning streak to three games.
 
The 'Jackets continued to struggle to shoot the ball, hitting only 17 of their 51 shots from the field for a 33.3% shooting performance while the Clan hit on 46.7% (21-45) of their shots from the field.
 
For the first time this season, MSUB lost the turnover battle as they committed 19 turnovers while forcing SFU to relinquish the ball 17 times. However, the Yellowjacket did win the battle under the net as they had 10 second chance points to the Clan's seven
 
Goggins was one of three MSUB players to record double-digit points as she paced the squad with her 12 points and team-high seven boards. Five of her rebounds came off the defensive glass.
 
Fellow freshman Quinn Peoples and sophomore point guard Bobbi Knudsen were held to just 10 points each. Lone senior Kalli Stanhope hit all three of her three-point attempts to record nine points.
 
SFU's Kristina Collins led all players with an impressive 26 points including six three-pointers while Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe had a points-rebounds double-double effort with 12 points and 14 boards.
 
Neither team could put distance on the other early on in the first half as the lead changed hands nine times. The Yellowjackets could only muster a four-point lead twice in the opening stanza before the Clan was able to extend their lead out to seven at one point before a pair of free throws by Goggins and a trey swished by Brooke Tolman cut the lead to just a three-point advantage (28-25) for SFU heading into the locker room at half time.
 
Still feeding off the momentum gained at the end of the first stanza, the Yellowjackets came out of the locker room firing as Knudsen forced an SFU turnover and dished the ball to Stanhope who nailed a trey to tie the game at 28-all less than a minute into the second half of play.
 
An 11-4 run capped by a Knudsen knocking down a three over the next three minutes would see MSUB gain a brief seven-point lead. But the Clan came prepared for battle as they cut into the Yellowjackets' seven-point cushion; eventually reclaiming a two-point lead when Collins hit one of her half dozen threes with just over 13 minutes left to play.
 
Despite a few hard charges by the young Yellowjacket squad, SFU would never again relinquish the lead as they kept a fast-paced tempo until the final buzzer.
 
The 'Jacket women will now take a six-game break from their GNAC slate, including a pair of home non-conference match-ups next Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Dec. 9, Black Hills State University will travel to Billings for a 7 p.m. game before MSUB hosts South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. as part of a men's and women's basketball double header. The men will follow shortly after the conclusion of the women's game against in-town rival Rocky Mountain College.