BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings women's basketball team returns home for a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference games after splitting a pair of road-contests that included a close, 59-50 loss to ninth-ranked University of Alaska Anchorage followed by an 84-58 thrashing of Alaska Fairbanks.
 
On Thursday, the Yellowjacket women (11-6, 3-3 GNAC) will take on the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene University (9-4, 3-2 GNAC) at 7 p.m. MSUB will then turn their attention to Central Washington University (4-8, 1-4 GNAC) on Saturday with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 
Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington most recently played each other with the Crusaders coming out victorious in a 91-88 overtime game on NNU's home court. Both programs have played just three games since the break with NNU going 2-1 since the holiday break while CWU has done just the opposite, going 1-2.
 
MSUB as a team is currently averaging 67.8 points per outing while limiting their opponents to a conference second-lowest 58.8 points per game.
 
Despite losing the turnover battle the last two games, the Yellowjackets continue to lead the league in turnover margin at +5.29. MSUB has forced their opposition to turn the ball over 331 times, which is only second in the league to #9 Alaska Anchorage, and MSUB is currently 13^th in the nation as they average a league-low 14.2 turnovers per game.
 
Sophomore guard Bobbi Knudsen presently averages a GNAC second-best 16.8 points per game to lead the team in scoring, but when it comes to GNAC competition, her average rises to 17.7 points per league game. The Malta High School product averages 3.9 assists per game as she has a league-best 67 total assists on the season. Knudsen is tied with senior Kalli Stanhope for sixth in the league with an average of 1.6 treys per game.
 
Freshman shooting-guard Quinn Peoples is the other member of head coach Kevin Woodin's squad averaging double-digit points at this point in the season as she averages 10.3 points per game, but that average goes up to 13.7 points per GNAC outing. The Butte native leads the league in free-throw percentage as she has converted 31 of her 35 attempts (.886) from the charity stripe and is currently third with 2.0 three-pointers per game as she has drained 34 total treys so far this season.
 
Under the basket, Janiel Olson brings down 8.1 boards per game to lead the team with 138 total rebounds while fellow freshman Kayleen Goggins averages a team second-best five boards per game.
 
The Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene boast the GNAC's second-best scoring offense as they average 75.4 points per game, but at the same time, they are giving up 63.6 points per outing. The Crusaders lead the league in steals per game at 12.2 and are second in turnover margin at +4.46.
 
NNU's Megan Hingston leads the GNAC with an average of 17.3 points per game with Briaunna King close behind with 16.5 points per outing, good enough for fourth-best in the league.
 
King is also ninth in the conference in regards to field goal percentage at .513. She averages a conference fifth-best 8.8 rebounds per game, pulling down 114 total rebounds this season, while teammate Megan Hingston is currently ninth-best in boards per game as she averages 7.2.
 
Three Crusaders are in the top-10 for free-throw percentage with King leading the way as she has converted 54 of her 65 attempts (.831) from the stripe.
 
Central Washington is currently averaging 71.1 points per game, but also gives up 70.8 points per contest for a scoring margin of just +0.2. The close scoring margin is due, in part, to the Wildcats allowing opponents to hit on a league-worst 45.8% of their shots against CWU.
 
Despite allowing opposition to make just over 45% of their shots, the Wildcats lead the conference with 8.9 treys per outing and their 107 total three-pointers are second only to MSUB's 129 treys in total three-pointers made this season.
 
Three Wildcats are currently in the top-10 for three-point field goal percentage with Kelsi Jacobson leading the way on the team with a conference second-best .481 shooting percentage beyond the arc.
 
But leading scorer Jessica VanDyke, who averages 14.8 points per outing, has made a team-best 35 total treys this season and is averaging a conference-best 2.9 three-pointers per game which is good enough for 14^th-best in the nation.