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Coach Harris Post-Game Interview                      Kumm Post-Game Interview
 
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Billings, Mont. – In the “Battle of Billings” basketball double-header event, the Montana State Billings women's basketball team put together a complete team effort over intercity rival Rocky Mountain College. The Yellowjackets extended their winning streak to six games as they defeated the Battlin' Bears 74-42.
 
MSUB entered the contest owning a 13 game winning streak over their counterpart and now lead the series 59-14. The Yellowjackets remain unbeaten at Alterowitz Gymnasium in 2012-13 and are now 8-2 overall on the season.
 
The Jackets' depth and talent in all positions proved to be too much for Rocky. MSUB's reserves came out and played another great game, combining for 35 points, 19 rebounds, four assists and seven steals. Annie DePuydt led all scorers and rebounders with 12 points on 6-9 shooting, and eight rebounds. Monica Grimsrud poured in 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Both DePuydt's and Grimsrud's rebounding totals were career highs.
 
Austin Hanser and Brandy Kumm scored six points each, with Kumm's point total being her highest output of the 2012-13 season.
 
“Our bench was tremendous tonight,” stated head coach Kevin Woodin. “In the first half Grimsrud, DePuydt and Hanser gave us some great minutes. I thought DePuydt's two steals and put backs in the backcourt really gave us some momentum. Brooke Tolman played a solid first half at both ends and Knudsen distributed the ball well in transition.” 

The Yellowjackets' starters were solid on the night as Bobbi Knudsen and Kayleen Goggins both scored in double figures with 11 points each. While Knudsen was below her scoring average she did a great job of getting her teammates involved finishing with seven assists.
 
The Battlin' Bears competed throughout the contest but didn't have the offensive fire power to keep up with MSUB. Rocky only had one player score in double figures as Kalli McCloskey led the team with 10 points. Brittany Kumm, older sister of Brandy, and Taylor Horst each contributed nine points to the Battlin' Bears cause.
 
As a team the Yellowjackets had one of their more efficient offensive outputs going 45.6 percent from the field. MSUB uncharacteristically had more turnovers than usual finishing with 15 on the night; and shoot poor from the free throw line as they went 37.5 percent.
 
Defensively, MSUB kept the pressure up all night forcing Rocky into 22 turnovers and snatching 35 defensive rebounds. The Jackets out-rebounded the opposition 46-29 on the night. MSUB also forced the Battlin' Bears to shoot 27.1 percent from the field (16-59).
 
Both teams battled back and forth early in the first half with MSUB holding an eight point advantage, 22-14, at the 10:10 mark. Rocky cut the lead to five, 22-17, with 9:55 remaining on a three-pointer by Horst.
 
The Yellowjackets surged ahead with a 19-0 run to give them a commanding 24 point advantage, 41-17, with 4:14 remaining. The Battlin' Bears were not able to make a considerable cut in MSUB's lead and eventually entered the half down, 47-25.
 
“Rocky started fast tonight, they really shot the ball well early from the perimeter,” Woodin said. “I thought we played better as the half progressed. Our zone defense was exploited early but I thought our defense improved when we changed to player to player defense and then Coach Harris did a good job of mixing defenses throughout the half.”

Rocky came out hot with a 9-2 run at the start of the second half and pulled within 15 of MSUB, 49-34, at the 15:25 mark. The Yellowjackets did not get flustered and pushed their lead back to 26, 64-38, as they countered with a 15-4 run of their own as 8:43 remained on the clock.
 
MSUB would not give their opponent a chance to get back into the contest and held the Battlin' Bears to just five more points in the contest as they went ahead to capture the 32 point victory, 74-42.
 
“I thought our team played better together in the second half,” stated Woodin. “We rebounded the ball much better and got some extra opportunities on the offensive end. Everyone who played in the second half contributed but it was nice to see Kumm knock down a couple of threes as well. Overall it was a great win for our team tonight and we are looking forward to playing UM-Western on Wednesday.”

The Yellowjackets next bout will also be a double-header event on Wednesday, Dec. 19 against interstate opponent University of Montana-Western. While the men's game will be a non-conference regular season contest, the women's match will be an exhibition. MSUB women and the Bulldogs will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Fans that are unable to attend the event can catch the action live through our web streaming and live stats link below.
 
Web stream and live stats