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BILLINGS, Mont. – Thursday night's game came down to the final seconds of regulation as the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team found themselves down just a single point with just under a minute remaining. Despite excellent full-court pressure that forced a turnover by Simon Fraser, the Yellowjackets were unable to produce the needed points to win, falling 50-49 at home to the Clan.
 
The loss is the second in a row for the Yellowjackets (18-10, 10-7 GNAC) and marks the first time since early December that MSUB's women have dropped multiple games in a row. The win coupled with a Seattle Pacific University loss to Western Washington University Thursday night moves the Clan (16-9, 11-6 GNAC) into sole possession of third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings while MSUB and SPU remain tied for fourth.
 
“This was a difficult loss for us tonight,” said head coach Kevin Woodin. “We are really struggling to finish games at home for some reason. We just are not shooting very well and I need to do a better job to prepare us for that. Once again we were able to keep our turnovers down, but we got beat on the boards by a very good team. I definitely give them the credit, but we still have to shoot the ball better.
 
“Bobbi was great again for us and had several big shots, but we need other people to step up when it's their turn. We need to get offense from others.”
 
The Yellowjackets ended the game shooing 32.8% (20-61) from the field but struggled from three-point range. Despite the three-ball being one of the stronger aspects of MSUB's offensive attack, the 'Jackets hit just six of their 26 attempts (23.1%) from beyond the arc.
 
Sophomore guard Bobbi Knudsen had an extremely stout performance from the field, going 11-18 from the field while tallying a game-high 27 points. The Malta native ended the night with team-highs in rebounds (5) and treys (3) to go along with a trio of steals after knocking down 11 points in the first half of play.
 
The Clan was able to shoot 44.2% (19-43) from the field, taking only 17 shots in the second half of play. SFU struggled to hold onto the ball despite the win as the Yellowjackets forced the Clan to turn the ball over 25 times.
 
The Yellowjackets were able to limit GNAC leading-scorer Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe for most of the game after the Clan's center scored 37 points last Saturday in a loss to Northwest Nazarene University. Thursday night, MSUB held her to just nine points in the first half, but she was able to produce more offensively in the second half as she worked her way up to 20 total points while also corralling in 17 total rebounds for a double-double.
 
Montana State Billings held the lead through most of the first half of play, but Simon Fraser was able to edge out an advantage with just six minutes remaining in the first stanza when Rebecca Langmead put up a layup. The Clan would extend their lead out to four points by intermission (27-23).
 
The two programs swapped the lead back and forth several times in the second half with neither gaining more than a four-point advantage.
 
The closing minutes and seconds saw a lot of action despite a lack of scoring as Kristina Collins put SFU up by four points with 1:24 remaining before Knudsen answered with her own trey to keep the deficit at just one with 56 seconds remaining.
 
On the ensuing in-bound play, Brooke Tolman was able to disrupt the play, forcing a turnover that Knudsen scooped up and drove to the hole. As she went up, she drew contact which caused the ball to miss its mark and fall into the hands of the Clan who were able to hold on for the win despite turning the ball over once more with just four ticks left on the clock.
 
MSUB was able to turn the 25 SFU turnovers into 19 points and received 14 points from their bench, but the Clan's ability to out-score the Yellowjackets 26-22 in the paint proved to be too much to overcome.
 
The Yellowjackets have one final regular-season game left before they head to Lacy, Wash. for the 2012 GNAC basketball tournament. On Saturday, MSUB will welcome second-place team Western Washington to Alterowitz Gymnasim for a 7 p.m. game.
 
The game against the Vikings will also serve as “Senior Night” where MSUB will look to recognize lone senior Kalli Stanhope for her contributions both on and off the court over the last four years.
 
“Kalli has done a tremendous job for us,” Woodin stated. “She has been a great leader for us both on and off the court and has had a great career here. I expect her to play well and we're going to do everything we can to send her out properly.”