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BILLINGS, Mont. – Saturday night's regular-season finale inside Alterowitz Gymnasium was everything head coach Kevin Woodin could have asked for minus one thing; being able to knock off the second-place team in the conference to send lone senior Kalli Stanhope out the same way she came in, with a win. The Montana State University Billings women's basketball team battled hard and played some of the most aggressive basketball they have played all season, but came up just short down the stretch to fall 74-68 to Western Washington University.
 
Prior to the start of the season, many had written the 2011-12 season off for the MSUB women as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference coaches tabbed the squad eighth in the preseason rankings, and not without some merit. Woodin's squad was one of the youngest in the league and even the West Region, featuring nine underclassman including seven freshman and just one senior.
 
But Woodin stated at the beginning of the season that his players would surprise some people down the stretch, and they did just that as they pushed several quality teams to the edge and downed some other quality opponents en route to earning a trip to the 2012 GNAC Basketball Championships next week held in Lacy, Wash.
 
The Yellowjacket women finished the regular-season with an 18-11 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the league. Western Washington, which secured a first-round bye in the tournament next weekend with a win on Thursday over Seattle Pacific, is now 20-6 and 14-4 in conference play.
 
“I thought we made some very positive strides all season and am looking forward to see how we do in the tournament and into next season,” stated Woodin. “I thought that we made a lot of runs at them tonight and had our chances, but they are just a very good shooting team and I was very impressed with how Western Washington played tonight.
 
“I was also very impressed with how our team played, but we just could not get over the hump. But I thought we put up a good effort tonight despite the loss. We are now looking forward to the tournament. We realize that the three through six seeds are all very close and I am positive those games will be competitive. I am very proud of our team to have this opportunity.”
 
The Yellowjackets ended the night shooting 35.5% (22-62) from the field and were impressive from the charity stripe, going 17-20 (85%). As they have done all season, MSUB forced the Vikings to turn the ball over and converted those into 23 points which matched the point-total Woodin received from his bench.
 
Three players ended the contest with double-digit point totals for the 'Jackets led by sophomore point guard Bobbi Knudsen's 20 points. The Malta, Mont. native was perfect (5-5) from the free throw line and added a teamhigh four assists and a game-high four steals.
 
Junior guard Booke Tolman was close behind with 16 points of her own, including hitting four of her eight attempts from three-point range. The Honeyville, Utah native hit three of her treys in the first half, keeping the Yellowjackets solidly in the game.
 
Freshman forward Quinn Peoples came off the bench to score 10 points and added four rebounds which equaled the rebound totals of Tolman and Stanhope. Janiel Olson once again came close to securing a double-double as she had nine points and a game-high-tying seven rebounds.
 
The Vikings started off the game extremely hot, not missing a shot until four minutes into the game. They would continue to shoot extremely well for most of the game, finishing the night with a 47.2% (25-53) shooting performance. WWU was particularly effective from three-point range as they hit on 40% (8-20) of their attempts.
 
Leading scorer Kristin Schramm scored 13 of her game-high 26 points in the final minutes of the game. She ended the night 7-11 from the field and went 9-10 from the free throw line.
 
WWU also received double-digit point totals from Britt Harris (13) and Corinn Waltrip (10) while Trishi Williams mirrored MSUB's Olsen with nine points and seven rebounds.
 
MSUB led early by one point when Tolman drained her first shot, a three, to put the Yellowjackets up by one, but Western Washington would go on from there to take the lead despite MSUB being able to control the tempo of the game. The Yellowjackets kept the pressure on the Vikings all game long, applying stiff full-court defense as well as a little zone for good measure.
 
The Yellowjackets never trailed by more than 10 points in the game, and came close several times to pushing ahead, but could just not find the needed bucket at the right time.
 
MSUB will fall to sixth in the conference following Saturday night's loss coupled with a Seattle Pacific University win over Simon Fraser in Seattle and a Northwest Nazarene victory over Saint Martin's in Nampa, Idaho. That means the Yellowjackets will look to face off against NNU in the first round of the tournament.
 
MSUB swept NNU during the regular-season, first acquiring a 58-53 win at home on Jan. 12 and followed that up by claiming a 69-60 win in Nampa on Feb. 11.