Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Sophomore guard Bobbi Knudsen knocked down a career-high 25 points as she led the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team to a 61-52 road-win over the Wildcats of Central Washington Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.
 
With the win, the Yellowjacket women improve to 17-8 and 9-5 in the league while the Wildcats fall to 6-14 overall with a 3-10 mark in the league.
 
“This was a really important win for us tonight,” said head coach Kevin Woodin. “We had to just gut this one out because it wasn't very pretty at times. We missed some shots down the stretch that we normally make; however, our players played hard and we were able to come away with an important road-win.
 
“I feel like both Bobbi and Brooke Tolman did very well for us working the perimeter tonight. Bobbi had a great second half and Brooke came off the bench to give us some solid minutes. Our bench in general kept us in the game as we were able to get a lot of quality minutes from them tonight. Central likes to play at a very fast pace and our bench allowed us to keep fresh legs out on the court a lot.”
 
The Yellowjackets were able to get their revenge on the Wildcats who defeated MSUB 65-59 on Jan. 14 in Billings. The 'Jackets hit on 27.7% (23-61) of their looks from the field and three players finished the win with double-digit point totals.
 
Knudsen hit on a season-high-tying three treys en route to compiling her 25 points. She also brought down six rebounds and had a game-high five assists.
 
Freshmen Janiel Olson and Quinn Peoples each finished the game with 10 points. Olson just missed out on a double-double as she also added eight boards while Peoples knocked down a pair of treys and went 3-5 from the field.
 
Tolman ended the night with seven rebounds, six points and a game-high-tying five assists.
 
The Wildcats shot 32.3% (20-62) from the field as they were led by Sophie Russell's 17 points and Stacy Albrecht's double-double performance. Albrecht finished the contest with 11 points (5-9) and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
The game was tight all 40 minutes, but the Yellowjackets were able to claim the lead for good off one of Olson's jumpers just six and a half minutes into the opening stanza of play.
 
The Wildcats may have been down, but they were never out as they continually pressed MSUB throughout the game. Central was able to pull within one point twice; once in the first half following MSUB obtaining the lead and once in the second half.
 
MSUB flirted with double-digit leads several times in the second stanza after taking a nine-point (33-24) lead into the locker room, and were able to find just enough to hold on for the win.
 
The Yellowjacket women will now head back east a bit, making a stop in Nampa, Idaho on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. game against Northwest Nazarene University. The last time the two programs met, MSUB sent NNU home with a 58-53 loss.