Box Score

LACEY, Wash. – It is said that it is hard to beat a team twice in a season and it is even more difficult to beat a team three times. The Montana State University Billings women's basketball team found that out first-hand Thursday night as the sixth-seeded Yellowjackets fell 77-56 to the No. 3 seed in the 2012 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championships, Northwest Nazarene University.
 
Despite being able to come out victorious in the previous two games, MSUB (18-12) was unable to keep up with NNU's athleticism, especially in the second half, which led to the 21-point victory for the Crusaders (18-9) first quarterfinal game of the women's tournament.
 
“I have to give Northwest Nazarene a lot of credit, they played very well tonight and were extremely hard to defend,” said head coach Kevin Woodin. “They can really spread you out with a lot of shooters and we just struggled to defend them, especially in the second half with that run they made midway through. We just could not get a bucket to cut the lead and that hurt. The better team won tonight.
 
“Overall, this was a good season for us,” Woodin stated. “We did a lot of good things this year. I am very appreciative of my lone senior, Kalli Stanhope, for how she has led this team both on and off the court. I cannot thank our players enough for how they did this season.”
 
The Yellowjacket women ended the game shooting just 36.4% (20-55) from the field despite starting the game off well with a 48.3% performance in the first half which included knocking down five three-pointers. MSUB did not get to attempt a single free throw until the second half but ended the night shooting .833 (10-12) from the charity stripe.
 
Sophomore guard Bobbi Knudsen, who earlier in the week was a unanimous selection to the 2012 GNAC All-Conference First Team, led MSUB in scoring with 19 points off an 8-17 shooting performance. The Malta, Mont. native ended the night with five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
 
Junior Brooke Tolman was offensively balanced throughout the game as she scored eight points in each half, ending the night with three three-pointers, three rebounds and two assists.
 
NNU ended the game with a 50% (27-54) shooting performance which included an outstanding 60% (15-25) in the second half alone.
 
The Crusaders were led by four players in double figures. Megan Hingston led all scorers with 20 points off a 9-14 performance.
 
Behind Hingston, who scored 14 of her points in the second half, Chelsie Luke added 18 points and a game-high four steals. Luke was 50% from three-point range as she connected on a game-high four treys.
 
Briaunna King and HeatherAdams rounded out the players in double-digits with 15 and 10 respecitvely.
 
The 'Jackets took a 33-30 lead into halftime after Knudsen beat the buzzer in the opening stanza with a three from NBA range, but that would be the last time MSUB would lead as the Crusaders came out of the break and out-scored the Yellowjackets 15-5 over the first four and a half minutes of the second half.
 
Despite being able to pull close several times, MSUB just could never find the needed points to pull back ahead and up-end the third-seeded Crusaders who will now go on to play the second-seeded Vikings of Western Washington University in the 5:15 p.m. semifinal game on Friday.