BILLINGS, Mont. –The Montana State University Billings Men's and Women's Basketball teams will host two Montana Colleges Friday Nov. 22nd. The Men will face Montana State University-Northern and the Women will play the University of Great Falls, Friday Nov. 22nd at Alterowtiz Gym.

It will be the first ever Eastern Montana College (EMC) throwback night, sponsored by BioLife, in which both teams will be wearing the old EMC black and gold colors. The men's jerseys are from the 1970's era, while the women's are circa 1980's era.

The Yellowjacket men will be playing MSU-Northern for the second time this season. The first game was the Yellowjackets first game of the season and was an exhibition. The game saw the Lights, playing their sixth game, run over MSUB 71-50.

Alfie Miller scored 21 points and Corbin Pearson had 18 points for the Lights and Jonathan Mesghna led the Yellowjackets with 16 points. Mesghna was the lone MSUB player in double figures.

Since the meeting the Lights have dropped two games in a row. The first to New Mexico Highlands (Nov. 15th, 64-49) and Arizona Christian University (Nov.16th, 77-56). The lights are now 6-2 and Friday's game versus the Yellowjackets will count as an exhibition for the Lights.

"The guys are in great spirits and they know how good Northern is," Head Coach Jamie Stevens said. "It will be a great challenge for our team and we look forward to the opportunity to play again."

MSUB is now 2-3 on the year coming off a win over rival Rocky Mountain College (Nov. 20th, 81-72). The Yellowjackets had five players score double figures; Kalob Hatcher led the way coming two rebounds short of a triple double. Hatcher had 14 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds followed by Jonathan Meshgna who had 15 points and six rebounds; Connor Donaldson also had 15 points, Austin Hudson had his best game of the year manning the post, with 13 points and eight rebounds, Danny Desin chipped in eleven points.

"It was a good win for the guys," Coach Stevens said of the Rocky game. "Guys responded, played well and did some good things defensively. We rebounded better and didn't give up as many second chance points".


The Yellowjacket Women will face off against UGF. The last time these two teams met was in 2012 and the Jackets won 64-52. Bobbi Knudsen lead all scorers with 18 points as she went 8-15 from the field, and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Sophomore Janiel Olson had a solid performance dropping 12 points and snatching eight rebounds. Great Falls' Lindsey Abramson played great for the Argos finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lady Jackets are 8-12 all-time versus UGF and are 7-4 when playing the Argonauts at Alterowitz. UGF is 5-2 on the year and their last two games they split with a win and a loss. The first was a loss to the University of Nebraska-Kearney (Nov. 15th, 89-84). They followed that game up with a win versus Pacific Union College (Nov. 16th, 70-63). Erin Legel had a double-double including a game-high 22 points, going 17-for-19 from the charity stripe, to go with 11 rebounds. Abramson tossed in a double-double as well finishing with 19 points and a game-high 13 boards.

MSUB (2-2) is coming off of a hard fought game versus the Division One MSU Bobcats MSU 58-49. Knudsen had a team high 18 points. Olson had a double-double with 15 rebounds and 12 points, she also added three assists. Alisha Breen had seven points, and Kayleen Goggins had six rebounds. Knudsen is leading the team with a 16.0 point per game average, Goggins averages 13.8 and Olsen leads the team in rebounds with 7.5 per game.

"We are looking forward to playing UGF," Head Coach Kevin Woodin said. "They are an improved team from a year ago and they are well coached. We need to establish offensive and defensive consistency during the game as we have struggled to do that this year. Honoring EMC with the throwback uniforms will be a cool thing for both our players and community."

The Women's Game agaisnt UGF is slated to begin at 5:30P.M. followed by the Men's game against Northern at 7:30 P.M. Live video and stats for both games can be found at MSUBSPORTS.COM.