BILLINGS, Mont.  – MSU Billings is headed to Pueblo, Colo., for the Al Kaly women's basketball tournament hosted by Colorado State University-Pueblo.
 
These will be the first regular-season games for the Yellowjackets. The team opened their season with two exhibition wins against Carroll College (65-53) and Rocky Mountain College (74-64.)
 
Four women's teams are scheduled to participate in the tournament with MSU Billings, which is scheduled to play host CSU-Pueblo on Friday at 5 p.m. followed by a game against Western State Colorado University on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m.
 
"We are looking forward to playing in the Colorado-Pueblo tournament," head coach Kevin Woodin said. "It will be nice to get our non-conference season underway with two NCAA regional opponents. The RMAC league always has quality teams so these games will be a great early season test to see where we are."
 
This season MSU Billings returns four seniors from the team that finished 25-8 last season and the NCAA Div. II West Region runner-ups. This year, seniors Kayleen Goggins and Janiel Olson were both named preseason all-conference selections. Quinn Peoples returns the No. 2 3-point shooter in the GNAC and Annie DePuydt is making a comeback to the team after sustaining a season-ending injury early in the year.
 
Also factoring into the MSUB success this year are sophomore Alisha Breen and redshirt junior Monica Grimsrud. The team will also have eight new athletes on the court as four freshmen and four redshirt freshmen are all competing for minutes in the early season.
 
Friday, Nov. 14, 5 p.m., Massari Arena
Live stats: HERE
Live video: HERE
Live Audio: HERE
Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves
2014-15 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Kip Drown
2013-14 Record: 22-9 (18-4 RMAC)
 
Colorado State University-Pueblo has played two preseason exhibition games this year. The team lost to Div. I Northern Colorado 70-44 and Div. I Colorado University 90-57.
 
CSU-Pueblo was picked to finish fourth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll. The team returns two seniors and four juniors to the squad that finished fourth at the NCAA Div. II South Central Region tournament last year.
 
Senior center Katie Nehf put up 49 points in the two early exhibition games. Against Northern Colorado, Nehf led the team with 23 points and against Colorado she contributed 26 points.
 
The ThunderWolves did outrebound Northern Colorado with Ashly Piper leading the charge with eight off the glass. The Pack struggled in their shooting combining for 26.5 percent from the floor.
 
Against Colorado, Dee Arrieta also scored points in the double-digits putting up 14 in the effort against the Pac-12 opponent. The team improved its shooting percentage to 35.2 percent, but didn't rebound as well, pulling in 29 to the Buffs' 59.
 
The Series: MSU Billings and CSU-Pueblo have met four times with the Yellowjackets getting the best of the ThunderWolves in all four contests. MSUB is 3-0 at home and 1-0 in Pueblo. The last time the two teams played was on Jan. 1, 2009; MSUB won that game 62-48 at home.
 
Saturday, Nov. 15, 1 p.m., Massari Arena
Live stats: HERE
Live video: HERE
Western State Colorado University Mountaineers
2014-15 Record: 0-0
Head Coach: Van Girard
2013-14 Record: 6-20, (6-16 RMAC)
 
The Mountaineers were picked to finish 13th in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll. The team returns senior Jade McIntosh, a preseason all-conference selection to the team. McIntosh averaged 15.6 points as a junior.
 
McIntosh, Margaret Zimmerman, and Maricel Medina are the only three returning upperclassmen to the team. Senior forward Zimmerman played in 16 contests for Western State last year while Medina played in all 27 games. Sophomore Harlie Williams, the fourth-leading scorer, returns to the team averaging 4.3 points.
 
With a handful of new players on the team, this will be the first game for Western State this season.
 
The Series: This will be the first contest between MSUB and Western State.
 
The tournament kicks off on Friday with the first game being scheduled for 1 p.m. featuring Western State vs. Upper Iowa, followed by CSU-Pueblo and MSU Billings at 5 p.m. Live stats, video and audio will be available for the first game.
 
On Saturday, MSU Billings is the first game of the day against Western State at 1 p.m.  Live stats and video will be provided for that game.
 
For all the tournament information including ticket information, live game links, and the full tournament schedule please visit the tournament home page HERE. Live stats to both contests will be provided free-of-charge while the video stream will be pay-per-view for each game.
 
A full recap following the games each day, with scores and highlights will be available on msubsports.com.