BILLINGS, Mont.  – Senior Kayleen Goggins was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-Player of the Week for her 50-point performance against Western Washington and Simon Fraser. MSU Billings dropped a decision against the Vikings (71-82), but rebounded on Saturday with a victory over the Clan (79-74).
 
Montana State University Billings is holding on in the standings with a 12-9 overall and 4-7 GNAC record. The Yellowjackets are this week still tied for seventh in the standings with Alaska, and are looking at a tough two weeks ahead as MSUB has its next three conference games on the road.
 
Last week at home, MSU Billings hosted Western Washington on Thursday and was within five in the last two minutes before the Vikings pulled away for the win. On Saturday, MSUB came back after being down at the break to lead the Clan by as many as 12 in the second half, then held strong during the final surge from Simon Fraser down the stretch for the five-point victory.
 
"I thought we played pretty well last week against two very good teams," MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. "We had a lull early in the second half for about 4-5 minutes against WWU, but then battled back. I felt we executed better down the stretch in both games last weekend."
 
Seattle Pacific is second in the standings at 16-3 and 8-3 in the GNAC. The Falcons are ranked No. 21 nationally, and are on a two-game win streak with victories against both Western Washington and Simon Fraser last week after dropping two games the week before against Western Oregon and Saint Martin's.
 
Goggins shared the co-Player of the Week honor with SPU's Aubree Callen. Seattle Pacific earned an 89-76 decision over Simon Fraser and then won a close 72-68 battle against Western Washington for SPU's first sweep of the Vikings since the 2007-08 season.
 
Goggins and sophomore Alisha Breen continue to be the only two GNAC athletes ranked in the top-5 in scoring from one school. Goggins is averaging 19.9 points per game which is No. 2 in the GNAC, and 25th in the nation. Breen is averaging 16.0 points per game and is ranked No. 5 in both points and rebounds (7.1) in the conference.
 
Against Western Washington, Goggins scored a game-high 24, and against Simon Fraser matched her career-high of 26 points while shooting 64.2 percent from the field. On the week she totaled 50 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block while shooting 59.4 percent (19-of-32).
 
Breen totaled her second double-double of the season with a 12-point and 10-rebound performance against Simon Fraser. Four Yellowjackets totaled points in the double-figures in the win over SFU. Annie DePuydt had her second-highest scoring game of the season with 15 points. Quinn Peoples had 14 points including four 3-point baskets and a game-high tying six assists. Peoples topped the 1,000 point-mark last week in the game against WWU. She is averaging 2.2 3-point buckets per game which is fourth-highest in the conference.
 
Freshman point guard Rylee Kane was on the floor for 32 minutes in the win against the Clan on Saturday which ties her career-high from the first MSUB game against Seattle Pacific earlier in the month. The Red Lodge High School product has 67 assists on the season, is averaging 3.2 assists per game, and is ranked No. 4 in the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 1.5.
 
With their wins last week, the No. 21 Falcons (16-3, 8-3 GNAC) have moved into sole possession of second-place in the conference standings. With eight conference wins on the season, Seattle Pacific sits one game ahead of Western Washington and two ahead of Simon Fraser and Central Washington.
 
The Falcons are nationally ranked at No. 4 in free-throw percentage (78.3 percent), No. 6 in 3-point-shots (38.8 percent), and No. 12 in field-goal percentage (46.1 percent).
 
From the floor, MSU Billings is shooting 41.4 percent and from the free-throw line 71.2 percent.
 
This Saturday's game will feature four of the top-6 scoring players in the GNAC. Goggins at No. 2 is followed by the Falcons' Suzanna Ohlsen at No. 3 (17.6), and Breen at No. 5 is followed by SPU's Callen at No. 6 (15.4).  Ohlsen is also No. 3 in the conference in shots from the 3-point arc shooting 43.3 percent, and is making an averaging of 1.4 per game, while teammate Betsy Kingma is shooting 42.9 percent and is No. 2 in the GNAC averaging 2.8 3-pointers per game.
 
Montana State University Billings does have the advantage in rebounding with Breen and Goggins both holding spots in the top-10. SPU's Callen is leading the Falcons averaging 4.9 per contest. As a team, MSU Billings is third in the conference in rebounding margin holding a +2.6 advantage over its opponents, while Seattle Pacific is just behind with +2.5.
 
In their first meeting, the Falcons outrebounded MSUB 29-28. The Yellowjackets shot better from the floor, making almost half of their shots (23-50), but slipped from the free-throw line making just 52.4 percent (11-21). The Falcons were a solid 43.4 percent from the floor and 80.0 percent (20-25) from the charity stripe.
 
"It was a very competitive game," Coach Woodin commented on last month's meeting. "SPU executed better than us in the final five minutes and that is why they prevailed. We have been working on late game execution in practice and have been much better at the end of games over the past couple of weeks."
 
In the 70-60 loss, MSU Billings had the lead by 10 at the midpoint of the second-half, but couldn't hang on to the momentum as Seattle Pacific ended the final 10 minutes of the game on a 24-5 run.
 
All-time Seattle Pacific holds a 25-19 advantage. The Falcons have won four of the last five contests, and have a 17-5 advantage in Brougham Pavilion. The Yellowjackets did split their games last year against SPU winning the second contest at home 74-59.
 
"SPU is a very talented and experienced team, especially on the perimeter," Coach Woodin said on the Falcons. "We need to defend them better in transition and rebound consistently on the defensive end. If we can do that, I think we will have a great opportunity to come out on top." 
 
Tip-off for the game against Seattle Pacific is Saturday, Feb. 7 at the early time of 2 p.m. PT. Live video and live stats can be found at msubsports.com.
 

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL	CONF	PCT	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
Alaska Anchorage	10-1	.909	20-1	.952	14-1	6-0	0-0	W8
Seattle Pacific	8-3	.727	16-3	.842	9-1	3-2	4-0	W2
Western Washington	7-4	.636	13-7	.650	7-2	4-3	2-2	L1
Central Washington	6-5	.545	11-8	.579	7-2	2-4	2-2	W1
Simon Fraser	6-5	.545	10-9	.526	5-4	4-5	1-0	L3
Saint Martin's	4-6	.400	7-11	.389	4-2	1-7	2-2	W3
Alaska	4-7	.364	12-9	.571	5-4	3-5	4-0	L5
Montana State Billings	4-7	.364	12-9	.571	7-4	3-5	2-0	W1
Northwest Nazarene	3-8	.273	5-15	.250	3-7	2-6	0-2	L1
Western Oregon	2-8	.200	5-13	.278	1-7	2-6	2-0	L2