BILLINGS, Mont. – Alisha Breen asserted her dominance and scored 14 points in the final 5:10 of regulation Friday night at Alterowitz Gym, to lift the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team to a narrow 62-57 win over Rocky Mountain College on Eastern Montana College Throwback Night.
 
With the 'Jackets trailing 52-50 and 3:25 left in the game, Breen nailed back-to-back threes and the 'Jackets never trailed the rest of the way.



The reigning National Collegiate Basketball Writers Association Division II National Player of the Week finished with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double to help MSUB remain perfect on the year at 8-0. Breen also made all nine of her free throw attempts, and tied the MSUB career record of 392 held by Sherry McQuinn (1991-93).
 
"Both teams played hard, and that was as good a defensive effort as we have had against us all year," said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. "Alisha is the best player, and she simply made a couple of key plays to ice the game. Rocky played a good game, but we did some good things in the last few minutes to come out on top."
 
Rocky remains at 6-1 on the season, as Friday's game was an exhibition for the Bears. Mikayla Jones led a quartet of double-figure scorers with 15 points, while adding a team-high three steals. Markaele Francis had 12 points and Alecia Chamberlin and Brooke Jones had 10 apiece for RMC.
 
The back-and-forth theme emerged in the first quarter, when the 'Jackets led for the first six minutes of play but surrendered a subsequent 8-0 run. Jones made a layup to give the Bears a 16-11 edge with 1:32 to go in the period, and it wound up being the largest lead of the night for the visiting team.
 
Breen had back-to-back buckets to end the first as the score moved even at 18-18, and the 'Jackets inched ahead 31-30 with a 13-12 advantage in the second quarter.
 
The door opened for MSUB in the third quarter, when Rocky shot just 3-for-11 and committed six turnovers. Accuracy from the perimeter helped the 'Jackets keep their noses in front, as Jeanann Lemelin hit a trey to break a 35-35 tie. Taylor Edwards followed with back-to-back threes off the bench, handing MSUB its largest lead of the game at 44-37 to end the third.
 
MSUB's offense had a lull of its own to start the fourth however, with just four points in the opening 4:50 of action. Rocky took advantage of the dry spell, and pulled ahead for the first time since the first quarter on a pair of Brooke Jones free throws with 3:25 left.
 
It was all Breen after that, as she scored 10 of MSUB's final 12 points and Rocky made just two of its final six shots down the stretch. Lemelin was a key difference maker off the bench for the 'Jackets, as she had career highs of five points and four rebounds in 14 minutes of work. "It's always a fun game to come out and play Rocky," Lemelin said. "We started out kind of slow, and we really had to fight for this win."
 
MSUB out-rebounded Rocky 33-22, with Rachel Koehler, Vanessa Stavish, and Taylor Cunningham each grabbing five boards to go along with Breen's 10. Rylee Kane led the 'Jackets with six assists, while also scoring seven points, and Lexi Prevost was MSUB's other double-figure scorer with 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the arc.
 
As a team, MSUB shot 33.3 percent overall (20-for-60), 29.6 percent from 3-point range (8-for-27), and made 14 of 17 foul shots. By contrast, the Bears shot 51.3 percent (20-for-39), but made just 2 of 9 threes (22.2 percent) and hit 15 of 21 foul shots.
 
Eighteen turnovers by RMC resulted in 15 points for the 'Jackets, while the home team committed 12 turnovers for 12 Rocky points.
 
"Taylor Edwards hit a couple of big threes for us in the second half, and Jeanann was very effective for us in the first half," Woodin commented. "Jeanann is versatile and is a pesky defender, and she played well tonight."
 
THE BUZZ: Lemelin was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…since snapping her streak of 36 consecutive free throws last week against Simon Fraser, Breen has made her last 11 and is shooting 94.2 percent from the line this year…Breen moved up two spots to No. 9 in MSUB history with 1,385 career points…the double-double was Breen's third of the year and the 10th of her career…Lemelin's previous career high in rebounds was three on Dec. 29, 2016 against Alaska, and Friday was her fourth time reaching five points in a game…MSUB has won 18 counting games in-a-row against Rocky and is now 40-5 in home games against the Bears.
 
NEXT UP: MSUB plays again Friday night, with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff against the University of Providence. Live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available online through MSUB's Stretch Internet portal here.