BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Women's golf team is eager to get their spring season underway after a long winter. With the Great Northwest Athletic Championship's on the very distant horizon in May, MSUB will look for improvement every step of the way. The first step, the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout in Alameda California hosted by California State University, East Bay.
 
MSUB will be playing on the Corica Park South Course. The course is styled after the sand belt courses of Australia and is advantageous for both aerial and ground players. The course will be 5,789 yards and should be a challenging experience for all players.
 
"This course has recently been redesigned and should be a great experience for our women," said head coach Jeff Allen. "Key things that they will need to focus on will revolve around their short game. Wedge play and lag putting will be very important to focus on during the practice round and warmup sessions."
 
With only one junior and four sophomores, all five players will be in contention and obtain valuable tournament experience to build on for the future. This past fall the 'Jackets played in eight rounds and ended with a combined 332.0 average.
 
"Our women are young and had a tough fall," continued Allen. "We played better than the results show against tough competition. Leading into the spring we have a talented group that is hungry to get better. They have been practicing hard and really working on their mental game. We can play with anyone and we will just need to put forth a full team effort."
 
Avery Gill led MSUB in the fall with an 83.3 average in four events played. Gill's best single round was a 79 at the True North Classic hosted by Simon Fraser. She ended the tournament with a two round score of 162, her lowest of the fall on route to finishing tied for 25^th.  
 
Just one tenth behind Gill was fellow sophomore Kinsey Irvin who shot an average of 83.4. Her best tournament was the Concordia University, Portland Invitational in which she shot a fall best 158 in two rounds and finished tied for 19^th overall. In that tournament she shot a fall low 76 in the second round.
 
Tierney Messmer tied with Irvin in the fall to finish with an average of 83.4. Her season low in a single round was 81 at the Dixie State Open. She finished the tournament with a season low two round score of 165.
 
Sydney Rochford is the lone junior on the team and finished the fall with an average of 84.6 per round. Her season low came during the RJGA shootout in Goodyear, Arizona when she shot an 82 in route to a 162 tow round score to led MSUB.
 
Jalen Wagner rounds out the Yellowjacket's roster for the spring. She only appeared in two rounds in the fall shooting a season low 97 at the True North Classic and finished the tournament with a 201. 
 
MSUB will have to wait another year to take aim at cross two rival Rocky Mountain College who retained the Leslie Spaulding Cup this past fall in the two team's annual match play event. The pair of Gill and Wagner won their alternate shot matchup while Irvin and Messmer were victorious in their best ball matchup.