BILLINGS, Mont. – Former all-stars met the newest faces Saturday evening at Alterowitz Gym, as the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team hosted its annual Alumni Game in front of fans for the first time since February of 2020.
 
Head Coach Kevin Woodin's current Yellowjackets claimed a 70-65 triumph in the modified scrimmage, which featured five alumni players and mixed rosters in each half of play. "It was so awesome for our players to play in front of their families and our fans again," said Woodin. "Tonight was a fun environment and I thought overall everyone on our team contributed some quality basketball tonight."
 
Point guard Skylar Patton led the current Yellowjackets with 18 points, while she, Shayla Montague, and Danielle Zahn had four assists apiece. Taryn Shelley – who played on both sides of the court on Saturday – scored 12 points for MSUB and nine more for the alumni, while Cariann Kunkel and Shannon Reny had 10 points apiece for the home team.
 
Sophomore transfer Natalie Andreas made her MSUB debut – with 10 total points combined between the two teams – as did true freshman Chloe Williams who made her lone field-goal attempt. "I really like our team this year," said Woodin. "We have a lot of depth and our chemistry is very good on and off the floor. I believe our potential is unlimited, however the key to reaching our potential will be how hard we want it and will work to reach it. I do think it is going to be a special year for MSUB women's basketball."
 
While the alumni team's depth was limited, the roster's resumes certainly were not with all seven participants involved in NCAA D2 regional championship games and three former All-Americans on the court. "It's always fun, and it makes me feel older every year," said Kayleen (Goggins) Schultz, whose daughters Daisy (5) and Della (3) joined her on the bench and after the game. "It's good to see all the girls I played with, and it brings back a lot of memories. I think everyone who played a college sport hopes that their kids have the same love for the game someday too. It's pretty cool they are at ages now where hopefully they'll remember this."
 
Schultz was a junior during MSUB's 2014 Sweet 16 run, and finished her career averaging 20 points as a senior in 2014-15 to earn All-American accolades. Schultz scored seven points and added five rebounds in 23 minutes of action on Saturday evening.
 
Three-time All-American Bobbi Knudsen had six points and five rebounds on the evening, and was impressed by her opponent. "It's just fun to come back to see that there is talent still coming," Knudsen said. "This team can be a really good team. They have all the talent in the world, and they can dominate if they want to."
 
Knudsen was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year and GNAC Female Athlete of the Year during her senior campaign, when she captained the Yellowjackets to the regional title contest. One of her youngest teammates that year was Alisha Breen, who led the alumni squad with 20 points and a dozen rebounds for a trademark double-double. "It's really fun getting people who helped build the program back," said Breen, who is in her third season as the Yellowjackets' assistant coach. "It's important for our players now to see and interact with past players and see the success that they have had."
 
Breen was a member of three NCAA regional teams during her MSUB career, including the team's memorable Elite Eight run during the 2017-18 season in which she broke the school and conference career scoring records and was named a first-team All-American.
 
Two more alumni who were members of the Elite Eight squad also suited up on Saturday, with Vanessa Stavish ('19) and Taylor Cunningham ('20) being the most recent graduates of the program. Stavish tied for the team lead with three assists and Cunningham grabbed a pair of rebounds in her return to Alterowitz Gym. "It's always so great coming back to the gym, seeing all the girls, and seeing coach," said Stavish, who was an honorable mention all-GNAC selection as a senior in 2019. "It's really cool being back, and all the memories come flooding back every time I drive into Billings. It's awesome to relive those times that we had and hopefully inspire the new girls to have some times like those themselves."
 
"It was really fun," Cunningham said after her first alumni game. "I'm still friends with a lot of girls on the (alumni) team, so it was good to see them and hang out with them."
 
Janiel (Olson) Begger and Monica Grimsrud served as the alumni team's coach on Saturday – two more Yellowjackets who were part of the 2014 regional run. Begger was the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection during the 2013-14 campaign, and is the program's all-time leading rebounder with 1,001 boards in her five seasons at MSUB.
 
"The girls that he has now are really good, and they play hard – we are old, and it showed tonight," said Begger. "They always say 'Jackets for life,' and this is the one time that we all get to come back and be together in the same room. We don't get to see each other like we used to, so just to be able to come back and play is fun. You could tell that we all played together for a long time, and we still had some of that chemistry that we used to have."
 
In total, the alumni featured five All-American awards, two GNAC Players of the Year, three NCAA regional tournament runs, and seven first-team all-conference selections. "Our alumni players are very special to me," said Woodin. "It is difficult to coach against them – they gave me so much for four or five years of their lives and I appreciate them for that. It is wonderful to have them come back and play in our annual alumni game. I know they enjoy playing and it is important to both them and me."
 
The Yellowjacket women's basketball team plays an exhibition game at Rocky Mountain College on Wednesday at 7 p.m., before kicking off the 2021-22 regular season on Nov. 1 with the annual Elementary School Game against Montana Tech at Alterowitz Gym. The full schedule, including live coverage, can be found online here.