MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Montana State University Billings women's basketball team would see it's longest winning streak of the regular season come to a halt Thursday evening, falling by a score of 66-55 to Western Oregon University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
 
The Yellowjackets (9-8, 1-3 GNAC) would struggle to score throughout the contest on a night where they just couldn't seem to get shots to fall, shooting just 16-56 (28.6%) overall in the contest and 4-20 (20%) from three, coming up short against the Wolves behind a strong effort from the home team, who would take control after outscoring the Yellowjackets 21-10 in the second quarter to build up an double-digit lead that they would never give away. Despite the result, there were still encouraging signs from the Yellowjackets, who would knock down 19-24 (79.2%) of their chances from the free throw line. MSUB would also continue their trend of winning the rebounding battle, where they bested Western Oregon 45-35, including 12-4 on the offensive boards. But the defense would struggle to generate turnovers, with the 'Jackets only forcing five in the contest, while WOU forced 11 turnovers from MSUB, capitalizing to outscore MSUB 12-2 in points off of turnovers on the night.
 
"We were ready to play in the first half and battled hard," said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. "But we failed to finish the second quarter strong, which put us in a deficit. I don't think we capitalized on our scoring chances in the paint enough tonight. We need to shoot the ball better in order to win on the road. Give Western Oregon credit, they hit a lot of big shots in the second half to keep us from getting the lead back. Defensively we outrebounded them, but we need to take better advantage of our opportunities in transition."
 
Continuing her run of double-doubles, Cassie Chesnut would score 12 points while grabbing 13 rebounds in the game, her third straight game with a double-double and fourth on the season. Tailey Harris meanwhile would lead the 'Jackets with 14 points, shooting 5-10 from the field and 2-4 from three to go with a pair of rebounds, a block, and an assist. Kyla Momberg would score 11 points with a season-best nine rebounds and two assists, while Rae Smart would finish with ten points, five boards, and an assist. Allison Kunze would round out the scoring for MSUB with eight points, each coming from the free throw line where the junior went 8-10. Kunze also had five rebounds and an assist. Kaitlin Grossman would post a pair of blocks and steals defensively, while adding in three rebounds.
 
Both teams would struggle to build offensive momentum shooting from the field in the first quarter, both shooting under 30% from the field. MSUB would only make three shots from the field across the opening ten minutes, but each of those efforts would come from beyond the arch, where the 'Jackets shot 3-5 (60%) in the first. While both teams would find success from the free throw line early, with the Wolves going 6-7 and MSUB going 4-4, it would be MSUB's three-point success that would help them take a narrow 13-12 lead into the second quarter, with a three in the last minute by Harris helping to give the 'Jackets the lead to close out a back-and-forth quarter. But after opening the quarter with another jumper from Harris, MSUB would go over four minutes of game time without scoring a point, where the Wolves would capitalize with a 7-0 run to push ahead. But the 'Jackets would regain some momentum in the middle of the quarter, fighting back to return the game to tie the game twice, but would be unable to regain the lead in the second quarter, with the Wolves responding to finish the half on a 10-0 run in the final 3:13 of the second to lead 33-23 at the break.
 
While the Yellowjackets would stop the bleeding as the third quarter commenced, they would be unable to truly mount a comeback, with the team's shooting struggles continuing as the second half went on. MSUB would cut the lead to nine multiple times in the third, but each time the Wolves would respond to push the lead back to double-digits, never letting the 'Jackets pull any closer the rest of the way. After an evenly fought third quarter, the fourth would play out in similar fashion, with Western Oregon continuing to hold the Yellowjackets at bay the rest of the way, and closing out the victory on their home court to hand MSUB it's third conference loss of the season.
 
THE BUZZ: Chesnut was named the Intermountain Health Player of the Game… the freshman now leads the Yellowjackets in scoring this season, averaging 10.9 points per game to go with 7.5 rebounds a contest… Chesnut leads all GNAC freshmen in both of those categories... MSUB 35-10 all-time in games against Western Oregon, falling for just the second time in the team's last ten matchups.
 
UP NEXT: MSUB will look to get back on track this Saturday, January 10 when the 'Jackets finish their road trip against Saint Martin's University in Lacey, WA. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 PM MT (3 PM PT) at Marcus Pavillion. Live video is available on the GNAC Network, and live statistics are available here.