WINIFRED — The Montana State University Billings women’s basketball team completed its final preseason exhibition game against Montana State University-Northern with a 73-38 victory Monday night.
The game was played in the gym of Winifred School, as part of an outreach effort by the Yellowjackets, who offered a free basketball clinic for children in the area Sunday, before taking the court to face off against the Skylights Monday night.
“It was a great environment to play in,” said Yellowjackets coach Kevin Woodin. “I can’t thank the Winifred community enough. Their new school is an awesome facility, and the down-home hospitality everyone showed us was amazing. We enjoyed doing the clinic for younger kids on Sunday and spending time at Dyauni’s (Boyce) and learning about Winifred.”
Dyauni Boyce, a Winifred native, led the Jackets in scoring with 16 points, while adding 11 rebounds and three assists, all of which led or tied for the team lead in each category. Aspen Giese was right behind her, adding 15 points with three rebounds and two assists. Shayla Montague had 10 points, Danielle Zahn had nine, and freshman Layla Baumann totaled eight points.
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The Yellowjackets and Skylights played a close first quarter, with MSUB leading 15-13 at the close of the stanza. But the Jackets turned it on from there, outscoring Northern 20-6 in the second quarter to carry a 16-point lead into halftime, and continued their impressive defensive display into the second half as MSUB went on to win comfortably. The Jackets held the Skylights to just 22.4% shooting from the field, and 11.1% from 3-point range. Meanwhile the long ball played a crucial role in MSUB’s scoring, with the Yellowjackets hitting 12 triples in the game on 41.4% shooting from beyond the arc.
“Northern played very well in the first quarter and we struggled with our shooting early,” said Woodin. “I felt our full court defense late in the first quarter sparked us and then our half-court defense was solid in quarters two and three. Overall, our entire team made positive contributions on both ends tonight.”
MSUB is set to begin its season with a trio of games this week at the Tipoff Classic, a 10-team women’s basketball tournament hosted at Alterowtiz Gymnasium. The Yellowjackets begin their slate of games at the D2CCA Tipoff Classic with a matchup against Texas Woman’s University on Friday with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. at Alterowitz.
“We are looking forward to opening our regular season at home on Friday in the Tipoff Classic,” Woodin said. “It will be a great showcase of Division 2 women’s basketball talent, and I am excited for the Billings community to witness all of the games.”