BILLINGS, Mont. – Keeping its perfect start to the 2017-18 season alive on Saturday night, the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team topped Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent Simon Fraser University 70-61 at Alterowitz Gym.
 
The Yellowjackets (7-0, 2-0 GNAC) led from wire-to-wire but never pulled away from the Clan, who got within 49-47 with a push late in the third quarter. Nicole Vander Helm and Tayler Drynan hit back-to-back threes and Tayla Jackson added a pair of free throws during an 8-0 run that got the Clan within a single possession with 40 seconds to go in the period.
 
Alisha Breen scored five of the next seven points however to wrestle a firm advantage back to the home team at 56-47, and the 'Jackets kept their edge at six points or higher to close out the game. "Simon really played inspired and made it hard for us, but we are happy to come away with the weekend sweep," commented head coach Kevin Woodin referring to Thursday's 75-62 win over Western Washington. "We just have to continue to get better, and we want to come out on top in our non-league games next week as well."

Breen led all scorers with 29 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the field, 4-for-5 from 3-point range and making 7 of 8 foul shots. She missed her sixth free throw of the night, snapping a string of 36 makes in-a-row that dated back to the first game of the season on Nov. 10 and was tied for fourth-longest in GNAC history. "Alisha scored 29 points and she only shot the ball 12 times, and nothing surprises me with her," Woodin said. "She is really dialed in on that 3-point shot right now, and she is just tough to guard."
 
Fellow senior Rylee Kane had a career-high eight rebounds, while scoring nine points, adding six assists, and snagging three steals for MSUB.
 
SFU (4-4, 0-2 GNAC) went without a field goal over the first 6:24 of the game, but trailed just 8-6 after the first quarter as neither team could establish offensive rhythm. Breen and the Yellowjacket offense came to life in the second, as she scored 10 points in the period and the 'Jackets held a 29-21 lead by halftime.
 
The Clan shot just 28.6 percent in the opening half (8-for-28), while the 'Jackets hit at a solid clip of 48.1 percent (25-for-52) in the first 20 minutes. Hannah Collins came through with a pair of layups off the bench late in the second quarter, and finished with the best game of her freshman year yet with 10 points. "We played Hannah tonight with Rylee, and I thought she was effective," said Woodin. "Defensively she was much better, and was working hard on her player to try to take away those threes."
 
MSUB's lead peaked at 43-29 with 5:46 to go in the third quarter, before the Clan made their push to get back into the game. SFU was out-scored 19-14 in the final period however, despite upping its field-goal percentage to 43.8 over the final 20 minutes.
 
Tayla Jackson led SFU with 18 points, while Tia Tsang had a dozen points and Vander Helm had 10. Kendal Sands matched Vander Helm with a team-best six rebounds, but MSUB won the battle of the boards 29-26.
 
Vanessa Stavish had 11 points as MSUB's other double-figure scorer, and Lexi Prevost and Taylor Cunningham had four rebounds apiece. "It was a great team win, and we were all working together especially in the second half," said Cunningham, who also had three assists. "It feels good being 7-0, but we still look at our next games like they're just as important as conference games."
 
MSUB limited Simon Fraser, which was the second-best team in the GNAC in 3-point field goal percentage entering the day at 38.3 percent, to just 21.7 percent from the arc in the game (5-for-23). "Simon is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league, so we were very proud of our defense," Woodin said.
 
THE BUZZ: Kane was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…it was the second game in-a-row that Kane established a career high in rebounding, after grabbing seven boards in MSUB's win over Western Washington on Thursday…MSUB is now 9-9 all-time against MSUB and is 6-3 in home games…MSUB snapped a three-game losing streak against SFU.
 
NEXT UP: The 'Jackets remain home next week, playing a pair of Montana opponents in a break from conference play. MSUB hosts Rocky Mountain College on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., and the University of Providence on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Both games will be part of a doubleheader with the MSUB men's basketball team, and live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available for both games online through MSUB's Stretch Internet portal here.