(RMC Athletics release)
BILLINGS – The No. 18 Rocky Mountain College women’s basketball team continues the postseason on Saturday when they play at Montana Western in the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Tournament. The action between the No. 3-seed Battlin’ Bears and No. 2-seed Bulldogs will tipoff at 7 p.m. in Straugh Gymnasium.
Game coverage, including links to live video and live stats, is available on the Postseason Central page at GoBattlinBears.com/wbbpostseason.
The other semifinal game features the No. 1-seed Carroll playing host to No. 5-seed Lewis-Clark State at 7 p.m. in Helena. The championship game will be played at the home of the highest remaining seed on March 6.
The Battlin’ Bears advanced to the semifinals with a 62-55 home win over Montana Tech on Wednesday. In that game, Brooke Jones led three Rocky players in double figures with 19 points. The team overcame a 12-point first-quarter deficit and led for the entire fourth quarter.
Rocky enters Saturday at 22-7 overall this season. They finished third in the Frontier after an 11-7 mark in conference play. The third-place finish is the best by a Rocky team since they tied for third in the 2011-12 season. Wednesday’s game was the first home playoff game for the Battlin’ Bears since 2012.
Since the 2003-04 season, Rocky has compiled a 4-11 record in the Frontier Conference Tournament. They snapped a six-game losing streak in the tournament with Wednesday’s win and they will play in the semifinals for the first time since 2009. Rocky is 0-3 in the semifinals since 2004. The Battlin’ Bears are 1-1 against UMW in the tournament during that time, but the teams haven’t met in the tournament since 2007.
The Battlin’ Bears will enter the postseason scoring 66.6 points per game and shooting 42.3 percent from the field. They make 6.3 threes per game and shoot 33.3 percent from deep. Rocky averages 13.4 assists per game and has a 1.08 assist-to-turnover ratio.
At the defensive end, Rocky holds the opposition to 51.38 points per game to rank third in the country in scoring defense. Rocky is 15th in the NAIA in field goal defense by holding opponents to 35.3 percent shooting and sixth by limiting opponents to 25.4 percent on 3-pointers. The Battlin’ Bears average 9.72 steals per game to rank 29th nationally while placing 22nd at 3.35 blocks per game.
Mikayla Jones leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game while scoring in double figures 20 times. She scored a career-high 30 points in the win over Montana Tech on February 10. Jones leads the Frontier at 2.52 steals per game – 18th nationally – and her 73 total steals place her 12th in the NAIA.
Brooke Jones has scored in double figures 19 times and is second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points per game. She shoots 50.6 percent from the field and has 175 rebounds.
Hailee Farstveet is up to 9.1 points per game after scoring in double figures in 13 of the past 15 games. She leads the team with 111 assists – 23rd in the country – and her 3.83 assists per game rank 27th in the NAIA. Farstveet has scored 834 points in her Rocky career and she has 1,160 career points in the NAIA when you add the 326 she scored for Dickinson State as a freshman.
