BILLINGS – With eight regular-season games remaining, MSU Billings’ basketball women, fresh off a run to the NCAA II Elite 8, are teetering on the tightrope of reaching this year’s conference tournament.
Only the top six teams in the GNAC standings draw invites and, right now, the Jackets share seventh place with Concordia. But they’re only one game behind Western Washington and Seattle Pacific, and play their next four at home.
It will be a critical stretch for a Yellowjacket team that head coach Kevin Woodin admits has been either red hot or ice cold.
“I think we have the ability to make 3s from several people in a game,” he said. “We’ve been contagious one way or the other. We miss a lot together or we make a lot.”
“We have lots of ups and downs,” said forward Taylor Cunningham. “We just need to find that constant. I don’t know if it’s rebounding or … we need to find our identity, I think. We’re not as good at it, so we need to find something to get us going.”
Players hope last Saturday’s 76-69 road win at Saint Martin’s launches a late-season run.
“Yeah, I feel like we were in a little slump, but it was finally good to get a win,” said guard Hannah Collins. “So, hopefully we go on a little winning streak here.”
The Yellowjackets (9-9 overall, 5-7 conference) host the Alaska schools this week at Alterowitz Gym. They’ll face Fairbanks Thursday, which has lost 15 straight. Anchorage bounces in Saturday ranked 11th in the nation. Tip times for both are set for 7 p.m.
