MSU Billings women fall in regional final

AZUSA, Calif. — The Montana State-Billings women’s basketball fell two points short of a spot in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight late Monday, and two former MSU Bobcats featured prominently.

Cal State-San Marcos guard Ava Ranson’s two free throws with four seconds left broke a 71-71 tie, and the Cougars earned a spot in Minneapolis along with seven other D-II teams.

Ranson was fouled 30 seconds after fellow former Bobcat Kola Bad Bear hit a layup for MSU-Billings knotting the score at 71-all. Bad Bear scored six of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, including a layup that had the Yellowjackets in front 69-68 with 45 seconds left.

Jordan Vasquez answered with a three-point play for the Cougars, part of a wild finish to the West Regional final.

Dyauni Boyce scored 27 points for the Yellowjackets, while shooting 9 of 13 from the field. Kortney Nelson was right behind her, scoring 19 points while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists.

Charity Gallegos had 22 points and six assists for the Cougars, while Vasquez scored 19 with five rebounds. Ranson had 11 points.

“We battled hard to the end,” Yellowjackets coach Kevin Woodin said. “Just some plays that could have gone either way, and they just made one more than us. It was a great game tonight.”

MSUB trailed the majority of the third quarter, before shooting 64 percent in the fourth.