BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Simon Fraser women's basketball team fell 78-66 to host Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game Saturday night. The Yellowjackets had a big second half, outscoring the visitors 45-28 in the final 20 minutes to earn the triumph. 

SFU has five wins and eight losses overall this season, and is 1-3 in GNAC competition. The team dropped a close 66-64 overtime contest Thursday at Seattle Pacific.

SFU guard Jessica Jones scored 27 points to lead all players in the game. The senior from Richmond, B.C., also had six rebounds and four assists. Jones hit 7 of her 14 three-point attempts, and shot 9 of 20 from the field overall.

Freshman forward Gemma Cutler, of North Vancouver, recorded 12 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Guard Georgia Swant was the third SFU player to reach double digits in scoring. The junior from North Vancouver, had 11 points. 

Taryn Shelley's 19 points were the most for the Yellowjackets, who had four others score at least 10 points Saturday.

Claudia Hart got the first basket of the second half, as the senior forward's layup increased SFU's edge to 40-33. But over the next six minutes or so, Montana State Billings (8-7, 2-1 GNAC) went on a 17-5 run to go ahead 50-45. 

The Yellowjackets stretched the margin to double digits early in the fourth, and led 62-50 with 7:16 on the clock. Sparked by triples from Swant and Jones, along with a Jones foul shot, SFU put together a quick 7-1 rally. With 6:18 to go in the tilt, the difference was just 63-57.

However, Montana State Billings was able to stem the momentum the rest of the way, rebuild its double-digit lead, and clinch the win.
 

SFU led 26-17 after the first quarter, with Jones incredibly providing 20 of those points. 

She opened the game with a trio of long-range shots to push SFU in front 9-0. Jones connected on attempts from the right side twice, book-ending a triple from the top of the arc.  A step back Jones three with 5:11 on the clock forced a Yellowjackets' timeout with SFU ahead 16-5. Jones made all four of her shots from behind the arc up to that point for 12 points, while Swant posted the other four. 

Jones converted two more long-range chances before she finished the opening quarter with a driving layup through the middle of the paint.

Hart started the second period with a hoop to extend SFU's advantage to 28-17. The visitors held an 11-point lead, their largest of the game, on three occasions in the second quarter. Cutler contributed a basket with 7:49 left before halftime to make the score 32-21.

The Yellowjackets answered with a 10-2 run to close the deficit to one possession with 2:23 to go before late buckets from freshman guard Sophia Wisotzki and Cutler allowed SFU to take a 38-33 lead into halftime.
 

SFU made 27 of its 64 field-goal attempts for a shooting percentage of 42.2. The team was 8 of 23 (34.8 per cent) on three-point shots, and made half of its eight chances at the free-throw line.

MSUB shot 46.9 per cent (30 of 64) from the field, 36.4 per cent from beyond the three-point arc (8 of 22) and 90.9 per cent (10 of 11) at the foul line.

SFU will host two GNAC matchups next week at the West Gym. Thursday's opposition will be Northwest Nazarene (Idaho), while Central Washington will visit on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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