Northern State set the pace early and hit free throws late to grab a women’s basketball victory over Montana State, Billings during the Dacotah Bank Classic Friday night.

The Wolves scored 26 first-quarter points and outscored the visitors by 18 points at the charity stripe in a 76-63 non-conference win at Wachs Arena.

“If I don’t overcoach and I don’t try to slow them up a little bit, they’re pretty good when they get to play with a little bit of pace,” said Northern coach Paula Krueger.

The pace-setter was point guard Rianna Fillipi who pushed the ball and found her teammates open in transition to help fuel the quick start. The sophomore from Lennox finished with 10 assists on the evening.

“That’s something that we’ve really been focusing on this year is pace and really pushing the ball,” Fillipi said. “It starts with the point guard, but it also starts with our wings running to the corner and spacing out the floor so we can get the ball moving.”

Northern built a 20-point lead at one stage, however the Yellow Jackets did not go quietly. They eventually sliced the deficit down to seven, but the Wolves were proficient at the foul line (21-of-27 for the game) to stay on top. While NSU did not make a single field goal in the final 10 minutes, they did make a dozen free throws in the last period.

“Free throws are always big,” Fillipi said. “They definitely won us that game.”

Kailee Oliverson scored 20 points to lead four Wolves in doubles figures. Lexi Roe followed with 14, and Laurie Rogers and Fillipi each contributed 13. Haley Johnson added nine.

“We always have several players in double digits,” Fillipi said. “That’s just the great part of our team is we have multiple scorers. We don’t have just one, and one person who does it all. We have four, five, six that can contribute every single night.”

Of course, it helps when you have a pass-first point guard to make sure everyone else gets involved in the offense.

“She’s just a great point guard. She really has a score-second mentality, but when she needs to she knows how to put the ball in the hoop,” Krueger said. “She’s been coached hard for a year, me being a former point guard. … She has been very teachable and coachable, and has done a really good job I think, of ingratiating herself to her teammates and learning how to lead this group of people, knowing she’s going to have the ball in her hands for the majority of the game.”

The Wolves face Michigan Tech at 5 tonight in the Dacotah Bank Classic.

To see a complete box score, click on the following link:

https://nsuwolves.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2021-22/msu-billings/boxscore/9361