BILLINGS — Youth is being served like never before in the Montana State Billings women's basketball program, and it wasn’t necessarily intentional.
Twenty-two years into his head coaching career with the Yellowjackets, Kevin Woodin doesn't recall a dynamic quite like this one.
"If you watch us for five minutes you (may) think we're a heck of a team. And then you might watch another five minutes and wonder, 'What the heck are they teaching?'" Woodin said with a smile.
See how MSUB's freshmen are contributing to the win column:
Nearly half of Woodin's roster — seven players — are freshmen. Aside from redshirt Brooklynn Brennan, the others were playing high school basketball at this time last year. Three of those are now full-time NCAA Division II starters, including Billings Skyview alum Rae Smart.
"It was fun, kind of, being thrown into the fire because not every kid gets a chance to do that. I think that obviously I would've been shocked if you'd have told me in advance (we’d all be starting)," Smart told MTN Sports before a recent practice.
Freshman forward Cassie Chesnut agreed.
"I just knew that it was so rare for freshmen to start in college. I mean, it's kind of shocking that we are doing this good and we are getting the conference wins that we want," Chesnut admitted.
The coaching staff may be teaching more than it ever has, but the results speak for themselves. After a somewhat slow start, these young players have won nine of their past 12 games, including a thrilling 92-91 double-overtime victory a week ago Saturday that completed a sweep of the Alaska schools.
"I don't know. Maybe they're just too young to be nervous on the road but I've gotten a lot of scars in Alaska over the years. To bring this young team up there and get two wins was very fulfilling," Woodin said.
"They did a good job coaching us through it," Chesnut added.
In that Alaska victory, Smart grabbed 13 offensive rebounds (17 total) — breaking a single-game conference record that had stood for 16 years. She makes it sound simple.
"Box out your person and go get the ball because it's just a mentality," Smart said.
The Yellowjackets actually started four freshmen in the Anchorage win with Kaitlin Grossman out sick. For the team's only senior, helping these newcomers develop has been rewarding.
"The whole time I've been here up until this point we haven't had many young players that have gotten playing time. But yeah, I'm super grateful because it's made this season super fun," Grossman said.
The reason for so many young starters stems from a season-ending injury to junior Layla Baumann and the graduation of four all-conference players — Dyauni Boyce, Aspen Giese, Kortney Nelson and Chloe Williams — who Woodin estimates accounted for 80-90% of MSUB's scoring and rebounding.
"With those four seniors leaving, the opportunity was there," he said.
The freshmen and company are making the best of it. After opening the season 1-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, MSUB (13-10 overall) has jumped to 5-5 in the GNAC after earning its third straight win Saturday convincingly over Seattle Pacific, 74-39.
They Jackets look to come out firing again Thursday in another home game, this time against Saint Martin’s at 7:30 p.m.
"It's just a drive. It's, 'I want to win this game, we're going to win this game,'" Smart said.
