Spearfish, S.D. – If the Yellow Jackets' first game was any inclination to what the rest of the season has in store, it's going to be fun year. The Black Hills state women's basketball team won on a Chelsey Biegler buzzer beater to top Montana State University Billings 65-63 on Saturday night.

"Oh man, it felt like we were at the National Tournament, it was that exciting," said head coach Mark Nore. "To see Chelsey Biegler and our team get that excited was amazing, because they put so much into it. I thought that it was great thing and I am just so excited for them to experience that."  

The Yellow Jackets came out slow and fell behind 23-10 with 8:52 remaining in the first half. Bailey Kusser brought the Jackets back to within seven with back-to-back 3-pointers. BHSU fought to get within four, 28-32, going into halftime.

Kusser led the Yellow Jackets with 10 points in the first half. Dakota Barrie added three assists and Logan Cowan led the rebounding effort with four boards.

In the second half, BHSU went back-and-forth with Billings, tying the game at 44 at 12:36. The Yellow Jackets then changed the course of the game as BHSU went on a 9-0 run over a course of five minutes. Billings pulled within three with 1:38 remaining and tied the game with 4.2 seconds on the clock.

The Yellow Jackets passed the ball in from underneath their own basket and Biegler received the ball with ice in her veins. She drove to the middle of the key and banked in the go-ahead basket as the buzzer sounded. The Donald E. Young center erupted.

"We did a good job stopping the runs in the second half and I thought we did a nice job just working our way back into a position to get them on their heels," said Nore. "I think it comes down to persevering through all the hard things that we went through, not letting things that happened really bother us too much and make plays."

The Yellow Jackets had three players score in double-digits, including Kusser who had a game-high 19 points. Biegler added 16 and Calli Bechtel had a solid performance with 10 points.

Cowan led the team in rebounds with five and Barrie dished out a team-high five assists. The Yellow Jackets shot 47.9 percent on 23-of-48 shooting and scored 7-of-16 from behind the arc. The Yellow Jackets shot 12-of-14 from the free throw stripe.

Billings was led by Quinn Peoples who had 15 points, and as a team shot 35.8 percent on 24-of-67 from the field.   

"We made big-time free throws and I thought we left it on the floor," said Nore. "I thought we deserved that win and willed ourselves to win."