By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
Hopefully, the next time the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team plays three games in three days is at the Frontier Conference tournament.
The Skylights completed their third three-game weekend of the season with three straight wins.
Northern opened the stretch of games with a hardfought 75-70 nonconference win over the University of Great Falls on Friday at tMcLaughlin Center.
It was far from pretty as neither team could get going offensively.
The Skylights held a 35-27 halftime lead, despite shooting just 31 percent from the field. Fortunately, UGF wasn't much better, shooting 32 percent.
"We just didn't execute very well and our shots weren't falling," said Skylights head coach Mike Erickson. "Then we started to panic. That happens to us when we've been on the road this season."
The offensive woes continued for Northern in the second half, as UGF even took the lead on different occasions.
"We were missing shots from everywhere and a lot of them inside," Erickson said.
Thankfully, there was one Skylight player who was impervious to the hitting woes. Sophomore Jessi Reome kept Northern in the game with her shooting from the outside. Reome would finish with a game-high 29 points. But it was her final two shots that were the biggest. With Northern trailing by two late in the game, Reome sank back-to-back three-pointers to put Northern up for good.
"If it wasn't for Jessi stepping up and hitting some big shots, we're looking at a loss," Erickson said. "She just has that scorer's mentality. She wants the ball in that situation and she delivered."
Besides Reome, Northern got 16 points and eight rebounds from DeLayne Johnston, and 10 points, eight rebounds and five assist from Jaci Heny in the win.
UGF was paced by sophomore Dana Ball, who scored 20 points before fouling out. Melanie Green had 13 point, while Nichole Neill and former HHS standout Jayla McPherson added 12 points each.
"We didn't play very well defensively," Erickson said. "We're not even close to where we need to be on defense, but we're going to get better."
"I was still happy with our effort. We played hard. We just didn't play that well. Give credit to UGF, they have a much better team this season."
With two games remaining on the weekend, Erickson hoped his team would respond to the subpar performance on Friday with a much more complete performance in a pair of home games against Augustana University College of Alberta.
Erickson got his answer early, as Northern overcame a 21-20 deficit with a 22-2 run just before halftime, which led to a 58-32 first-half lead. The 58 first half-points is the most the Skylights have scored in the first period this season.
"It helps a little when you go 8-10 from the three-point range," Erickson said.
Northern shot a blistering 67 percent from the field in the first half. In the second half, the lead continued to snowball into a 96-53 win.
"I really like how the girls responded on Saturday," Erickson said. "I actually thought Augustana was more aggressive than UGF, they just couldn't hit a shot. But we had a much better effort and our execution was better."
Johnston and Camille Gardner led a group of five players in double figures with 14 points each. Jaci Heny had 13 points, while freshmen Heather Riener and Ashley Trulock had two of the best games of their brief careers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
In the final game of the weekend, Northern fought off some obvious fatigue with a solid second-half push in a 78-53 win over Augustana on Sunday.
"I definitely think we were a little tired," Erickson said. "Fatigue is going to be a factor in the third game. It didn't help that we beat them by 30 the day before. I think we thought it was just going to happen."
The two teams played to a 31-31 tie in the first half. But Northern simply overwhelmed Augustana in the second half. The Skylights took the lead after intermission and steadily built it into double figures.
"We did what we had to do," Erickson said. "Still, we haven't played a complete game yet this season. We know we need to do that if we want to be successful in the conference."
Reome lead Northern with 16 points, including four three-pointers. Megan Valgardson had 12 points and Michele VanDyke added 11. Johnston continued her solid play with nine points and 14 rebounds.
Northern will take a break from competition before returning to action after Christmas with a pair of games in Los Angeles.
MSU-NORTHERN (75)
Jessi Reome 10-15 4-4 29; Camille Gardner 3-10 1-2 7; Jaci Heny 3-1 1 4-5 10; DeLayne Johnston 6-16 1-1 13; Megan Valgardson 4-12 1-3 9; Kristie Pullin 1-3 0-0 2; Jena Heggem 0-3 0-0 0; Michele VanDyke 1-4 1-2 3; Ashley Trulock 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 29-76 12-17 75.
U OF GREAT FALLS (70)
Kim Freeman 4-17 1-2 9; Dana Ball 8-13 3-3 20; Nichole Neill 3-11 4-4 12; Melanie Green 4-11 5-6 13; Jayla McPherson 5-10 2-2 12; Natalie Muth 0-3 0-0 0; Kelsey Lindsay 1-1 2-4 4. Totals: 25-66 17-21 70.
Halftime score: MSU-N 35, UGF 27. Three-point goals: MSU-N 5-14 (Reome 5-8, Gardner 0-4, Heny 0-1, Heggem 0-1), UGF 3-18 (Freeman 0-2, Ball 1-5, Neill 2-6, Green 0-3, McPherson 0-1, Muth 0-1). Rebounds: MSU-N 41 (Heny 8, Johnston 8); UGF 50 (Freeman 17, Neill 8) Assists: MSU-N 20 (Heny 5, Pullin 5); UGF 16 (Freeman 9). Turnovers: MSU-N 20, UGF 20. Total fouls: MSU-N 16, UGF 18. Fouled out: Ball; Technicals: none.
AUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (53)
Alana Martinson 0-2 0-2 0; Joan Wheat 0-2 0-0 0; Erin Mercier 1-3 0-0 2; Pam Reinke 8-12 2-3 18; Paige Gaudreau 2-12 1-1 5; Sara Brown 0-3 2-2 2; Katie Deuchar 1-4 2-2 4; Krista Joudrey 2-5 0-0 4; Heidi Marcinkoski 7-9 2-2 16; Karla Binder 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 22-57 9-12 53.
MSU-NORTHERN (96)
DeLayne Johnston 7-8 0-0 14; Megan Valgardson 3-7 3-4 9; Jaci Heny 6-11 0-0 13; Jessi Reome 2-7 0-0 6; Camille Gardner 5-7 1-1 14; Heather Riener 5-7 0-0 12; Kristie Pullin 1-2 0-0 3; Jena Heggem 4-5 0-0 9; Michele VanDyke 2-4 2-2 6; Ashley Trulock 5-8 0-0 10. Totals: 40-66 6-7 96.
Halftime score: MSU-N 58, AUC 32. Three-point goals: AUC 0-14 (Martinson 0-2, Wheat 0-1, Gaudreau 0-5, Brown 0-1, Deuchar 0-2, Joudrey 0-1), MSU-N 10-17 (Heny 1-2, Reome 2-5, Gardner 3-3, Riener 2-3, Pullin 1-2, Heggem 1-2). Rebounds: AUC 25 (Joudrey 4); MSU-N 38 (VanDyke 8) Assists: AUC 16 (Mercier 5); MSU-N 30 (Gardner 7). Turnovers: AUC 28, MSU-N 19. Total fouls: AUC 10, MSU-N 16. Fouled out: none; Technicals: none.
AUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (53)
Alana Martinson 3-6 2-2 9; Joan Wheat 2-5 0-0 5; Erin Mercier 0-3 0-0 0; Pam Reinke4-7 5-6 13; Paige Gaudreau 4-13 1-2 11; Sara Brown 2-3 0-0 5; Katie Deuchar 1-8 0-0 3; Krista Joudrey 0-5 0-0 0; Heidi Marcinkoski 2-5 2-2 6; Karla Binder 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 18-58 11-14 53.
MSU-NORTHERN (78)
DeLayne Johnston 4-11 1-4 9; Megan Valgardson 5-8 2-2 12; Jessi Reome 6-13 0-0 16; Jaci Heny 2-5 0-0 5; Camille Gardner 2-10 0-0 4; Heather Riener 4-5 0-0 8; Kristie Pullin 2-5 0-0 4; Jena Heggem 1-4 0-0 3; Michele VanDyke 5-6 1-2 11; Ashley Trulock 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 34-72 4-8 78.
Halftime score: MSU-N 31, AUC 31. Three-point goals: AUC 6-24 (Martinson 1-3, Wheat 1-3, Mercier 0-1, Gaudreau 2-7, Brown 1-2, Deuchar 1-5, Joudrey 0-2), MSU-N 6-18 (Reome 4-9,, Heny 1-3, Gardner 0-3, Heggem 1-3). Rebounds: AUC 30 (Reinke 6); MSU-N 53 (Johnston 14) Assists: AUC 11 (Gaudreau 4); MSU-N 24 (Reome 6). Turnovers: AUC 20, AUC 21. Total fouls: AUC 14, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: none; Technicals: none.
