Jackson earned Frontier Men’s Player of the Week honors after scoring 23 points and hitting seven 3-pointers Saturday against the Saints, as well as scoring a game-high 21 the night before against RMC. Jackson averaged 22 points, four rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He was 16-of-25 from the field for 62 percent including 16-of-26 in 3-point field goals for 53 percent.

In Northern’s final regular season home games of 2012, the Skylights put together a pair of impressive performances, thrashing Rocky Mountain College 73-51 on Friday night, then returning to the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse on Saturday to send senior Laramie Schwenke out with a scrappy 55-48 win over Carroll College.

And that’s exactly what Northern fans got on Saturday night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse as the No. 22 Montana State University-Northern Lights put the finishing touches on an emotional weekend of basketball by outlasting Carroll College 79-71. The win gave the Lights a sweep on their final home stand of the regular season – a sweep which included a 77-67 victory over the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears on Friday night. That win put an end to Northern’s three-game losing streak.

On Friday night, an energetic crowd, led by a raucous Northern student section witnessed, and helped push the Skylights to one of their most impressive victories to date, a 73-51 thumping of Rocky Mountain College. The Skylights managed just 38 points in a loss at RMC last month, but Northern was firing on all cylinders Friday night. The Skylights hit three’s and led the Bears by double digits for the final 31 minutes of the game.

For the most part, that’s exactly what the Lights did. Northern placed third in a loaded Western Regional tournament Saturday night in Ashland, Ore. The Lights finished just behind regional champion Southern Oregon and second-place Great Falls.

The Big Sandy Pioneers and head coach Roy Lackner are back on top of the District 9C mountain. After missing going to the Northern C last season, the only time in Lackner's career, the Pioneers took no prisoners in a 63-44 win over the Beeters in the 9C championship Saturday night at the HHS gymnasium. Big Sandy will play in the first round of the Northern C next Wednesday in Great Falls, while Chinook and North Star square off in a challenge game Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in Havre.

Last month, the MSU-Northern men's basketball team launched 43 3-pointers and only made nine in an overtime loss at Carroll College. On Saturday night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, the Lights again let 40-plus three's go, only this time, 18 of them went down and the end result was a spectacular 79-71 Lights' victory over the arch rival Saints at a raucous MSU-Northern Fieldhouse.

The MSU-Northern women got one for senior Laramie Schwenke. On senior night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, the Skylights outscored the Saints 9-2 in the final minute to win 55-48 Saturday night. It's MSUN's third straight victory as the Skylights improved to 7-5 and 20-6 overall.

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team was desperate to stop its three-game losing skid, by any means necessary. On Friday night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, the No. 22 Lights did just that, earning a 77-67 Frontier Conference win over the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears.

The No. 22 Lights make their final home stand of the regular season, starting with tonight’s game against the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears at 8 p.m. Northern is back home at a special 7:30 p.m. start time to host rival Carroll College on what figures to be an emotional Saturday Senior Night.

Tonight, the Skylights play the first of a final two-game homes stand when they take on the powerful Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears at 6 inside the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse. Northern plays its final home game of the regular season, and will honor senior Laramie Schwenke when it takes on arch rival Carroll College at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The first step towards a national championship run comes Saturday when the Lights travel to Ashland, Ore., for the Western Regional. The region is perhaps the most loaded of any in the NAIA as the meet will features third-ranked Southern Oregon, fourth-ranked UGF, eighth-ranked Northern and 20th-ranked Embry-Riddle. Menlo College lies just outside the NAIA Top 20 to round out the field, where only four wrestles from each weight class will qualify for the NAIA national tournament.

Throw in a night when eight Northern seniors are playing their last regular season game at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, and emotions will likely be off the charts.

However, that might change this weekend, especially on the women’s side. On Saturday night in Salt Lake City, the Westminster Griffins can wrap up their third straight regular season Frontier title with a win over the Lewis-Clark State Warriors. The Warriors may be ranked No. 8 in the NAIA, but the Griffins have the one-game lead in the conference standings heading into Saturday night’s huge showdown.

Look up the word competitive in the dictionary and you will certainly see a lot of athletes who exemplify it over the years. Montana State University-Northern Skylight Laramie Schwenke is one of them. And that competitiveness has lifted Schwenke through some dark times during her career at Northern and spurned her on to become one of the best players in the Frontier Conference.

After losses at then No. 24 UM-Western on Friday night and Montana Tech on Saturday, the Lights fell from No. 13 to No. 22 in this week’s poll. Northern is 20-6 overall but dropped from first to second in the Frontier Conference standings.

The Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team just keeps getting up after its been knocked down.    And this weekend on the road was no different. The Skylights su...

Yet, that’s exactly two facts which happened to befall the No. 13 Lights on the road this weekend. Northern dropped its second straight Frontier Conference road game Friday night in Dillon, losing to No. 24 UM-Western 89-75. The Lights also struggled again Saturday night in Butte, losing to Montana Tech 63-55.

   It seems like every single night in the Frontier Conference, the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team is playing a huge game with a lot of meaning. That’s t...

   One big road win down, two more to go. That’s what the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team is shooting for.    Tonight, the Skylights star...

    It was a successful debut for the Montana State University-Northern football team on a glorious day at Blue Pony Stadium.    But perhaps no individual debut around th...