Skylights, Lights complete season sweeps of Great Falls

Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/[email protected]

A quick trip to Great Falls seemed to be just the remedy for the ills of the Montana State University-Northern basketball teams.

Both the Skylights and Lights picked up dominant wins on Saturday night at the McLaughlin Center, snapping their respective losing streaks to start the second half of the Frontier Conference season.

The Skylights ended a three-game losing streak, trouncing the Argos 89-65 to kick off the night.

Northern overcame 31 turnovers and a sluggish start to roll to its fourth conference win of the season.

"I was a little disappointed with committing 31 turnovers against a team that didn't really pressure us that much," said head coach Mike Erickson. "We just made some careless passes."

When the Skylights weren't throwing it away, they were tossing it in the basket, shooting 54 percent from the field, including a scorching 67 percent in the first half.

With starting point guard Anna Bateman seeing only limited action because of a sore foot, Erickson was looking for someone to step up and fill her offensive production.

Senior Khadiga Mohamed answered the call, scoring 19 points on a perfect shooting night. Mohamed sank all six of her field goal attempts and was also 7-7 from the free-throw line.

"Khadiga has been kind of in a slump offensively," Erickson said. "But she played great basketball. We talked about someone stepping up and she came in and did that."

Northern also got a game-high 21 points from freshman Jessi Reome including a 5-6 effort from three-point range. The fast-improving Reome is leading the Frontier in three-point percentage and in the top 10 in scoring.

"Jessi has been very consistent for us all year long," Erickson said. "The best part is that she seems to keep getting better."

But the key difference in the game was Northern's depth. The Skylights played all 12 players with all but two getting in the scoring column.

"We got a great effort from our bench," Erickson said. "Even if they didn't score, they contributed in some way with either rebounding or defense."

Indeed, Northern's bench outscored UGF's 50-15 and outrebound them 20-1.

Freshman Jena Heggem had a solid effort off the bench with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.

UGF was led by Kim Freeman with 20 points, while former Skylight Nichole Neill added 15.

The Northern men followed the Skylights lead, crushing UGF 84-59 to complete a season sweep of the Argos.

The Lights ended a two-game conference losing streak using an attacking style of basketball, which translated to some easy buckets and plenty of opportunities from the free-throw line.

Northern has been plagued by somewhat inconsistent free-throw shooting this season. The Lights didn't exactly burn the nets up from the charity stripe, but sank a decent enough percentage to make a big difference in the game.

UGF sent Northern to the free-throw line 45 times in the game with the Lights sinking 29 for a percentage of 63 percent.

"Had we made our free throws in the first half the game would have been out of reach much sooner," said Lights head coach Shawn Huse. "That's something we need to be better at if we expect to win games."

Still, Northern didn't get all of its points from free throws. All nine players reached the scoring column with four players in double figures led by Larry Morinia's 18 points.

Lamar Morinia had a solid floor game with 16 points and six rebounds, while senior Travis Moran came off the bench to score 12 points. Reid Stovall chipped in with 10 points for Northern.

Northern won the battle in every statistical category in the game including a 46-33 advantage in rebounding. The Lights outscrapped UGF for 17 offensive rebounds. Junior center Trenton Harbaugh led Northern with 12 rebounds.

"That was one thing we wanted to control was the boards," Huse said. "Trenton did a nice job rebounding for us. And Travis had a nice game off the bench. He really gave us a lift with his intensity."

After dropping a heartbreaker in its last game, Huse was pretty sure his team wanted to erase that memory as best as possible.

"I thought we played very well," he said. "We very focused and intense. I think the kids were a little hungry to get back on the winning track."

Both Northern teams will be at home this weekend for games against Montana Tech and UM-Western.

Skylights 89, Great Falls 65

MSU-NORTHERN (15-10, 4-4)

Megan Valgardson 2-2 0-0 4, Kristie Pullin 2-7 0-0 5, Khadiga Mohamed 6-6 7-7 19, Brettney Vermandel 1-4 0-0 2, Michele VanDyke 0-2 0-0 0, DeLayne Johnston 3-7 1-1 7, Jessi Reome 7-9 2-2 21, Anna Bateman 2-5 0-0 6, Kristal Lohse 0-1 0-0 0, Chasi Buffington 2-5 0-0 6, Jena Heggem 4-7 0-0 10, Sheena Darlington 2-2 5-7 9. Totals: 31-57 15-17 89.

UNIVERSITY OF GREAT FALLS (2-24, 0-8)

Kim Freeman 8-13 4-6 20, Janet Austin 3-6 3-4 9, Nichole Neill 4-12 5-8 15, Paula Meyer 1-2 0-0 2, Jayla McPherson 2-3 0-2 4, Heather Olson 3-8 0-0 7, Libby Oram 3-4 1-1 8, Jaclyn Bird 0-1 0-0 0, Deidre Ranf 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 24-52 13-21 65.

Halftime score: MSUN 43-32. Three-point goals: MSUN 12-20 (Pullin 1-2, Reome 5-6, Bateman 2-5, Buffington 2-3, Heggem 2-4), UGF 4-15 (Freeman 0-3, Neill 2-6, Olson 1-4, Oram 1-1, Bird 0-1). Rebounds: MSUN 35 (Heggem 6), UGF 23 (Austin 8). Assists: MSUN 7 (Pullin 3), UGF 12 (Meyer 4). Turnovers: MSUN 31, UGF 28. Total fouls: MSUN 22, UGF 20 . Fouled out: Meyer.

Lights 84, Great Falls 59

MSU-NORTHERN (16-10, 4-4)

Larry Morinia 4-13 8-15 18, Reid Stovall 4-7 2-3 10, Lamar Morinia 6-13 2-4 16, Landen Grant 2-3 2-2 8, Trenton Harbaugh 2-7 1-3 5, Zach McLean 0-2 4-4 4, Leo Bullchild 0-1 1-2 1, Walter Runsabove 1-1 0-0 3, Travis Moran 2-3 8-10 12, Dustin Sawejka 3-6 1-2 7. Totals: 24-56 29-45 84.

GREAT FALLS (5-17, 0-8)

Bo Scott 2-10 0-0 5, James Edwards 2-7 0-0 4, John Paul Geniesse 1-5 2-2 4, Anthony Owens 4-10 3-4 11, Rico Suazo 3-3 5-7 11, Trent Oram 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Cline 1-2 0-0 2, Ryan Zimmer 4-12 1-1 13, Eric Oram 1-3 0-0 2, Aaron Timmons 1-1 2-2 5, Loren Edwards 0-3 0-0 0, Brandon Mitchell 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 19-56 15-18 59.

Halftime score: MSUN 35-28. Three point goals: MSUN 7-18 (Larry Morinia 2-6, Lamar Morinia 2-6, Grant 2-3, McLean 0-2, Runsabove 1-1), UGF 6-11 (Scott 1-3, Owens 0-1, Zimmer 4-6, Timmons 1-1). Rebounds: MSUN 46 (Harbaugh 12), UGF 33 (Suazo 7). Assists: MSUN 14 (McLean 5), UGF 3 (three with 1). Turnovers: MSUN 15, UGF 21. Total fouls: MSUN 21, UGF 36. Fouled out: J. Edwards, Owens, E. Oram, L. Edwards. Technical fouls: UGF coach 1, Anthony Owens 1.