Skylights shock Carroll in Helena

The Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team was down after three straight Frontier Conference losses. Apparently, the Skylights were far from out though.

On Saturday night, a struggling Skylights' team went into Helena and stormed their way past the Carroll College Fighting Saints 70-54 for a surprise road win and a little redemption. Northern lost a heartbreaking game on Thursday night at Rocky Mountain College but salvaged an important split on its final road trip with the win at Carroll.

Saturday night's blowout victory also gave Northern a regular season sweep of the Saints, as well as Northern head coach Chris Mouat his 100th win as the Skylights leader. And even more importantly, it could give the Skylights the momentum they need as they enter the final week of the regular season.

Northern started off on fire and never looked back against the Saints. The Skylights shot the ball well early on and jumped out to a 34-21 halftime lead. MSU-N was up big early on Rocky on Thursday night, only to see the Bears come back. The Skylights didn't let history repeat itself on Saturday. Northern kept the foot on the gas and never let Carroll get close enough to threaten for real.

Samm Schermele led four Skylights in double figures with 20 points, while Jordan Bruursema racked up a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. It was Bruursema's second straight big game for the Skylights. Taylor Keller chipped in with 11 points and Laramie Schwenke scored 10 as Northern improved to 4-8 in league play and 13-15 overall.

The Skylights will wrap up the regular season with home games on Friday against league-leading Westminster and Saturday against second-place Lewis-Clark State.

Skylights 70, Carroll 54

MSU-N — Laramie Schwenke 4-8 0-0 10, Taylor Keller 5-8 0-0 11, Kylee Denham 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Schermele 8-17 4-4 20, Val Gee 2-4 0-0 4, Jordan Bruursema 6-12 1-2 13, Nicole Wilk 1-1 2-2 5, Courtney Blume 2-4 0-1 5, Monica Hollowell 0-0 0-0 0, Stren Tramelli 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-55 7-9 70.

CC — Mee 0-0 0-0 0, Nancy Johnson 5-14 1-2 11, Jeni Guertin 0-5 1-2 1, Jordan Bagley 0-2 1-2 1, Jill Jagelski 1-5 0-0 3, Sara Meyer 7-17 6-10 20, Jackie Gedhardt 0-1 0-0 0, Jessica Van Dyke 3-8 0-0 7, Alysha Green 3-11 3-4 11. Totals 19-63 12-20 54.

Halftime — Northern 34-21. 3-pointers - Northern 5-15 (Schwenke 2, Blume 1, Keller 1, Wilk 1), Carroll 4-14 (Green 2, Van Dyke 1, Jagelski 1); Rebounds - Northern 28 (Bruursema 10), Carroll 43 (Meyer 11, Van Dyke 10); Steals - Northern 3 (Schermele 2), Carroll 6 (Van Dyke 2); Turnovers - Northern 11, Carroll 15; Fouls - Northern 16, Carroll 13; Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.