Bears rally to upend Skylights

Just over 10 days ago, the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team was riding a four-game Frontier Conference winning streak. Now, the Skylights will play their regular season finale Saturday carrying the burden of a four-game losing skid.

Northern lost its fourth straight league affair Thursday night in Billings, as the Skylights fell to Rocky Mountain College 63-58. The loss dropped Northern to 7-8 in the Frontier and 15-12 overall. The Skylights still have a one-game lead on fifth-place UM-Western heading into the final game of the season.

"We did a poor job defensively too many times and it caught up with us," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said of Thursday's loss to the Battlin' Bears. "Too many times we either gave up layups or fouled, and it killed us. They beat us to the rim far too often. And to make things worse we didn't finish at the offensive end. We also struggled from the free-throw-line. We simply have to play better Saturday. Our effort was there but our execution was not."

Northern did play a solid first half against a Rocky team it throttled last month in Havre. The Skylights got good production early and often and led a hard-charging Bears' squad 32-31 at the half.

But in the second 20 minutes, Rocky came up with most of the big shots. The Bears overtook the Skylights, and the two teams battled from there. Rocky made a final push in the final four minutes and Northern couldn't quite catch up.

Jordan Bruursema scored 16 points and hit three 3-pointers for MSU-N. Taylor Cummings added 11 points and Kylee Denham grabbed eight rebounds to go along with nine points. The Skylights did go a solid 9-for-16 from three, but defensively, they just couldn't get the stops they needed down the stretch.

RMC, which is fighting for a Frontier playoff berth and is also one game behind the Skylights for fourth, was led by Brittany Kumm's 16 points.

Northern will try and hang on to the No. 4 spot in the Frontier, which would give it a home playoff game next week. In order to do that, the Skylights will need a win in their regular season finale, which is Saturday night at Dickinson State.

Rocky 63, Skylights 58

MSU-N — Jordan Bruursema 3-10 6-10 16, Laci Keller 1-7 2-2 4, Nikki Tresch 3-10 0-0 8, Taylor Cummings 2-4 5-6 11, Kylee Denham 4-11 0-4 9, Kassie Barta 0-0 0-0 0, Kacie McKeon 1-3 0-0 3, Rachelle Bennett 1-2 2-2 4, Maurisha McKissic 1-5 1-2 3. Totals: 16-52 17-26 58. 3-point goals: 9-16 (Bruursema 3-6, Tresch 2-3, Cummings 2-3, Denham 1-2, McKeon 1-2). Fouls: 14. Rebounds: 38 (Denham 8). Assists: 11 (Cummings 4). Steals: 5 (Denham 2). Blocked shots: 3 (Bruursema 2). Turnovers: 13.

RMC — Taylor Hurst 3-8 0-0 9, Brittany Myers 6-11 1-2 13, Haleigh Crnkovich 1-4 3-4 5, Kelcy Lott 1-7 0-0 2, Brittany Kumm 4-12 7-10 16, Kalli McCloskey 4-6 6-6 14, Aynslee Stuart 0-0 0-0 0, Megan Halstead 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 21-50 17-22 63. 3-point goals: 4-15 (Hurst 3-5, Kumm 1-7, Crnkovich 0-1, Lott 0-1, McCloskey 0-1). Fouls: 19. Rebounds: 35 (Myers 14). Assists: 12 (Crnkovich 4). Steals: 5. Blocked shots: 5 (Lott 2, Halstead 2). Turnovers: 11.

Halftime: MSU-Northern 32, Rocky 31.