Skylights thrash Bulldogs

The Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team’s defense has been superb all season long. But in the two games the Skylights have played against the UM-Western Bulldogs, they’ve taken that defense to a whole other level.

Thursday night in Dillon, the No. 11 Skylights held Western to under 40 points for the second time this season as Northern won 66-33. Not only did the victory give the Skylights a season sweep of Western, it also extended their current winning streak to five games. But even more important than that, with the win, and losses by both UGF and Carroll College Thursday night, the Skylights clinched at least the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming Frontier Conference playoffs. MSU-N improved to 10-2 in league play and 24-3 overall.

“This was a really big one for us on a lot of levels,” said Northern head coach Chris Mouat. “It had been a few years since we'd won here, and it was a huge game for seeding in the conference tournament.”

The Skylights may not have had much success in Dillon in recent years, but Thursday night, even without the usual double-double from A’Jha Edwards, Northern simply overwhelmed the Bulldogs. Northern forced the Bulldogs in to 16 turnovers, and its suffocating defense caused the talented Bulldogs to shoot a dismal 21 percent from the field for the entire game.

“We really defended and rebounded tonight,” Mouat said “We got a ton of contributions from a lot of kids. Taybra (Teeters) stepped in as a starter and had a huge game. We played very hard and found ways to generate points because we did struggle offensively early. I thought our post and perimeter defense was solid.”

Northern may have only led by 12 points at halftime, but it didn’t take long for that to change. In the second half, the Skylights fully shut down the Bulldogs, and rode a game-high 15 points from Teeters to the win. Taylor Cummings added 11 points, Natalee Faupel scored 10 and Megan Feldman chipped in with eight, while Edwards, not feeling well, scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds in limited action.

Thursday night’s win over Western gives Northern the momentum it was hoping for heading into Saturday night’s showdown with No. 3 Westminster. The Skylights are now the only team left in the Frontier with a shot at taking the regular season title away from the Griffins. But to do that, Northern will have to win in Salt Lake City Saturday night after falling to the Griffins in double-overtime last month in Havre. The NAIA Game of the Week between the Skylights and Griffins starts at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Kenneled

Thursday night didn’t go as planned for the MSU-Northern men. In Dillon, the Lights’ offense sputtered against the No. 12 UM-Western Bulldogs in a 68-46 loss.

With the defeat, MSU-N has lost two straight, and fell to 5-7 in the Frontier. Northern heads into Saturday night’s game at Westminster sitting in sixth place, but only with a half-game lead on the Griffins and Tech, who are tied for last. So Northern will likely need to win its last two games to ensure a berth in the conference playoffs.

The Lights, who beat the Bulldogs last month in Havre, made nine 3-pointers Thursday night, including four from Warren Edmonson. But overall, Northern shot just 27 percent from the floor and missed 25 3-point shots. MSU-N played strong defense for much of the game, but the lack of offensive production was too much for the Lights to overcome a 38-25 halftime deficit.

Edmonson paced the Lights with 14 points, while Corbin Pearson had eight.

"It was definitely not our night tonight,” said MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse. “Western played great and went from hot to hotter. They were not going to be denied, and especially when we went from cold to colder. We just have to pick up now and get ready for Saturday. These last two are big ones, we can do it, but we are going to need a focused effort. There is no time to worry about game one on a two-game conference road trip.”

The Lights (16-12) will try and rebound Saturday night with their huge showdown at Westminster.

Skylights 66. UM-Western 33

MSU-N – Taylor Cummings 4-10 2-2 11, Natalee Faupel 4-5 2-2 10, Megan Feldman 4-5 0-1 8, Molly Kreycik 3-5 0-0 6, Taybra Teeters 6-8 3-3 15, Cydney Auzenne 0-0 4-4 4, A'Jha Edwards 4-8 1-2 9, Makhayla Farmer 1-1 0-0 2, Brandy Lambourne 0-1 0-0 0, Taryn Norby 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 26-44 13-16 66.

Halftime: Northern 30-18. 3-pointers: MSU-N 1-5 (Cummings 1); Rebounds: MSU-N 34 (Feldman 7, Edwards 7); Fouls: MSU-N 18, UM-W 16. Fouled out: None.

UM-Western 68, Lights 46

MSU-N – Nick Blount 0-8 0-0 0, Warren Edmonson 5-11 0-0 14, Trevail Lee 1-4 3-3 6, Corbin Pearson 2-11 2-2 8, KJ Rech 1-4 0-0 2, Jermaine Graves 1-3 0-0 3, Nikola Ivanovic 1-2 0-0 2, Pat Jensen 1-4 0-0 3, Damian Robinson 2-3 0-0 4, Dylan Tatarka 0-4 1-2 1, Brett Thompson 1-6 0-0 3. Totals: 15-61 7-9 46.

Halftime: Western 38-25. 3-pointers: MSU-N 9-34 (Edmonson 4, Lee 1, Pearson 2, Jensen 1, Thompson 1). Rebounds: 39 (Robinson 6). Fouls: MSU-N 16, UM-W 13. Fouled out: None.