Northern Heights

Basketball is a team game. It takes five players playing together at one time, all being on the same page to be successful.

But, it sure doesn’t hurt to have a player so dominant, so intimidating and so hard to stop, that she stands above all others.

And while the Montana State University-Northern Skylights have been the ultimate team this season, with great chemistry on and off the court, and have been a team that prides itself on disciplined defense and unselfish play on the offensive end, it sure doesn’t hurt the Skylights to have A’Jha Edwards towering above the competition.

The 6-5 Edwards came to Northern last fall from Sierra Vista, Arizona. And the minute she stepped foot on the Armory Gymnasium floor, everything changed. In two seasons with Edwards in the middle, the Skylights have won an incredible 49 games, and have made two straight trips to the NAIA national tournament, including this week when they’ll play in Independence, Missouri. And while the Skylights were a talented and good team for years before Edwards arrived in Havre, her presence has vaulted them to brand new heights.

“She’s a game changer for sure,” said Northern head coach Chris Mouat. “She’s already left her mark on this program, and she’s set the bar very high. She’s set records and received a lot of great honors, but most of all, A’Jha just wants to win, and help this team win, and she’s done that a lot in her career here.”

Winning has been pretty consistent since Edwards joined the Skylights. And so too have the accolades. Already an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American as a junior, Edwards is set to become Northern’s first-ever female basketball player to become a First-Team NAIA All-American later this month.

That’s an achievement in itself considering all of the great players who have come through the Skylight program. But the list of achievements Edwards has tallied during her time at Northern are as tall as she is.

As a junior, she averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds per game on her way to Frontier First-Team All-Conference honors, as well as being named the league’s Newcomer of the Year. But she’s made even more strides as a senior.

This season, Edwards was again a First-Team All-Conference selection, but her 24 double-doubles, her 17 points and 13 rebounds per game averages helped lead her to being named the Frontier Conference’s Player of the Year. She has been named Frontier Player of the Week six times this season, and in back-to-back weeks, was named the NAIA National Player of the Week. Only two Skylights in the last 10 years had ever even earned that honor once.

Edwards has also smashed records in her time at MSU-N. On Dec. 31, Edwards pulled down 25 rebounds against Northwood College to set the single-game rebounding record, and to date, she’s grabbed 403 boards, obliterating the previous single-season record of 366 set by former Skylight All-American Stacie Barker in 2008-09.

In just two seasons at MSU-N, Edwards will finish third on the all-time rebounding list at Northern. She goes into the national tournament with 742 career rebounds, while the record is 909 by Andrea Anderson, who played from 1983-1987. Edwards will also leave Northern with the most double-doubles in a career, and as she plays in the national tournament, she is leading the nation in defensive rebounds per game, total rebounds per game and total rebounds for the season.

Yes, Edwards has indeed set the bar high at Northern, and it’s something the soft-spoken center didn’t really envision when she trekked north two years ago to play for the Skylights.

“I knew I wanted to leave my mark at Northern, but I never thought I would do all the things I have,” she said. “I didn’t come here with the expectations of breaking records or anything like that.”

But breaking records and absolutely dominating the opposition is exactly what Edwards has done, and she says hard work, great teammates and a head coach who believed in her are what has gotten her to the very top of the NAIA mountain.

“I think just working harder than I ever have before, that has helped me a lot,” she said. “At the JUCO I was at, my coach pushed me, but not to the point where I could get to be the player I am now. Coach Mouat has really helped me a lot. He believed in me. He pushed me, and he made me believe in myself. He made me believe I could do great things here.”

And Edwards has made big believers in her teammates and Northern fans with her eye-popping stats, her hard-nosed play on both ends of the floor, and her infectious personality.

“It’s been such a pleasure to play with her,” said Northern sophomore Natalee Faupel. "She’s such a weapon. You can literally just throw the ball up to her and she’ll grab it. And she makes the entire team that much better because if three people swarm on her, it opens up shots everywhere. She’s just unstoppable.

“She’s helped my game a lot,” added senior point guard Taylor Cummings. “Throw it to her and she’s going to go get it and score. I’ve never played with a post player like her before. She just improves all aspects of your game. And she completes our team.”

“There’s really no solution to her unless you’re 6-6,” said MSU-N sophomore Taryn Norby. “You try to defend her, she’s unstoppable. You go up and try to get rebounds from her, and you’re not going to get the ball away from her, no matter what. And if you want to double and triple team her, then it just creates open shots for all of our shooters. She dominates in pretty much every way you can on the basketball court.

Dominant is the exact word that describes Edwards best. The rest of the Frontier Conference will be celebrating on Northern’s graduation day because Edwards has wreaked havoc on the league for the last two years, and helped the Skylights win 23 conference games in that span, as well as go to the Frontier tournament championship game.

But, when it’s all said and done, it’s Edwards’ personality, it’s her bond with her teammates and coaches, and with the Northern fans that seems to stand out and make her happiest. It’s the experience she’s had at Northern that she cherishes and will look back so fondly on after her basketball playing days are over.

“Not only does she have great size, but she has great hands and a great touch around the basket,” Mouat said of Edwards’ incredible skill set. “She’s a very special player and big part of our team and why we’ve had the success we’ve had.

“But, she’s also an amazing person,” he continued. “She has really grown, both as a player and a person in her time here. She’s become more of a leader, she’s become more vocal this season, but at the same time, she’s also extremely humble. She doesn’t ask for, or look for credit, or awards. In fact, she always passes that credit on to her teammates. She’s just a great person, she’s a great teammate and it’s been an honor to coach her.”

“I’ve never been on a team like this before, one that’s so close, on and off the court,” Edwards added. “We’re all so close and that’s really been great to be a part of. This experience has really been a great one for me. I’m so happy that I was able to come here, and not only play on a team like this and be in a program like this, but also to have met so many great friends. That’s very special to me. That’s meant a lot to me.”

And as the Skylights prepare to play in the national tournament later this week, there’s no denying how much Edwards has meant to them. On the court, snaring rebounds and laying up shots, blocking shots as if she were swatting mosquitoes, and pretty much dominating every opponent and team that dared to try and stand in her way, Edwards has simply been one of the all-time greats at Northern. That’s how she’ll be remembered, and in turn, she’ll remember her time in Havre as a special one, on and off the court.

In other words, it’s been a win-win for everybody, or in Edwards’ case, it's a real-life double-double.