Armory Sweep: Skylights win thrillers

After two brutal weeks of close games and home splits, the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team knew the third weekend of a six-game home stand wasn’t going to be easy. But the Skylights also knew they needed to build some momentum before striking out on the road for their next six Frontier Conference games.

And the No. 14 Skylights did just that by sweeping Rocky Mountain College and UM-Western over the weekend inside the Armory Gymnasium.

On Friday night, MSU-N wasn’t just looking to bounce back from a loss for the second straight week, but the Skylights were looking to redeem themselves for a blowout loss at the hands of the Battlin’ Bears last month in Billings. And in front of a large and loud Armory Gymnasium crowd, the Skylights got the job done.

Spurred on by huge second-half lifts from Sierra Richards and Cydney Auzenne, the Skylights dealt the talented Bears a 61-53 loss, with Auzenne, who pulls double-duty as a volleyball player at MSU-N, helping finish the Bears off in the final minutes.

“I think the thing was, I wasn’t really thinking out there,” Auzenne, who scored nine points in the last 10 minutes said. “I was just in attack mode, and I was just trying to play the game the way I know how to play it.”

And Auzenne, the sophomore from Saskatchewan, played the game well. Northern trailed 40-37 entering the fourth quarter, and the Skylights were down 44-40 with eight minutes left as RMC capped a 10-2 run. Then, however, it was all Auzenne and the Skylights. She scored back-to-back buckets and an old-fashioned 3-point play, then, after a Natalee Faupel hoop, Auzenne scored a running bank shot, lifting the Skylights to an 11-0 run that was capped by another Faupel score. Auzenne would also answer a Whitney Mitchell 3-pointer with another shot off the glass to put her team ahead 53-49 with 2:01 to go, and though Rocky would get within 55-53 with over a minute left, a Faupel layup and Molly Kreycik free throws were enough to keep Rocky at bay.

Auzenne, coupled with an aggressive start to the third quarter by Richards, helped the Skylights overcome a small halftime deficit, and helped them stay within striking distance in the third quarter, even with a hot streak by RMC’s Haley Farvstreet.

“Natalee (Faupel) and Jacy (Thompson) are our big scorers, and they do a lot of other big things for us,” said MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. “But, we also need other kids to step in and give us a lift at both ends of the floor, and tonight, Sierra (Richards) and Cyd (Auzenne) did that for us. Sierra really carried us for a while in the third quarter, and then Cyd really came up big for us with both her scoring and rebounding down the stretch. Those two were huge for us tonight, and I’m proud of them.”

While Auzenne and Richards came up clutch for Northern late, the Skylights’ defense was the key to staying with a potent Rocky offense in the first 20 minutes.

An early triple by Thompson keyed a 7-3 start to the game for the Skylights, but two 6-0 runs by the Bears gave them a 15-14 after one period. Back-to-back three’s by Thompson and Tina Doughty would give Northern a brief lead in the second quarter, but Rocky would go another 6-0 run, and a Thompson bucket late in the stanza helped MSU-N go into halftime only down 26-24.

“I thought we were sloppy in the first half,” Mouat said. “I thought we weren’t crisp at all. And we talked about those things at halftime. Rocky was out-playing us, out-rebounding us and out-hustling us to loose balls, and on top of that, we were missing bunnies at the rim that we traditionally make. But, in the second half, I thought we did a much better job with all of those things we discussed, so credit to our kids for responding the right away.”

Indeed. The Skylights ended up shooting 46 percent in the second half, while committing just one turnover in the final 20 minutes and only seven for the game. The much bigger Bears were also held to just a 34-31 edge on the boards, while MSU-N was more than balanced in the scorebook as Thompson finished with a game-high 15 points, while Faupel added 14, Richards 10 and, of course, the huge 11 points and eight rebounds from Auzenne, who was inserted into the starting lineup last week when senior Rachelle Bennett went down with an injury.

“I was put into a tough situation because I’m trying to fill a great fifth-year senior’s shoes,” Auzenne said. “And I know there’s no way I can do it like (Rachelle) does. She’s such a great player and a great leader. So my mindset has just been to do anything I can to help the team out, whenever I can. So I’m really pleased with the way I played and so glad I could help us tonight.”

And by the same token, Mouat was pleased with his entire team for not only avenging the early December loss at Rocky, but also for coming back and winning a big game less than a week after a bitter home loss at the hands of Lewis-Clark State.

“They (Bears) really took it to us down there,” Mouat said. “Rocky is a team that plays very well, plays very hard and is so well coached. Wes (Keller) does such a great job, and they played really well again tonight. So I’m proud of the kids for grinding one out. It was big for us to find a way to get this one tonight.”

Momentum Gained

After two weeks of winning on the first night of back-to-back home games, the Skylights were trying to reverse a trend of losing the second game of a Frontier doubleheader when they hosted UM-Western Saturday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

And while Western didn’t make it easy, another heroic effort from Cydney Auzenne, and a high-arching shot by Natalee Faupel with :02 left lifted the Skylights to a 54-52 win over Western.

“With some very, very tough road games coming up, we’re happy to be 2-0 this weekend and moving on,” said MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. “Western gave us all we could handle tonight, and I feel for coach (Lindsey) Wooley and his team because for almost 40 minutes tonight, they really took it to us, and played extremely well on both ends of the floor.

“At the same time, I’m really proud of this team for hanging in there, and for their fight,” Mouat added. “We didn’t play well in a lot of areas tonight, and the mistakes we made, we absolutely have to clean those up moving forward. But we hung around and hung around and found a way at the end, and I’m really proud of them for gutting it out.”

The Skylights did have to gut one out, and nearly right from the start, as Elise Palmore drilled two 3-pointers and was part of a 12-0 run that pushed the Bulldogs to a 17-4 lead with less than six minutes gone by in the contest.

However, Northern would start to chip away at the lead, and it started with Auzenne, who nailed back-to-back threes late in the first quarter. And the Skylights were just getting warmed up from beyond the arc. Jacy Thompson opened the second stanza with a triple, and Peyton Filius came off the bench and drilled back-to-back bombs, followed by one more from Auzenne, and Northern had completely erased the bad start.

And while Western would wrestle the lead away, going into the break ahead 31-27, the Skylights had weathered a rough storm, and felt good about their chances from there.

“Western was all over us at the start of the game, on both ends of the floor,” Mouat said. “So give them credit for coming in here with a great game plan and executing it really well. We also made a ton of mistakes early, but give our kids credit for putting up a lot of fight, and to come back from down 17-4, I felt we did a really good job of regrouping, and I felt good about where we were at at halftime.”

Northern also played strong in the third period, led by nine points from Faupel, and the Skylights led 40-39 heading into the fourth.

But there was no way the talented Bulldogs were going to go quietly into the Havre night, and when Kaye Bignell capped a 7-0 Bulldog run with a put back inside, Western was leading 50-44 with 5:10 left, and smelling a rare win in the Armory.

That’s when Auzenne took over for a second straight night. She snapped Western’s run, first with a blocked shot on defense, then a three on the other end to pull the Skylights to within 50-47. On Northern’s ensuing possession, Molly Kreycik made a backdoor layup, and the Skylights were within one with 3:20 to go. The score remained that way until the 1:41 mark when Auzenne made her fourth trey of the night, and the Skylights had a 52-50 lead with the Armory roaring. Western though, wasn’t done, and with :30 left, Palmore calmly drilled a 15-footer to tie the game again.

And while Auzenne was sensational all night, with the outcome hanging in the balance, the Skylights leaned on their leader, Faupel, who drove right into the heart of the Western defense, and threw up a shot over the top of four out-stretched arms, lifting MSU-N to a huge win.

“We got production from kids who we really needed to step up,” Mouat said of his Skylights, who have been riddled with injuries. “Peyton hit some big shots, and I was so proud of the way Cyd played again tonight. She really made some huge shots for us. I’m just really proud of the way our kids hung in there and fought hard for a win.”

Faupel’s game-winner gave her 15 points on the night, while Auzenne scored a career-high 15 to go along with seven rebounds. Sierra Richards had a crucial eight points as well, while Kreycik had 11 assists. Northern also made eight treys on the night, while holding Western to just 26 percent shooting, and the Skylights out-rebounded the Bulldogs 31-29, while limiting Western star Molly Klinker to just seven points and five rebounds.

The win also pushed MSU-N to 5-3 in the Frontier and 16-3 overall. The Skylights are just a half game behind Carroll College, one of the two teams they’ll play when they start a six-game road trip this weekend. MSU-N will play Carroll Saturday, following a Thursday night visit to UGF.

“Happy that we were able to go 4-2 in these last six games,” Mouat said. “It’s really hard to win games in this league, so to win the two this weekend, we’re very happy about that. The road is going to get a lot harder, but I’m proud of our kids for finding ways to get it done this weekend.”

Skylights are 5-3 in Frontier, 16-3 overall; Next UP: at UGF Thursday

Skylights 61, Rocky Mountain 53

Rocky Mountain 15 11 14 13 - 53

Northern 14 10 13 24 – 61

RMC - Jayde LeFevre 0-4 0-0 0, Tenika Capouch 2-8 2-3 6, Bridger Rice 1-2 0-0 2, Whittney Mitchell 6-14 0-0 13, Kara Gerke 0-1 0-0 0, Alecia Chamberlin 2-6 0-0 4, Justyn Juhl 4-7 5-6 14, Hailee Farstveet 6-13 0-0 14, Brandy Kumm 0-0 0-0 0, Victoria Wilkinson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 7-9 53.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 6-10 1-1 15, Katie Fertterer 0-0 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 6-17 2-3 14, Peyton Filius 0-1 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 1-6 4-6 6, Jessica Anderson 0-1 2-2 2, Tina Doughty 1-2 0-0 3, Cydney Auzenne 5-7 1-1 11, Sierra Richards 4-6 2-5 10. Totals 23-50 12-18 61.

3-pointers: RMC 4-17 (LeFevre 0-3, Mitchell 1-7, Juhl 1-2, Farstveet 2-5), MSU-N 3-14 (Thompson 2-5, Faupel 0-2, Filius 0-1, Kreycik 0-4, Doughty 1-2). Rebounds: RMC 34 (Juhl 8), MSU-N 31 (Auzenne 8). Fouls: RMC 21, MMSU-N 17. Fouled out: Rice, Juhl, Richards.

Skylights 54, Western 52

Western 21 10 8 13 - 52

Northern 12 15 13 14 - 54

UM-W - Sierra Higheagle 3-12 0-0 7, Molly Klinker 3-9 1-4 7, Dani Baker 0-2 0-0 0, Aniese Palmore 3-5 2-2 10, Brandy Bookout 0-1 1-2 1, Sierra Bignell 0-1 0-0 0, McCall Hasquet 3-8 2-2 8, Britt Cooper 2-6 0-0 4, Callie Kanthack 1-4 0-0 2, Kaye Bignell 4-7 1-2 10, Darby Schye 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 20-56 8-14 52.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 1-3 2-2 5, Natalee Faupel 5-13 5-5 15, Peyton Filius 2-4 0-0 6, Molly Kreycik 2-7 1-2 5, Jessica Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Tina Doughty 0-1 0-0 0, Cydney Auzenne 5-7 0-0 15, Sierra Richards 4-7 0-0 8. Totals 19-42 8-9 54.

3-pointers: UM-W 4-14 (Higheagle 1-4, Klinker 0-2, Baker 0-1, Palmore 2-2, Bignell 0-1, Hasquet 0-3, Bignell 1-1), MSU-N 8-15 (Thompson 1-1, Faupel 0-1, Filius 2-4, Kreycik 0-2, Doughty 0-1, Auzenne 5-6). Rebounds: UM-W 29 (TEAM 6), MSU-N 31 (Auzenne 7). Fouls: UM-W 14, MSU-N 12. Fouled out: none.