Skylights, Lights win in Butte

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights have been in the position they were in Thursday night several times this season: needing to win a game after a tough loss their last time out.

But, on the road in the Frontier Conference, that task isn’t easy to accomplish. And that’s what makes No. 20 Northern’s 77-55 win over the Montana Tech Orediggers Thursday night in Butte so impressive. From beginning to end, Northern was spectacular on both ends of the floor, and, along the way, the Skylights improved to 6-5 in the Frontier ahead of Saturday night’s visit to top-rated Lewis-Clark State.

“I'm really proud of our team effort tonight,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. “Tech is very scrappy and play so hard. In the third quarter we were able to put a few offensive runs together and combine them with some stops. We finished the game very well and put together a good second half.”

Coming into Thursday night’s game, Mouat said his team needed to shoot the ball much better than it did in road losses at UGF and Carroll College last weekend. And, the Skylights certainly accomplished that. Northern made only three 3-pointers, but the Skylights took just eight, so they were efficient from beyond the arc, while defensively, they forced Tech to miss a whopping 16 3-point attempts.

“We shot it so much better and that went a long way for us,” Mouat noted. ”We had good balance and a lot of contributions across the board.”

But, as good as Northern shot the ball in Butte, as the Skylights finished the game shooting a stellar 58 percent from the floor, the Orediggers didn’t want to go quietly, and the Skylights found themselves leading just 28-27 at halftime.

From there however, Northern went on a scoring binge. Jacy Thompson hit big shots from the outside, Natalee Faupel got to the rim and Sierra Richards had a field day in the paint. And while the Skylights led by just five points at the end of the third period, the game was about to be over as Northern exploded for 31 points in the final 10 minutes, which was the Skylights’ best offensive quarter in weeks.

Thompson was red-hot for Northern on offense, as she knocked in two triples, went 8-of-14 from the floor and scored a game-high 24 points. But, she had plenty of help, too, as Richards scored 16 points, Faupel added 15 and Cydney Auzenne scored eight points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help MSU-N’s balanced attack.

On the other end of the floor, Northern was also very stout. The Skylights held Tech to just 37 percent shooting, and out-rebounded the Orediggers 39-29. Hattie Thatcher scored 15 points for the Diggers, but she went just 6-of-23 from the field.

“I'm real proud of our kids. They stuck together through a tough week last week and really earned this one,” Mouat said.

And with a much-needed road win out of the way Thursday, the 17-5 Skylights can now look forward to a rematch with league-leading LC State Saturday night in Lewiston, Idaho. The Warriors have won 11 straight games, including a 71-51 win over Northern last month in Havre.

Saturday night’s game at LC State tips off at 6:30 p.m. The Skylights are right back on the road, next Thursday at UM-Western and next Saturday at Rocky Mountain College.

Lights Digging Deep

For the second straight week, the Montana State University-Northern Lights were tasked with winning a bounce-back on the road, in a hostile environment. And Thursday night in Butte, the Lights did just that.

In a tight battle throughout, the Lights held off struggling, but game Montana Tech Thursday night, 61-58. The win pushed Northern to 4-7 in the Frontier Conference, and was MSU-N’s second win over the Orediggers this season.

"We got a great team effort tonight,” said Northern head coach Shawn Huse. “We worked very hard and stayed on the boards. Although it was not our best shooting night, our execution was very good, and we hit the big shots and enough big free throws to hang on for the win.”

Down the stretch, the Lights who nearly led wire-to-wire, did hit some key shots and key free throws. But, it was Warren Edmondson’s three first-half 3-pointers that helped Northern jump out and lead 33-31 at halftime.

Tech, however, wouldn’t go away, and the Orediggers kept the deficit around five points for much of the second half. But, with the Lights and Orediggers locked in a defensive battle, it was Northern that broke out late, as Edmondson and K.J. Rech made big shots to keep the Lights in front, while Edmondson and Badhasa Margarsa nailed clutch free throws in the closing minutes to hold off a hard-charging Tech squad which got some late buckets from Jalen Coates to keep things close in the waning minutes.

"Life is never easy on the road and Tech poses their own challenges,” Huse said. “We had to overcome them and I was very proud of the guys.”

Edmondson led an ultra-balanced Northern offense with 13 points and six rebounds, while Rech added 11 points and a critical trey. Margarsa, Trevail Lee and David Straughter each scored eight points, with Lee canning two more important three’s. Northern did shoot just 38 percent for the game, but the Lights out-rebounded the Diggers 43-32 and forced tech into nine second-half turnovers as the Diggers slipped to 1-10 in Frontier play.

On the other hand, Northern won an important road game for the second straight week, and after going just 1-5 at home to start conference play. Of course, the Lights (15-8) have a tall order ahead of them Saturday night when they visit fifth-ranked Lewis-Clark State. But, Huse likes the direction his team is headed, and Northern will surely be ready to battle Saturday night in Lewiston, Idaho.

“We are getting better all the time and now it's on to the next one,” Huse said. “There are still many conference games remaining. We want to make the most of each one and let the chips fall where they may."

Skylights 77, Montana Tech 55

Northern 15 13 18 31 – 77

Tech 14 13 13 15 – 55

MSU-N – Jacy Thompson 8-14 6-7 24, Kate Fetterer 0-0 0-0 0, Brandy Lambourne 1-2 0-0 3, Natalee Faupel 6-8 3-3 15, Peyton Filius 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 3-12 1-2 7, Tina Doughty 0-0 0-0 0, Makhayla Farmer 2-2 0-0 4, Cydney Auzenne 4-6 0-2 8, Sierra Richards 7-10 2-4 16. Totals: 31-54 12-18.

MT – Hattie Thatcher 6-23 1-2 15, Kimi Heng 0-3 1-2 1, Kourtney Coverdell 2-7 3-3 7, Martha Dembek 3-6 2-5 11, Kaylynnn Coverdell 2-5 2-2 6, Sammy McGree 2-7 0-0 4, Calee Remsen 2-3 1-1 5, Rachel Ferris 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 20-59 12-15.

3-pointers: MSU-N 3-8 (Thompson 2, Lambourne 1), MT 3-19 (Thatcher 2, Dembek 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 39 (Auzenne 13), MT 29 (Dembek 5). Fouls: MSU-N 15, MT 18. Fouled out: Kreycik.

Lights 61, Montana Tech 58

MSU-N - Trevail Lee 2-5 2-3 8, KJ Rech 4-9 2-4 11, Kevin Oberweiser 0-2 0-0 0, Brett Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Tatarka 0-1 0-0 0, Warren Edmondson 4-10 2-3 13, Ryan Reeves 1-1 0-0 2, William Walker 2-5 0-0 4, Tyler Chandler 2-4 0-0 5, Justin Dunsmore 1-3 0-0 2, David Straughter 2-8 4-6 8, Badhasa Margarsa 3-7 2-5 8. Totals 21-56 12-21 61.

MT - Kale Guldseth 2-5 2-2 6, Jalen Coates 7-15 2-3 16, Cruz Ginns Jr. 7-15 1-1 17, John Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Akeem Williams 1-2 0-1 2, Flemming Okeke 0-2 0-0 0, Carson Dummer 0-1 0-0 0, Paul Engstrom 4-9 4-4 12, Lukas Vining 2-7 0-0 5. Totals 23-56 9-11 58.

Halftime: Northern 33-31. 3-pointers: MSU-N 7-20 (Lee 2-3, Rech 1-4, Oberweiser 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Edmondson 3-7, Chandler 1-3, Dunsmore 0-1), MT 3-7 (Guldseth 0-1, Coates 0-1, Ginns Jr. 2-3, Vining 1-2). Rebounds: MSU-N 43 (Edmondson 6), MT 32 (Engstrom 13). Fouls: MSU-N 16, MT 20. Fouled out: none.