Fast Start: Skylights turn away Argos

Finishing games has been a strong suit of the Montana State University-Northern Skylights this season. But sometimes, the start can be just as important.

And in a critical Frontier Conference game against No. 24 UGF Thursday night in the Armory Gymnasium, the Skylights got off to an incredible start, eventually beating the Argos 72-64. With the win, Northern improved to 9-6 in the Frontier, and also pulled into a three-way tie for second in the Frontier standings with UGF, and tonight's opponent, Carroll College.

"Coming home was big for us," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "The last three weeks on the road were tough. And the loss at Rocky (Mountain College) shook us up a little. So it was big for us to just play better tonight. We needed to prove to ourselves we can still get it done, and I think we did that tonight, against a really, really good UGF team that wasn't going to go away."

The Argos, who lost in Havre for the second time this season, might not have gone away, but Northern nearly put them away in the first quarter. A Jacy Thompson triple started what would eventually become a 20-2 MSU-N run. Back-to-back threes by Cydney Auzenne added to the spurt, and a trey from Molly Kreycik, followed by back-to-back buckets from Natalee Faupel pushed the Skylights out to a 24-6 lead on one of the top offensive teams in the Frontier.

"We made shots, and got stops," Mouat said of the start. "I thought we were every bit as good defensively in the first quarter as we were offensively. But as good as that start was, we knew we had to keep playing well. We know how explosive UGF is, and they came right back on us, and they kept coming back on us all night, no matter how well we were playing.

"We came out on fire," said Sierra Richards, who would play a huge role in the second half. "We wanted this game. We knew this was a big game for us, and we came out and played really good."

Indeed. Auzenne would score 12 first-quarter points to give Northern a huge lift, but, the Argos are dangerous, and by the time the second quarter was over, they had shaved Northern's lead all the way down to 30-20.

And that's when Richards did her thing.

The junior forward opened the third quarter by scoring Northern's first eight points, and while UGF ripped off 10 in a row, capped by a runner by Nneka Nnadi, Richards was already in a groove. She would score eight more in the quarter, helping MSU-N stay in front 48-40 with 10 minutes left. Richards also made two free throws to start the fourth quarter, and in all, she scored 18 points in the second half. But, as expected, UGF had one last run in it.

On buckets by Morgan Greir and Erin Legel, who poured in 23 points in her last game in the Armory, the Argos came all the way back to 58-56 with 3:16 left, but a three-point play by Richards, and a technical foul on UGF's Whitney George turned a two-point Skylight lead back into a eight-point lead with less than two minutes left, and ultimately secured a much-needed home win for Northern.

"Full respect to UGF," Mouat said. "They continued to make runs at us. They are just so dangerous, but I'm proud of our defensive effort. No matter what we did on offense, we continued to get defensive stops and big rebounds, and that's what will help you win games in this league, which is so tough."

Defense and rebounding are always key for the Skylights, but so were the offensive lifts that Auzenne and Richards gave them. Richards finished with a career-high 23 points including a 9-for-12 performance from the free-throw-line. Auzenne added 12 to go along with six rebounds, while Faupel did her usual damage, scoring 20 and yanking down six rebounds. Thompson chipped in with 10, while the Skylights also got 31 boards and held the Argos to just 38 percent shooting and seven points below their season average.

"Sierra had her best game as a Skylight," Mouat said. "The way she played, shooting all those big free throws, I was really happy for her. We know Cyd can shoot it, but she also got to the rim tonight and got some big rebounds for us. Those two were big tonight, and that's what we need, we need more scoring, and when they play so well like that, it just makes us really complete, and that much more hard to guard."

Now the Skylights, who got their 20th win on Thursday night, will hope they are that hard to guard again tonight when they look to break their tie in the standings with No. 15 Carroll College. The game is a huge opportunity for Northern, which has lost twice to the Saints already this season. Tipoff for the big Frontier showdown is tonight at 6 in the Armory.

"We're excited," Richards said. "It's another big game for us. Hopefully we can get off to the same kind of start and keep the intensity we had tonight. If we do that, we'll be good."

Skylights are 9-6 in Frontier, 20-6 overall; Next Up vs No. 15 Carroll tonight

Skylights 72, UGF 64

Great Falls 6 14 20 24 - 64

Northern 24 6 18 24-72

UGF - Erin Legel 5-18 12-12 23, Brice Henning 0-0 0-0 0, Nneka Nnadi 4-9 2-3 10, Stephanie McDonagh 5-12 0-2 10, Molly Herron 0-3 0-0 0, Elyce Donaldson 0-0 0-0 0, Whitney George 2-4 0-0 4, Morgan Grier 4-9 0-0 10, Kalani Ulafali 2-3 3-4 7. Totals 22-58 17-21 64.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 3-10 2-2 10, Brandy Lambourne 0-1 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 5-14 10-13 20, Peyton Filius 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 3-6 0-0 7, Tina Doughty 0-0 0-0 0, Makhayla Farmer 0-1 0-0 0, Cydney Auzenne 4-7 2-2 12, Sierra Richards 7-13 9-12 23. Totals 22-52 23-29 72.

3-pointers: UGF 3-15 (Legel 1-9, McDonagh 0-1, Herron 0-1, Grier 2-4), MSU-N 5-12 (Thompson 2-3, Lambourne 0-1, Faupel 0-1, Kreycik 1-2, Auzenne 2-4, Richards 0-1). Rebounds: UGF 34 (TEAM 9), MSU-N 31 (Kreycik 8). Fouls: UGF 22, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: George, Nnadi.