Skylights land St. Labre standout

It was just a month ago that the Montana State University-Northern Skylights were playing at the NAIA national tournament. But, a month later, head coach Chris Mouat has landed a big piece of the Skylights' future.

Tuesday afternoon, Mouat, and Northern rodeo coach Doug Kallenberger were in St. Labre to officially sign St. Labre star Shiloh McCormick to an NAIA national letter of intent, as she'll compete in basketball and rodeo at Northern.

On the basketball floor, McCormick is a four-time Class B All-State performer and four-time All-Conference selection. She scored 2,214 points in her in her illustrious career, and finished the season as the fifth all-time leading scorer in Montana girls basketball history. This season, she averaged 30.8 points per game in helping lead the Braves to a third-place finish at the 2016 Class B State Tournament. She scored 50 points or more in three consecutive games and scored 117 points in the state tournament. Her 48-point performance is the highest point total ever tallied in a girls basketball state tournament.

"Shiloh is an outstanding player and a very big addition to the Skylight program," Mouat said. "What she has done during her high school career is amazing. Shiloh has an excellent offensive skill set. She can score from virtually everywhere on the floor. She has great 3-point range, can hit the mid-range jumper, and gets to the rim. What impresses me just as much, however, is her floor vision. She puts teammates in excellent position to score and is an outstanding passer."

At the conclusion of her high school career, McCormick's mark was left on the Montana girls basketball record book. In addition to finishing fifth in scoring, her 889 points scored this year placed her second behind Kayla Lambert. Her career scoring average of 27.5 places her fifth in history. This season, McCormick averaged 30.8 points per game, placing her third behind Lambert and Carla Beattie.

Throughout her career, she had 62 games in which she scored 20 points or more, also good for third behind Katie Edwards and Havre High legend Loree Payne. This season, McCormick had three games with 50 points or more as well as a game with 48 points, putting her in the top ten individual performances of all-time four times. She had a career-high of 51 points (tied for 6th all-time).

McCormick recently earned Most Valuable Player honors at the 30th Annual Hi-Line Invitational Tournament in Havre. Last week, it was announced that McCormick will play the the prestigious Montana-Wyoming All-Star series alongside some of the very best players in Montana.

"We are thrilled that Shiloh has chosen to continue her career in two sports at MSU-Northern," Mouat said. "She is a proven winner and outstanding competitor. We are very excited about her future as a Skylight and believe that she has an amazing future as an MSU-Northern student-athlete."

In the rodeo arena, McCormick has also had an illustrious career and has been an INFR card holder since 2006. She is a three-time qualifier in INFR junior and senior barrel racing. She was twice the event director in barrel racing and two years in NPIRA. She was the Pretty Shield Youth Challenge champion as well as the Lady Ultimate Warrior champion. In the NPIRA, McCormick was twice the year-end winner in NPIRA and once was the year-end winner in RMIRA. She also won one of her titles in NPIRA in sudden death.

"Shiloh is a tremendous athlete and will continue to be a two-sport standout at the collegiate level," Kallenberger said. "Shiloh handles the rope really well and will be a great addition to our rodeo program."

McCormick is the daughter of Richard and Camille McCormick. She carries a 3.3 grade point average.