Skylights romp in opener

Aside from some opening night jitters in the first quarter, the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team picked up right where it left off last spring — playing dominant basketball on both ends of the floor.

The Skylights opened their 2016-17 season Thursday night with an 88-45 thrashing of Mount Royal University inside the Armory Gymnasium.

And while MSU-N may have gotten off to somewhat of a slow start, veteran MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome.

"Honestly, I thought we were nervous in the first quarter," Mouat said. "And overall, I saw a lot of things we need to clean up. But for a first game, it was good. We executed really well offensively. We didn't make all of our open shots, but we executed very well. And we defended and rebounded very well for the first game of the season."

In reality, Northern needed only two big runs from its veteran starting five to put the game well out of reach.

The first one came after the Skylights had built a 16-13 lead after 10 minutes. And it came in the form of a 17-3 run, including a 12-0 spurt to start the second stanza. In all, the Skylights outscored the Cougars 31-5 in the second period with Molly Kreycik burying two 3-pointers, Natalee Faupel hitting one, Kate Fetterer adding another and freshman Shiloh McCormick adding one of her own.

The dominant second quarter left Northern leading 37-18 at halftime, and the Skylights weren't done. Northern opened the third period on a 13-0 run, which started with a Jacy Thompson three, and was sparked by back-to-back buckets from Cydney Auzenne. By the time the Cougars finally scored, Northern was ahead 62-21 and the game was over.

"I was really pleased with the way we started the second, and especially the third quarter," Mouat said. "We got our offense going and we still defended really well."

And while the Cougars had no chance to catch up, the Skylights were able to play their entire roster, and all of MSU-N's reserves played well.

Northern got 36 bench points, including a combined 17 from newcomers Kealani Sagapolu and McCormick.

"It was really good in a sense that we got to get a lot of players extended minutes," Mouat said. "We got to see a bunch of different groups on the floor together, and I thought every group that was out there did very well. They executed, they defended and they rebounded well. So it showed the potential depth that this team has."

Faupel finished with a game-high 14 points, while Kreycik added 10. Thompson and Sierra Richards combined for 14 more, while Fetterer grabbed a team-high nine boards, and the Skylights went 6-for-19 from beyond the arc.

Now with a game under their belt, Mouat will look for even better play tonight from the Skylights when they take on a very dangerous University of Lethbridge team at 6 in the Armory Gymnasium.

"We saw a lot of little things we need to work on," Mouat said. "And Lethbridge is very good, very talented. They are big and physical, so we're going to have to play a much better full 40 minutes."

Tonight's game will also feature a special silent auction for the cause, buckleupblue4lauryn. The blue ribbon cause is in honor of Fairfield high student-athlete Lauryn Goldhahn, who passed away in an automible accident recently.

Skylights 88, Mount Royal 45

Northern 16 31 27 14 — 88

Mount Royal 13 5 11 16 — 45

MSU-N — Cydney Auzenne 3-8 1-2 7, Sierra Richards 4-5 1-1 9, Jacy Thompson 3-9 2-3 9, Natalee Faupel 5-7 3-3 14, Molly Kreycik 3-6 2-2 10, Katie Fetterer 1-5 0-2 3, Brandy Lambourne 2-9 2-2 6, Peyton Filius 3-5 2-2 8, Shiloh McCormick 2-11 4-4 9, Makhayla Farmer 1-2 0-0 2, Kealani Sagapolu 3-7 2-3 8. Totals: 30-74 19-24 85.

3-pointers: 6-19 (Thompson 1, Faupel 1, Kreycik 2, Fetterer 1, McCormick 1). Rebounds: 47 (Fetterer 9); Fouls: 17.