Skylights corral Mustangs

Through the first three games of the regular season, the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team hadn’t faced a squad on its level, at least a team that plays NAIA basketball.

And while the arrival of the Central Baptist Mustangs to Havre changed that on Friday afternoon, the result was more of the same — a dominating performance ending in a Skylights’ blowout. In its first NAIA game of the year, the No. 16 Skylights blasted the visiting Mustangs 89-46, improving MSU-N to 4-0 on the season.

“I was proud of my team,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. “They played hard, they shared the ball really well, they defended well, and they made shots tonight. Everything is better when the shots are falling, and they fell tonight. I was really happy to see us play that well.”

Central Baptist, a team that hails from Arkansas, playing a three-game swing through Montana, didn’t look like it was in Havre to be blown out early on as the game was tied at 9-9. From there however, Northern went on a 14-2 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Jacy Thompson and Molly Kreycik. The run gave the Skylights a 25-14 lead after the first period, and things just got better and better from there.

Peyton Filius showed signs of things to come from Northern’s bench, as she opened the second stanza with a triple, while Kreycik and Natalee Faupel would close out the first half with back-to-back threes, a half in which Northern shot 51 percent from the field, while defensively forcing the Mustangs into 19 turnovers.

“Molly Kreycik got us going with her 3-points shooting,” Mouat said. “I thought Central Baptist came out playing very well, they were executing their offense well. So those early threes from Molly were big, and we needed them.”

Leading 44-21 at halftime, Northern didn’t really need much to keep pulling away from the Mustangs, but the Skylights got it anyway. They shot an even better 54 percent in the second half, and got major contributions from just about everybody on their roster. In fact, the Skylights had five players finish the game in double figures, with two more who scored nine points.

“That’s about as balanced as you can get,” Mouat said. “I was happy to see that. We shared the ball so well, we were moving the ball and executing, and the shots went in on top of it all. To have five players score in double figures, and two more with nine, that’s really exciting.

“I thought the way we played tonight offensively, that really shows how much our depth is improving,” he continued. “Everybody came in the game and there was never any slippage. Everybody who stepped on the floor played well tonight. That’s exciting.”

Via a dominant first half, Sierra Richards scored a game-high 14 points for the Skylights, while Faupel finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, but everybody got into the scoring act. Katie Fetterer got the start with Cydney Auzenne sitting out due to volleyball, and she scored 12 points, while Peyton Filius and Kealani Sagapolu each scored 10 off the bench. Filius hit two of MSU-N’s nine treys. Kreycik buried three triples for nine points, while Thompson added nine as well, and Brandy Lambourne, Shiloh McCormick and Makhayla Farmer contributed 12 more bench points for Northern, which also went 9-of-18 from beyond the arc.

And with two really big road trips upcoming, Mouat was more than pleased with how his team finished its four-game, Armory Gymnasium home stand, as the Skylights won’t play again in Havre until Dec. 15.

“This was a big win for us,” Mouat said. “We’ve got some really tough road games ahead of us, so for us to come out and play as well as we did tonight, with those games coming up, it’s big. It shows that we’re getting better.”

The Skylights travel to Washington next weekend for games against Evergreen State and Northwest College.

Skylights 89, Central Baptist 46

Central Baptist 14 7 9 16 – 46

Northern 25 19 21 24 – 89

CBC – Aaliyah Block 3-7 2-2 9, Haley Humphreys 1-5 2-2 4, Emily Ridgell 6-9 0-0 12, Audrey Moran 3-4 0-0 8, Ashlyn Allen 1-4 0-0 2, Carley Barrett 2-5 0-0 5, Karlie Senko 2-7 0-0 4, Morgan Fimpel 1-6 0-2 4, Emily White 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 20-54 4-6 48.

MSU-N – Sierra Richards 6-8 2-2 14, Jacy Thompson 4-8 0-0 9, Katie Fetterer 4-6 2-2 12, Natalee Faupel 4-8 4-4 13, Molly Kreycik 3-5 0-0 9, Brandy Lambourne 2-3 0-0 4, Peyton Filius 4-6 0-0 10, Shiloh McCormick 1-7 4-4 6, Makhayla Farmer 1-4 0-0 2, Kealani Sagapolu 5-9 0-0 10. Totals: 34-64 12-12 89.

3-pointers: CBC 4-11 (Block 1, Moran 2, Barrett 1), MSU-N 9-18 (Thompson 1, Fetterer 2, Faupel 1, Kreycik 3, Filius 2). Rebounds: CBC 28 (Fimpel 4), MSU-N 36 (Faupel 7). Fouls: CBC 13, MSU-N 7. Fouled out: None.