Skylights face fellow NAIA powers

The last time the Montana State University-Northern Skylights went on the road, they were looking for some good competition. But, neither team Northern played two weeks ago in Kirkland, Washington, could slow the Skylights down.

Now however, Northern won't have to look for stiff competition, because they're flying directly toward it. The No. 16 Skylights (6-0) are headed to Jackson, Tennessee, this weekend for a pair of games in the Rotary Classic, a tournament that has a field of 14 teams, all ranked in the NAIA Top 25, and most of which went to the national tournament a year ago. Jackson is also the former site of the women's national tournament.

"We are set to play two really good teams this weekend.  Both are nationally ranked," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "All 14 teams in the field are ranked or receiving votes in the national poll, and seven of the top 10 teams in the country will be there. The tournament is going to present some big challenges for our team, but I think it's exactly what we need as we get ready for Frontier Conference games."

The Skylights, who are winning games by an average margin of 24 points per game thus far, are just a week away from their first two Frontier games. But first, they have to deal with two strong NAIA opponents. The first will be Freed-Hardeman, ranked No. 8 in the NAIA Poll, and the team that took the Skylights out of the national tourney in a dramatic Elite 8 game two years ago.

"Freed-Hardeman is an outstanding team," Mouat said. "They are athletic and are led by Taleeah Cross, a First Team All-American and NAIA player of the year candidate last season.  She is the real deal and can hurt you from virtually everywhere. And, they have really, really good players around her. They are extremely well-coached by NAIA coaching legend Dale Neal. They are relentless and very good at taking advantage of any mistakes teams make on them. Offensively, they execute as good as anyone we've seen this year."

And if Friday's game against one of the premier powers in the NAIA wasn't tough enough, the Skylights, led by All-American Natalee Faupel's 17 points per game, will turn right around and play Talladega College Saturday. Talladega is currently ranked No. 21 in the NAIA, and is another national power returning from a trip to the 2016 national tourney.

"Talladega College is another team who has been a regular at the national tournament the past four to five years," Mouat said. "They have excellent team speed and play very fast at all times. They are led by a group of really dynamic guards. Tajanee Wells is a 5-8 guard/forward who can do it all. She is currently averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game and is very explosive. Talladega is going to run for 40 minutes and try to dictate tempo. We will have to do an outstanding job in transition with them."

Northern will be up against its two toughest tests of the regular season thus far, but with a road trip to Lewis-Clark State coming in just one week, Mouat said that this is the perfect time for his team to play two NAIA powerhouses.

"These are big games for us, and our kids are excited," Mouat said. "They've had a good week of practice to this point, and they understand the quality of competition we will be facing in Jackson."

The Skylights play Freed-Hardeman Friday at 6 p.m. and Talladega Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Jackson, Tennessee. Northern's next home game comes Dec. 15 against Nueta Hidatsa College and Dec. 17 against Pacific.