Skylights shoot past Argos

Back in early December, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights started Frontier Conference play with two tough road games. Fast forward one month and the Skylights are back on the road to restart Frontier play.

And, with a trip to nationally ranked Carroll College on the back half of the trip, Thursday night's game against No. 13 UGF was of the utmost importance. And the No. 11 Skylights played it that way as they downed the rival Argos 61-47 at the McLaughlin Center in Great Falls.

"We haven't played well here (Great Falls) the last couple of years," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "So it was big for us to come out and play well right away and we did that. We got a huge spark from our bench, with Peyton (Filius) hitting a big three, and Katie Fertterer having a monster game. And that second quarter, we just started making shots. That was nice. I thought we were efficient offensively, but in that second quarter, we got hot and that was a big difference."

Despite having not played since before Christmas, the Skylights came out ready against the talented Argos, as they took a quick 7-0 lead. UGF managed to battle back before the end of the first period, cutting Northern's lead to 13-12.

However, MSU-N put its defensive foot down in the second stanza, holding the Argos to just nine points, while buckets in the paint from Sierra Richards, who had a big night for Northern, helped the Skylights rattle off 23 points to lead 36-21. Northern increased its lead in the third period, and, with such a stifling performance defensively, the Skylights never let the high-scoring Argos get going. UGF came into the game averaging 72 points per game, but the Argos made just four 3-pointers, and Northern held them to just 32 percent from the field.

"I'm really proud of our defense," Mouat said. "Great Falls is such an explosive team, so to hold them down the way we did, that was huge. I'm just really proud of our defense and our rebounding tonight, and every player on the team had a hand in that."

Besides out-rebounding the taller Argos 44-35, Northern also made seven 3-pointers, including a clutch one from Filius, as well as three by Fertterer, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 boards. Jacy Thompson added 11 points, while Natalee Faupel scored nine and dished out seven assists. Molly Kreycik added two threes, while Richards paced the Skylights with 17 points to go with five boards. UGF's Steph McDonagh led all scorers with 19 points, but no other Argos reached double figures as they fell to 0-3 in the Frontier.

Meanwhile, Northern improved to 2-1 in league play ahead of its fourth straight tough road game — a showdown with No. 25 Carroll Saturday night in Helena. And while Mouat knows his team will have his hands full, he says the win in Great Falls was very gratifying.

"The road is so tough in this league," Mouat said. "So to get this one tonight, it's a big one. We have a huge game Saturday with Carroll, so to win this first leg of this trip is so big. It's big for our confidence and our morale going into Saturday. I'm just really proud of our kids for coming down here and getting this one."

MSU-N and Carroll will meet at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Helena.

Skylights 61, UGF 47

Northern 13 23 16 9 - 61

Great Falls 12 9 13 13 - 47

MSU-N - Cydney Auzenne 1-7 0-0 2, Molly Kreycik 2-6 0-0 6, Natalee Faupel 3-8 3-4 9, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Peyton Filius 1-4 0-0 3, Brandy Lambourne 0-0 0-0 0, Jacy Thompson 4-12 2-2 11, Katie Fertterer 5-6 0-0 13, Sierra Richards 5-13 7-10 17, Shiloh McCormick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 12-16 61.

UGF - rice Henning 0-1 0-0 0, Nneka Nnadi 2-6 0-0 5, Stephanie McDonagh 8-17 3-4 19, Molly Herron 2-4 0-0 5, Kalani Ulufale 3-7 0-0 6, Whitney George 1-4 0-0 2, Sidney Arant 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Kallee Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Darah Huertas-Vining 3-16 0-0 8, Jenna Randich 1-6 0-0 2, Cayden Diefenbach 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-63 3-4 47.

3-pt FG: MSU-N 7-21 (Auzenne 0-2, Kreycik 2-3, Faupel 0-3, Filius 1-2, Thompson 1-6, Fertterer 3-4, McCormick 0-1), UGF 4-16 (Nnadi 1-1, McDonagh 0-2, Herron 1-1, Huertas-Vining 2-8, Randich 0-3, Diefenbach 0-1). Rebounds: MSU-N 44 (Fertterer 10), UGF 35 (McDonagh 10). Fouls: MSU-N 5, UGF 14. Fouled out: none.

Argos upset Lights

The Montana State University-Northern men are off to one of their best starts in recent program history, including winning their first two Frontier Conference games, on the road last month. But somebody forgot to tell UGF that the Lights were on a roll.

Thursday night in Great Falls, the Argos led wire-to-wire in a 72-59 upset of the No. 15 Lights. It was Northern's first league loss, and just its second of the season overall.

And while UGF played stellar defense against a Northern team averaging 97 points per game, the Lights also struggled to find any offensive rhythm. MSU-N came into the game leading the NAIA in seven different offensive and defensive categories, including 3-point shooting. But, Northern made just five triples and shot just 39 percent from the floor for the game, despite a huge effort from David Straughter, who scored 21 points and went 8-of-10 from the foul line. 

The Argos meanwhile, forced Northern into 16 turnovers, using a full court press, while offensively, they shot 47 percent from the field and made a sizzling 23-of-25 free throws. Matt Brooks-McGregor scored a career-high 25 points to lead UGF, while Sergio Berkley chipped in with 15 as the Argos improved to 2-1 in the Frontier.

Northern also got 10 points from Great Falls native Dylan Tatarka, but no other Lights managed more than five points and leading scorer Ryan Reeves was held to just one on the night.

The Loss dropped MSU-N to 2-1 in the Frontier, and now the Lights have to head to Helena to try and rebound against Frontier favorite Carroll College. The Lights and No. 23 Saints will square off Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Carroll P.E. Center.

UGF 72, Lights 59

MSU-N - Kevin Oberweiser 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Tatarka 4-10 1-2 10, Seth Christiaens 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Reeves 0-1 1-4 1, William Walker 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler Chandler 2-5 0-0 5, Justin Dunsmore 1-4 2-3 4, David Straughter 6-10 8-10 21, Badhasa Margarsa 2-4 0-2 5, Charles Porter 1-2 0-0 2, Devin Bray 1-3 2-2 5, Adam Huse 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Epps 2-10 0-0 4. Totals 20-52 14-23 59.

UGF - John Makkar 0-2 0-0 0, Sigman Farmer III 3-4 2-2 8, Sergio Berkley 4-10 7-8 15, Isaac Howard 3-7 0-0 7, Jarred Burr 1-1 2-2 4, Treyvon Bashir 4-5 1-1 9, Andrej Slavik 0-0 0-0 0, Quesly-Marie Noresias 1-1 1-1 3, Matthew Brooks-McGregor 7-13 9-9 25, Davone Oliver Jr. 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Schultz 0-4 1-2 1, Iain Carr 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 23-25 72.

Halftime: UGF 40-26. 3-pt FG: MSU-N 5-24 (Tatarka 1-4, Chandler 1-4, Dunsmore 0-3, Straughter 1-4, Margarsa 1-2, Bray 1-3, Epps 0-4), UGF 3-9 (Berkley 0-2, Howard 1-3, Bashir 0-1, Brooks-McGregor 2-2, Oliver Jr. 0-1). Rebounds: MSU-N 33 (Reeves 7), UGF 32 (Farmer III 6). Fouls: MSU-N 21, UGF 19. Fouled out: Farmer III.