Special Night: Skylights storm back to beat rival Argos

The University of Great Falls Argos have had a rough go of it in January. But, that didn't stop them from coming into the Armory Gymnasium and putting a scare into the Montana State University-Northern Skylights.

On a night when Natalee Faupel became the all-time leading scorer in MSU-N women's basketball history, she also helped the No. 11 Skylights close in dramatic fashion, as they finished off a great comeback with a 10-0 run to beat the Argos 70-64 Thursday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

The win pushed Northern to 6-3 in the Frontier Conference, and, in the grand scheme of things, was much more important to Faupel than the record she broke early in the third quarter.

"Great Falls is a good team," Faupel, who was honored at halftime of the men's game said. "We knew that. And we had to fight hard tonight. We had to play for a full 40 minutes, and the fact that we won and we're 6-3 in conference, that's going to be the most rewarding things about tonight.

And the record?

"I'm speechless right now," Faupel said. "It's just an honor to even be on a list with all the ladies who have bled for this program over the years. This accomplishment, it really is an honor, and honestly, I really am speechless."

While Faupel helped the Skylights by scoring 17 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, the record shows what a tremendous player she's been for Northern. Faupel passed Northern All-American Sheila Green, for first all-time on the scoring list, and, she did it on it a night when the Skylights pulled out a gutsy, come-from-behind win.

"Great Falls is a very good team," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "They have had a tough stretch lately, but we got their very best shot tonight. They played really well. They shot it well, they defended well. Darah (Huertas-Vining) had a great game. She was almost impossible to stop tonight. So give them (Argos) and Bill (Himmelberg) a ton of credit. And I'm just glad we found a way to win this one because it was tough."

Northern may have found a way, finishing with a flurry, but, the Skylights had to fight hard just to get there.

After jumping out to an 8-2 lead, the Skylights went the next 10:30 without a field goal, and found themselves trailing the struggling Argos20-13 midway through the second quarter. On back-to-back 3-pointers from Molly Kreycik, Northern was able to close the gap to 30-26 at halftime, but it was obvious the Skylights had a fight on their hands.

And that fight continued through a back-and-forth third period. Kreycik, who had a huge night of her own, buried another triple, and Jacy Thompson hit one as well, giving the Skylights the lead back at 46-43. Kreycik hit another three to cap an 11-2 Northern run, and the Skylights took a 53-50 lead into the fourth quarter.

UGF wasn't going away though. Kalani Ulufale scored three straight buckets in the paint, putting the Argos up 64-61 with three minutes left. But that's where UGF's fight ended and Northern's truly began.

Sierra Richards gave the Skylights the lead on an old-fashioned 3-point play, then Kreycik blocked a Darah Huertas-Vining shot and from there, the Skylights made five straight free throws to finish off a 10-point unanswered run, and the Argos, who dropped to 1-8 in conference play.

"I thought we did a good job of continuing to attack," Mouat said. "We stayed poised and stayed patient."

The senior trio of Faupel, Kreycik and Richards paced Northern offensively. Kreycik finished with 17 points and four of Northern's seven triples. Richards added 17 points and went a key 9-for-11 from the foul line. Faupel's night included an 8-of-9 performance from the foul line, five rebounds and a 3-pointer with 5:14 to play, which tied the game at 58-58. Peyton Filius also hit a crucial three for the Skylights, who shot 44 percent from the floor, out-rebounded the Argos 33-32 and were a clutch 83 percent from the charity stripe.

"Nat's three there was huge," Mouat said. "And Sierra and Molly had huge games tonight, and we needed all of it on that end. And I thought we did a great job of getting good shots down the stretch. We didn't make them all, but we executed really well towards the end of the game. So that, plus, I thought defensively, we got some really big stops at the end of the game, those things turned, and we shot it really well from the free-throw-line, those things turned out to be the difference."

With the first win of a crucial week in conference play in the books, the Skylights will turn their attention to Carroll College, which comes to Havre tonight to take on Northern in its last home game until Feb. 23. Tonight's game between the Skylights (16-4) and Fighting Saints tips at 6 in the Armory.

"I'm just really proud of how our kids hung in there and gutted this one out," Mouat said. "It was a really good win. But we also know we have a short turnaround and we'll have our hands full with Carroll."

Editor's Note: For much more on Natalee Faupel, see Monday's Havre Daily News sports section.

Skylights are 6-3 in Frontier, 16-4 overall; Next Up: vs Carroll tonight

Skylights 70, UGF 64

Great Falls 10 20 20 14 – 64

Northern 9 17 27 17 – 70

UGF - Nneka Nnadi 5-8 0-0 10, Stephanie McDonagh 4-16 3-3 11, Molly Herron 0-2 0-0 0, Kalani Ulufale 4-7 0-1 8, Whitney George 3-4 0-0 6, Kallee Wilson 1-3 1-2 3, Jenna Randich 4-10 0-0 9, Darah Huertas-Vining 8-13 0-0 17. Totals 29-63 4-6 64.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 3-8 0-0 7, Katie Fertterer 0-0 1-2 1, Natalee Faupel 6-13 8-9 21, Peyton Filius 1-2 0-0 3, Molly Kreycik 6-13 1-1 17, Cydney Auzenne 2-6 0-0 4, Sierra Richards 4-8 9-11 17. Totals 22-50 19-23 70.

3-pt FG:UGF 2-10 (McDonagh 0-2, Randich 1-5, Huertas-Vining 1-3), MSU-N 7-18 (Thompson 1-3, Faupel 1-3, Filius 1-2, Kreycik 4-7, Auzenne 0-3). Rebounds: UGF 32 (Nnadi 9), MSU-N 33 (Kreycik 6). Fouls UGF 15, MSU-N 5. Fouled out: none.