Warriors edge Skylights, Lights

On the same night, both Montana State University-Northern basketball teams had to watch chances to beat the Lewis-Clark State Warriors on their home floor slip away.

In the case of the No. 11 Skylights, they watched as No. 2 LC State stormed back from a halftime deficit to win 58-51. It was the third loss this season to LC for the Skylights, and the second time Northern has lost to the Warriors in a single-digit game in the last three weeks.

"Our kids gave a great effort tonight," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "But, we missed free throws and some 3-pointers we needed to go down in the second half. If we make those, we give ourselves a chance to close the game out in the last two minutes. But we didn't, and they (Warriors) did. So all the credit to LC. They are a great team and they closed us out when they had the opportunity to do so."

Unlike last month in Havre, where Northern trailed for much of the game, the Skylights were neck-and-neck with the Warriors Thursday night.

MSU-N came out playing great defense, and got a couple of early buckets from Natalee Faupel, giving the Skylights a 13-8 lead. Offensively, Northern really caught fire in the second stanza, in particular Cydney Auzenne, who knocked down three 3-pointers, in helping MSU-N take a 28-24 cushion into halftime.

However, things started to flip in the third quarter. LC State rattled off a 9-0 run, sparked by the shooting of Megan Risinger, and by the time the quarter was over, the Warriors had nosed in front, 43-41. But, the deficit wasn't insurmountable, and the Skylights hung tough on thew defensive end the rest of the way. However, Northern's shooting went cold against the defensive minded Warriors, and in the final minutes, the Warriors were able to distance themselves with key stops and some free throws.

Defensively, Northern held the Warriors to a season low on offense, and, the Skylights were even with the NAIA's top rebounding team, 38-38, with senior Sierra Richards grabbing 15 boards. However, Northern wound up shooting just 33 percent from the field, and though the Skylights made seven triples, they were just 29 percent from beyond the arc.

Auzenne led the way with 14 points and four three's, while Faupel scored 12 and Jacy Thompson added 10. Katie Fertterer also hit a trey and scored seven, while LCSC got a combined 25 points from stars Brittany Tackett and Caelyn Orlandi.

"I thought we defended well, we rebounded well, we were right there," Mouat said. "The game was our style and our pace. But we didn't do a good job down the stretch. We've got to do better going forward."

The loss dropped Northern to 8-5 in the Frontier Conference and back into a second-place tie with UM-Western. LC State, at 13-1, clinched a share of the Frontier's regular season title with the win over the Skylights.

Northern (18-6) must regroup in a hurry as well, as the Skylights go to Butte Saturday for a third meeting with Montana Tech. The Orediggers beat UGF Thursday night and have had two very close calls against Northern.

"Montana Tech plays really hard and has a lot of talent," Mouat said. "Hattie Thatcher is back for them and she is such a great competitor. She just makes them go. We will have to do a great job on Martha Dembek who is among the league leaders in scoring. Tech has a lot of weapons and they do a nice job defensively."

Lights lose a close one

The MSU-Northern men already had a win in Lewiston under their belts when they met up with LC State again on Thursday night. And for a time in the second half, it looked like the Lights might get another one.

A victory would have been big, too, considering LCSC is one of the hottest teams in the NAIA right now and had just beaten the Lights badly three weeks ago in Havre. But it wasn't to be, as the Warriors overcame a five-point deficit in the final eight minutes to beat the Lights 71-67.

After falling behind 33-25 in the first half, the Lights find themselves ahead 57-51 with less than eight minutes left in the game. From tree however, the Warriors, behind a huge night from the tandem of Doug McDaniel and Zavon Jackson, outscored MSU-N 20-12.

The loss was a tough pill for the Lights to swallow, considering they played so well for much of the game. Defensively, Northern forced 18 turnovers and held LCSC to 17 points below its season average. The Lights also out rebounded LCSC 32-25.

Offensively, Northern was efficient, shooting 48 percent from the field, but the Warriors shot even better, at 53 percent and 58 percent in the second half.

Cameron Epps led four Lights in double figures with 14 points, while David Straughter scored 12 and grabbed eight boards. Tyler Chandler and Ryan Reeves each added 10 as Northern dropped to 7-6 in the Frontier Conference.

LC on the other hand, won its seventh game in its last eight tries and improved to 9-5 in league play. McDaniel scored 22 points and Jackson added 14 in the win, which gives the Warriors the tiebreaker should they end up tied with the Lights in the final regular season standings.

Now, both Northern teams will head to Butte to play Montana Tech Saturday night. The women's game tips off at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 7:30. The Lights and Skylights are back on the road next week, traveling to UGF Thursday and Carroll College Saturday.

LC State 58, Skylights 51

Northern 13 15 13 10 - 51

LC State 8 16 19 15 - 58

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 4-9 1-2 10, Katie Fertterer 3-5 0-0 7, Brandy Lambourne 0-0 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 5-13 2-3 12, Peyton Filius 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 1-9 0-0 3, Shiloh McCormick 0-2 0-0 0, Cydney Auzenne 5-14 0-0 14, Sierra Richards 1-6 3-8 5. Totals: 19-58 6-13 51.

LCSC - Natahnee Spencer 0-2 0-0 0, Megan Risinger 5-7 0-0 11, Caelyn Orlandi 3-11 4-4 10, Jansen Edminston 0-2 0-0 0, Hailey Turner 4-6 1-2 9, Brittany Tackett 6-12 3-6 15, Lauren Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Jossilyn Blackman 3-7 0-0 6. Totals: 23-54 10-14 58.

3-pointers: MSU-N 7-24 (Thompson 1, Fertterer 1, Kreycik 1, Auzenne 4), LCSC 2-7 (Risinger 1, Litalien 1). Rebounds MSU-N 38 (Richards 15), LCSC 38 (Risinger 9). Fouls: MSU-N 12, LCSC 15. Fouled out: None.

LC State 71, Lights 67

MSU-N - Cameron Epps 6-12 0-0 14, Badhasa Margarsa 0-1 0-0 0, David Straughter 3-6 5-5 12, Kevin Oberweiser 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Bray 1-1 0-0 3, Dylan Tatarka 1-5 0-0 2, Justin Dunsmore 3-8 0-0 7, Charles Porter 3-5 1-1 7, Tyler Chandler 4-8 0-0 10, Ryan Reeves 5-7 0-0 10. Totals: 27-57 6-6 67.

LCSC - Treat Thomas 4-7 0-0 10, Zavon Jackson 6-12 2-3 14, David Shedrick 1-3 2-3 4, Doug McDaniel 9-16 4-4 22, Christian Davis 3-4 0-1 7, Isaiah Omamogho 1-4 0-0 2, Ty Higbie 1-2 0-0 2, Anthony Sullen 4-6 1-1 10. Totals: 29-54 9-12 71.

Halftime: LCSC 33-25. 3-pointers; MSU-N 7-23 (Epps 2, Straughter 1, Bray 1, Dunsmore 1, Chandler 2), LCSC 4-17 (Thomas 2, Davis 1, Sullen 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 32 (Straughter 8), LCSC 25 (Jackson 7). Fouls: MSU-N 16, LCSC 13. Fouled out: None.