MSU-N's March to the Madness

Once is hard enough, but for consecutive years? That's what the Montana State University-Northern Skylights have accomplished - they've managed to now be a part of March Madness four straight times.

And while any trip to the NAIA Women's National Tournament is an exciting one, to do it over and over like the Skylights have, it's become something very special.

"It's awesome," MSU-N senior Molly Kreycik said. "This is why you come to play college basketball. The goal is to always play in March, to go as far as you can. So for us to be able to do this four years in a row, it's just awesome.

"I still get goose bumps when our name is announced," added MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat, who is now taking his fifth Skylight team to a national tourney. "It brings back memories of that special team 12 years ago, and about all the teams we've had that have gone since. So to be going again, it says a lot about our team, about these kids we have and about our program. It's great for Northern, and it's very exciting."

Exciting, especially when the Skylights get to play in the national tournament, vying for a national championship, something Northern hasn't had since Northern Montana College won the NAIA Division II national title in 1993, in Billings. Yes, MSU-N doesn't have to leave the Treasure State to play in this year's national tourney.

But as exciting as things will be for Northern and its fans, the journey to Billings, while short in distance, was actually a long, tough road.

Even with senior star Natalee Faupel, the reigning Frontier Conference Player of the Year, and fellow senior leaders Molly Kreycik, Cydney Auzenne and Sierra Richards, as well as returning Frontier Defensive Player of the Year Jacy Thompson and an outstanding bench, making it to Billings was never going to be easy, though Northern made it look that way with six straight double-digit wins to start the season.

Then, however, things got more difficult, including losing transfer forward Kaelani Sagapolu to a season-ending injury. Add to that a trip to Jackson, Tennessee, where Northern lost its first game, a tough battle with top-ranked Freed-Hardeman, and, the road to Billings started to get tougher.

Just days after returning from Jackson, MSU-N opened Frontier Conference play and suffered what would be the first of four difficult losses to eventual Frontier champion Lewis-Clark State.

However, after the loss to the Warriors, the Skylights reeled off six straight wins., including four in a row in league play. That was a trend Mouat said, helped his team get to Billings.

"We only lost back-to-back games once all season," he said. "One of the big things this team has is resiliency. They have stayed composed, they've never panicked. When we were out in Tennessee, we lost a late-night game to Freed-Hardeman, in a really tough battle, and we had to get up and play an 8 a.m. game against a really good Talladega squad. When we won that game in overtime, you just knew how tough and resilient this team was.

"Another big one was, we go back to LC and lose a second time, and then lost at Tech," Mouat added. "And what do we get for it? Two more road games at UGF and Carroll. But we regrouped and went and won both those two games in really tough environments. So when you look back on it, those two wins were huge. Those are probably the two wins that locked it up for us. And that speaks to the character of our kids."

Toughness, resiliency and character, those types of traits would end up carrying the Skylights all the way back to nationals, too.

While leading the Frontier all season in scoring defense and rebounding, Northern's offense would hit some tough stretches, including losing back-to-back heartbreakers at Montana Tech and LC State, and two games to Rocky Mountain College. But each time the Skylights suffered a setback, they persevered. And no bigger example of that was the Skylights' last win to date, a come-from-behind Frontier semifinal win over Western. In that meeting, just two weeks ago in Havre, Northern trailed by nine points at the half, and needed a flurry of big plays in a defensive struggle to pull out a 44-42 win over the Bulldogs. Even with a loss that night, the Skylights would have made it to Billings, but they didn't let the loss happen, instead showing great resiliency once again.

"This team has so much heart," Faupel said. "And we have so much trust in each other. We have a bond that goes way beyond the basketball court. We're a family, we're like sisters, and I think those things, things that coach Mouat does such a great job of instilling in us, gives us the confidence and belief that we can succeed no matter what, that we're always going to find a way to get the job done."

The Skylights have got the job done - 23 times so far this season. Northern beat a nationally-ranked opponent eight different times. In Frontier play, the Skylights beat Carroll College and UGF, their two biggest rivals, a combined six times and had to beat an incredibly good UM-Western team a whopping four times just to finish solo second in the league, and earn the right to play for the Frontier title - something they did.

Yes, there was no league tougher than the Frontier this winter, and even one or two more setbacks could have kept the Skylights out of the Big Dance in Billings, but that's not what these Skylights are about. Instead, they are a tough, bonded group, one that has been through three national tournaments already and the rigors of yet another difficult winter in the Frontier.

To say they earned the right to play in Billings would be a gross understatement.

"This team has never backed down, they've never flinched," Mouat said. "What they've gone through this year, all the tough, close games, the tough losses, to see where we are now, I'm so incredibly proud of this team. I'm very proud of them, and they should be proud of what they've already accomplished because this group has accomplished a lot."

Indeed. Northern, with four-year players like Faupel, Kreycik and Cydney Auzenne, with a dominant season from Sierra Richard, with Thompson, and Katie Fertterer, Peyton Filius, Brandy Lambourne and Makhayla Farmer, and Sagopolu, has been incredibly impressive this season, and no matter what happens in Billings, this team will go down as one of the greats in MSU-N history.

But as long and hard as the road was just to get to Billings, the Skylights also have no intentions of ending their season inside the famed Metra with anything less than a win.

"They're not ready to be done," Mouat said. "You get to this point, you're tired, it's a long grind in NAIA basketball, and with school and everything else, a lot of kids are ready to be done. But this group isn't. They want to play more basketball, they don't want this thing to be over. And that has me really excited about this national tournament. I know we're going to go down to Billings and give it everything we've got, and we're very excited about it."

Excited and motivated. This Northern group, especially veterans like Faupel, Kreycik, Thompson and Auzenne, have seen it all at the national tourney. They've been to the Elite 8, and they've seen heartbreak, too. But, with so much experience under their belt, and a now treacherous, but amazing run in Frontier play behind them, one things is for certain, the Skylights aren't ready to be done. No, they want to stay in Billings, right to the very end. And, with how much heart and soul the Skylights play with, they'll do everything they can to make sure that happens.

"The goal is always a national championship," Kreycik said. "So we're going down there to take it far as we can. We're the only team that can stop us. We know, if we play our best, we can beat anybody. We believe in ourselves, and so we just have to play like we know we can, and we'll take this thing a long way."

"We're going there to win," Thompson added. "This is about fulfilling goals we set for ourselves the minute last season ended - for some, goals we set two years ago, and for some even four years ago. So our mindset is all about business. We have unfinished business down there. We're excited and we're happy we're going, but we have more to do."