Skylights hoping to silence Lions' roar tonight

BILLINGS ­- The Montana State University-Northern Skylights opened the 2017 NAIA Women's Basketball Championship with a bang. But the Skylights, who won two games at the tournament back in 2015, hope to be far from done.

Yet, if MSU-N is going to duplicate its achievement of two years ago, it will need to knock off Vanguard, one of the top teams in the country in a second-round matchup that will take place tonight, inside the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings. Tip-off time is set for 9:45 p.m.

"Every team you play at the national tournament is going to be good," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "These teams are here for a reason and Vanguard is a really good team. They can do a lot of different things well, and they are going to be a big challenge for us."

One of the things the No. 5 Lions, a team from Costa Mesa, California, can do is score the basketball. Vanguard scored 74.6 points per game during the season and are paced offensively by Claire Lamunu, a walking double-double who averaged 22.7 points and 12.7 rebounds during the season.

The Lions (28-3), who are led by long-time head coach Russ Davis, have been an NAIA power for two decades, making 19 appearances in the national tournament, as well as winning a national title back in 2008.

Davis, who has won 525 games in 21 seasons coaching Vanguard, has led the school to 15 consecutive berths in the national tournament. The Lions earned their way into the 2017 Women's championship by winning the Golden State Athletic Conference with an overall record of 27-3 and a conference mark of 17-1.

Much like the Skylights' first-round opponent, Loyola of New Orleans, Vanguard does a lot of its damage inside. Lamunu is a driving force behind that, but the Lions are also the top rebounding team in the NAIA, especially on the offensive end where they grab more than 20 per game. They are second in the nation in total rebounds (47.8) but also rank in third in opponents field goal percentage (33.2) and second in scoring defense (50.9).

While Vanguard has some impressive team stats defensively, the Lions are also among the NAIA's best on the offensive end as well. Lamunu, who is the second-highest scorer in the country, leads the way as the team's only double-digit scorer, but with a slew of 3-point shooters surrounding her, the Lions are dangerous on the perimeter as well. Vanguard ranks 18th in scoring offense (74.6) and 20th in terms of made 3-pointers with 7.6 per game.

"They are really good defensively," Mouat said. "They can shoot, they can score inside and they are really well coached."

Much like MSU-N (24-8), the Lions had to battle in their opening game at the national tournament. But despite trailing by six points in the third quarter, they rallied to beat Lindenwood-Belleville out of Illinois, 66-59 Thursday night, setting the stage for an intriguing matchup with the Skylights, who have their own track record of success at the NAIA national tournament.

This is the third time that MSU-N has advanced to the second round under Mouat, with the most recent trip coming in 2015, when Northern made it all the way to the third round. This senior class also has four national tournament wins under its belt.

With two evenly matched teams, one difference could be crowd support, which swayed in Northern's favor Thursday night against Loyola and should again tonight as the Skylights go for the upset.

"Our fan support was outstanding (Thursday)," Mouat said. "That really was a big boost for us. Our fans have given us great support all season and hopefully, we will continue to get that (tonight)."

The winner between third-seeded Northern and second-seeded Vanguard will advance to the quarterfinals Saturday, with the winner set to play either the No. 1 seed in the Liston Bracket, Shawnee State or fifth-seeded John Brown University for a chance to play in the Fab Four Sunday night. Tonight's game tips at 9:45.

No. 11 Skylights vs No. 5 Vanguard

tonight at 9:45 in NAIA Sweet 16

at Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings

Radio: 92.5 KPQX

Streaming: naia.org

Twitter: HavreDaily