SWEET SKYLIGHTS: MSU-Northern stops Loyola in NAIA opening round in Billings

BILLINGS - For the first seven minutes and change of Montana State University-Northern's opening game at the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship, the Skylights looked like they needed a spark. And with a hail-mary 3-pointer from Molly Kreycik - they got it.

With the clock ticking down in the first quarter and MSU-N down 18-10, Kreycik heaved a prayer from well inside her own half-court line and found nothing but net. When the shot went down, the Skylights got the jolt of electricity they needed and from that point, they outscored their opponent by 16, knocking off Loyola of New Orleans 60-52 Thursday inside the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings.

"It's something that we talk about all the time," Kreycik said. "When there is time on the clock, we want to get a shot up and thankfully, it went in. We practice it all the time. We practice that every shot is a game winner. It's actually a shot I practice before every game and tonight it paid off."

"It definitely gave us a boost and we needed it. We were down eight points," added MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. "Molly is great at those kinds of shots, she makes them all the time, so it was a good job by her of getting it off. But it gave us a big boost, I could feel it in our huddle, I could feel it with our crowd. It was huge."

Not only did the Northern crowd get a little louder, the Skylights' play on the floor reflected the infusion of energy.

Early in the second quarter, after a score by Natalee Faupel and a trey by Cydney Auzenne, the score was 18-18. Another shot from beyond the arc from Faupel put MSU-N in front 26-22, before Loyola trimmed the lead to 27-26 at the half.

"I thought we came out and fouled a little too much," Mouat said. "We had a tough time scoring in the first half and their (Wolfpack) length gave us some trouble. But I liked what we did, it wasn't pretty, but at the national tournament, it doesn't matter, you will take it."

Faupel, the 2016 Frontier Conference Player of the Year and a two-time NAIA All-American earlier this week, showed why she gets those awards in the third quarter.

After scoring nine points and making 2-of-9 shots in the first half, the senior was 7-of-9 in the second half and scored 11 points in the third quarter, including two triples, one that put Northern up 41-39 late in the stanza. Another three from freshman Shiloh McCormick pushed the lead to 44-39 at the end of three.

"She carried us," Mouat said of Faupel. "She did it with her scoring, with her defense, with her rebounding. She did a lot for us at both ends of the floor."

With the Wolfpack pushing hard in fourth quarter to pull even, Faupel answered again and again. She scored twice early in the period to keep MSU-N in front. Then, with the Skylights clinging to a 47-46 lead, Kreycik entered the stage again, for another big shot from downtown, putting Northern up 50-46 with 4:52 remaining in the game.

"We were just trying to hang on at that point," Kreycik said. "It was late in the shot clock, and I knew we needed to get a shot off. I got a good look and was able to hit it.

"Molly has hit some big shots for us," Mouat said. "And that one late was another big one. That was crucial."

After Kreycik's triple, Faupel scored again to push the lead to six. And from there, the Skylights were able to salt away the win at the free-throw line, making eight over the last couple minutes to seal the win.

"At this point in the season, you don't care how you do it, you just want to win," Mouat said. "And that's what we did. It wasn't the prettiest game and it wasn't the best we have played. But we found a way. We found a way to shoot the ball better in the second half. We started getting stops and rebounds. We figured out a way to keep playing, and at this time of year, that's the only thing that matters."

Faupel, who scored 18 points in the second half, finished with a game-high 27. The senior also tallied nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Kreycik had a solid game, scoring eight points, dishing out with five assists and grabbing five boards. Auzenne also filled the stat sheet with seven points and nine rebounds, while Sierra Richards had five points and 10 rebounds. Zoie Miller led the Wolfpack in the loss with 17 points. Kalia Miller and Meghan Temple each added eight for No. 22 Loyola (26-7), but Northern's defense held the high-scoring Wolfack to just 28 percent shooting on the night, as the Skylights advanced to their second Sweet 16 in the last three national tournaments.

The No. 11 Skylights (25-8) will turn around and play the second seed in its region, Vanguard University, tonight inside the Metra at 9:45.

Still

Dancing

Skylights 60, Loyola 55

Loyola 18 8 13 16 - 55

MSU-Northern 13 14 17 16 - 50

LU - Meghan Temple 4-10 0-0 8, Jackie Anderson 1-4 0-0 3, Kylah Jones 1-7 2-4 4, Zoie Miller 4-11 8-8 17, Megan Worry 0-2 0-0 0, Di'Mond Jackson 2-15 3-3 7, Mary Grace Copa 0-1 0-0 0, Kaila Anthony 4-10 0-0 8, Paige Franckiewicz 3-6 0-0 8. Totals 19-66 13-15 55.

MSU-N - Cydney Auzenne 2-9 2-2 7, Molly Kreycik 3-7 0-0 8, Natalee Faupel 9-18 6-6 27, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Peyton Filius 1-2 0-0 2, Brandy Lambourne 0-0 0-0 0, Jacy Thompson 1-3 3-3 5, Katie Fertterer 0-1 0-0 0, Sierra Richards 1-6 3-8 5, Shiloh McCormick 2-6 1-2 6. Totals 19-52 15-21 60.

3-pt FG:Loyola (La.) 4-15 (Anderson 1-2, Jones 0-1, Miller 1-4, Worry 0-1, Anthony 0-3, Franckiewicz 2-4), Montana State-Northern 7-17 (Auzenne 1-4, Kreycik 2-3, Faupel 3-6, Thompson 0-1, Fertterer 0-1, McCormick 1-2). Rebounds: Loyola (La.) 34 (Temple 8), Montana State-Northern 46 (Richards 10). Fouls Loyola (La.) 23, Montana State-Northern 14. Fouled out: none.