Diggers power past Skylights in Havre

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights were desperately hoping that a return to the Armory Gymnasium would be exactly what they needed to snap a five-game Frontier Conference losing streak.

However, visiting Montana Tech had other ideas.

Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, the Orediggers ripped off an 18-2 run in the fourth quarter to break open what was a close game, on their way to a 71-59 victory over the Skylights, who fell to 1-7 in the Frontier.

"We don't have a choice," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said of the bouncing back from struggles the Skylights have been enduring. "We are facing adversity right now. And we can either lay down or draw a line in the sand and do something about it.

"I know these kids will keep fighting," he said. "They'll keep working hard. We have to stay unified, stay together, work hard every day and just keep getting better."

For a time, the Skylights looked like they were doing all they needed to to break out of the slump they're mired in.

Brandy Lambourne and Peyton Filius each hit first-quarter 3-pointers, helping the Skylights build a 19-15 lead after the first 10 minutes. Lambourne would add six more points in the second stanza, while Jessica Curl scored inside as MSU-N raced out to a 25-17 lead early in the second.

And while Tech started to heat up, dropping four triples in the second quarter, Northern was sitting good, trailing just 33-31 at intermission. And they were doing it without senior standout and NAIA All-American Jacy Thompson, who's currently sidelined with an injury,

"It's hard without Jacy out there," Mouat said. "These kids are used to having her out there. She brings a lot to the table for us every night. But I thought we did a great job of showing a lot of grit and heart and fight in the first half. We played well, we were balanced and we did a nice job of building a pretty good lead. I was proud of the way we played in that first half."

Northern kept things close for much of the third quarter, too. Lambourne hit another three to pull the Skylights to within one at 37-36, while a couple of Shay Potter plays in the paint gave Tech a 49-43 edge after three.

Shiloh McCormick opened the fourth period with a bucket to pull the Skylights to within four, but that moment is when everything went right for the Diggers and the wrong way for the Skylights.

"They (Orediggers) got hot," Mouat said. "They shot the ball really well, and I thought we didn't defend like we were capable of. On the other end, we started missing really good opportunities, and making too many unforced errors on offense. And they took advantage of that and started shooting it even better. It was a combination of them shooting it really well, and our mistakes, and it just got away from us."

It did. The Skylights would go six minutes without a bucket, while Tech's Hailey Crawford, and Kourtney and Kaelynn Coverdell all hit big shots in what turned into an 18-2 spurt that didn't end until Kealani Sagapolu scored inside.

"Credit Montana Tech," Mouat said. "They played really well in the second half. They have a lot of talent and depth, and they took it to us."

Tech wound up with nine threes and shot 47 percent from the floor, while also winning on the boards 29-28 in what was the Diggers' second victory over the Skylights in three weeks.

On the other end, Northern was balanced, getting 15 points from Lambourne, 14 points and seven rebounds from Sagapolu, 13 by Filius and 10 from Curl. But it wasn't enough to snap what has become a frustrating stretch for the Skylights.

"Our effort is there," Mouat said. "The kids are showing a lot of grit and toughness. But we also just have to play better. We have to clean up every aspect of the game right now because the little mistakes are really hurting us. So it starts in practice. We just have to keep working hard and clean things up and get ready to go again next week."

The Skylights (9-10) will get two more chances to get things turned around at home as they host Lewis-Clark State this Friday and UM-Western Saturday night.

Skylights are 1-7 in Frontier, 9-10 overall; Next Up: vs LCSC Friday

Montana Tech 71, Skylights 59

Tech 15 18 16 22 – 71

MSU-Northern 19 12 12 16 – 59

MT - Sammy McGree 1-2 0-0 3, Kaylynn Coverdell 5-8 0-0 11, Kourtney Coverdell 3-11 2-3 11, Shay Potter 5-7 2-2 12, Kaylee Zard 2-4 0-0 4, Monica Landdeck 0-3 0-0 0, Hannah Sparks 6-11 4-4 16, Tjaden Pallister 0-0 0-0 0, Mesa Williams 3-5 0-0 9, Mollie Peoples 0-2 0-0 0, Hailey Crawford 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 27-57 8-9 71.

MSU-N - Brandy Lambourne 6-16 1-2 15, Naomi Terry 0-2 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 4-4 2-2 10, Peyton Filius 4-9 2-2 13, Peyton Kehr 0-1 0-0 0, Shiloh McCormick 2-9 2-4 6, Lily Hilderbrand 0-1 1-2 1, Kealani Sagapolu 7-11 0-0 14, Tiara Gilham 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 8-12 59.

3-pt FG:MT Orediggers 9-22 (McGree 1-1, Coverdell 1-1, Coverdell 3-9, Landdeck 0-2, Williams 3-4, Peoples 0-2, Crawford 1-3), Montana State University- 5-17 (Lambourne 2-5, Terry 0-1, Filius 3-6, McCormick 0-4, Gilham 0-1). Rebounds: MT Orediggers 29 (Coverdell 7), Montana State University- 28 (Sagapolu 7). Fouls MT Orediggers 13, Montana State University- 8. Fouled out: none.