Providence catches Skylights at the end

From the opening tip of their last-ever game inside the Armory Gymnasium, it was obvious, the Montana State University-Northern Skylight seniors wanted a win really bad.

And for a good chunk of Wednesday's home finale against the University of Providence Argos, it looked like things were going to go that way. Somebody forgot to tell the Argos not to spoil the moment, however, and they walked out of the Armory with a 57-51 victory and a three-game sweep of the Skylights for the year.

"It's hard," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "We put ourselves in a position to win the game. We've done that the last three nights. But for a variety of reasons, we just haven't done it. It's disappointing because we played really well again in stretches, but it's a 40 minute game. We played hard enough to win, but we just didn't play well enough for all 40 minutes to win."

It was a heartbreaking loss for Northern seniors Brandy Lambourne, Peyton Filius and Kealani Sagapolu, who combined to score 39 of the Skylights' 51 points Wednesday night. But it wasn't just heartbreaking because the Skylights lost on senior night, it was heartbreaking because it was the third straight game in which Northern seemed to have a victory ripped away from them.

The Skylights, behind 14 first-quarter points from the trio of seniors, quickly erased a 9-2 Providence start, and were tied with the Argos at 14-14 after one period.

Northern ended the first quarter on an 11-2 run, and that run ballooned to 16-4 after back-to-back buckets from Filius. Sagapolu would go on to score the last six points of the half, and MSU-N led 27-25 at the break.

Things kept going Northern's way, too. Providence briefly took the lead in the third, but Filius drilled a 3-pointer, and Northern went on a 10-2 run, and led 40-32 late in the stanza. Steph McDonagh erased most of that lead by scoring seven points in the final minute of the third, but the Skylights still led 40-39.

"We did a really good job of getting leads and extending leads," Mouat said. "But they (Argos) hit some big shots during both of those stretches, and then at the same time, we hurt ourselves with turnovers and mistakes that helped them come right back on us. We just didn't execute as well as we needed too in critical stretches, and when we did execute, we didn't finish."

Northern did feel like it was in control, and when Lambourne made a runner with 5:15 to play, the Skylights were ahead 48-47. But control quickly slipped away. Lambourne would score another layup with :43 left, but the damage had been done, as the Argos had rattled off 11 straight points, behind the strong inside player of Tristan Murphy. MSU-N had a chance to tie with :29 left, down 53-50, but never got a good look, and the Argos finished the game off at the foul line.

"We made it hard on ourselves tonight," Mouat said. "We had opportunities and they got away from us. Credit them (Argos). They made some big shots, and they really hurt us on the boards. They turned offensive rebounds into points. That was a big key for them."

It was a herculean effort by the Northern seniors, with Sagaplou scoring 16 points, Lambourne adding 13 and Filius chipping with 12. MSU-N shot 42 percent for the game, but a 1-for-13 performance from the three, a 32-21 rebounding edge for the Argos, and 21 big points from McDonagh, the Argos did just enough to hand Northern its 15th loss of Frontier Conference play.

"It's hard, you want to see the seniors go out on a great note, and it being our last home game, you want to see the team go out on a great note," Mouat said. "And our kids battled tonight. And our seniors led the charge. They're a great group and this is a tough one, but we have more basketball to play, so we've got to move forward and get ready for the next one."

The Skylights (10-18, 2-15) end the regular season Friday night with a trip to Montana Tech, and then will get ready for a first-round road game next week in the Frontier playoffs.

Skylights are 2-15 in the Frontier, 10-18 overall; Next Up: at Tech Friday

Providence 57, Skylights 61

Providence 14 11 14 18 - 57

MSU-Northern 14 13 13 11 - 51

UP - Molly Herron 0-1 0-0 0, Kallee Wilson 1-3 0-0 3, Erin Malcom 0-0 0-0 0, Jenna Randich 1-5 0-0 2, Tristan Murphy 3-6 4-6 10, Parker Esary 4-8 2-3 10, Emilee Maldonado 4-16 2-2 11, Stephanie McDonagh 9-16 0-0 21. Totals 22-55 8-11 57.

MSU-N - Peyton Filius 5-14 1-1 12, Brandy Lambourne 5-10 3-4 13, Kealani Sagapolu 8-10 0-1 16, Shiloh McCormick 0-5 2-2 2, Lily Hilderbrand 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 2-3 0-1 4, Naomi Terry 0-1 0-0 0, Tiara Gilham 2-10 0-0 4. Totals 22-53 6-9 51.

3-pt FG:Providence (Mont.) 5-15 (Wilson 1-1, Randich 0-2, Maldonado 1-5, McDonagh 3-7), Montana State University- 1-13 (Filius 1-5, Lambourne 0-3, McCormick 0-2, Terry 0-1, Gilham 0-2). Rebounds: Providence (Mont.) 32 (Murphy 11, Esary 11), Montana State University- 21 (Gilham 10). Fouls Providence (Mont.) 12, Montana State University- 14. Fouled out: none.