Skylights begin 2018-19 season with a win in Great Falls

Being a young and almost brand new team, Montana State University-Northern head women’s basketball coach Chris Mouat wasn’t sure what he would see from his Skylights in their season-opener. On top of that, the Skylights didn’t know a whole lot about their first opponent either.

So it stood to reason that Friday night’s game, held at the McLaughlin Center in Great Falls, would turn out to be much like any other season-opener, some good, some not so good. But in the end, the game was plenty good enough for the Skylights, who beat CIS Mount Royal 73-65.

“We were short-handed going into the game, and faced a lot of adversity during the game,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. “They (Cougars) also threw some things at us we didn’t expect. So for us to adjust to that as well as we did, and handle a lot of different types of adversity throughout the game, I was really proud of the kids. They found a way to really grind out a gritty win.”

Northern opened the game, and a brand new season, by outscoring the Cougars 18-13 in the first quarter. The game remained tight in the second stanza, as the Cougars came roaring back to lead 35-32 at intermission.

And the game was still in doubt into the fourth quarter, but the Skylights poured in 24 points in the final 10 minutes and rode the hot shooting of sophomore Peyton Kehr and timely 3-pointers from newcomer Sam Caruth to the victory, as well as a 1-0 start to the 2018-19 season.

Kehr finished the game with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She also made two of Northern’s five triples. Hailey Nicholson added 15 points and four rebounds, while Caruth finished with four treys and 13 points. As a team, the Skylights shot 42 percent from the field, and new point guard Gokce Aslan chipped in with 12 points and six crucial free throws. Sydney Hovde led the Skylights on the boards with six.

Northern will remain on the road for two games this weekend at the Adidas Northwest Classic in Kirkland, Washington. There MSU-N will face Northwest University and Northwest Christian. The Skylights make their home debut Nov. 11 against Minot State.

Skylights 73, Mount Royal 65

Mount Royal 13 23 14 15 - 65

MSU-Northern 18 14 17 24 - 73

MSU-N - Peyton Kehr 8-14 2-2 20, Hailey Nicholson 6-16 3-5 15, Gokce Aslan 3-4 6-11 12, Petra Sellin 1-4 4-6 6, Sydney Hovde 1-3 3-4 5, Sam Caruth 3-5 4-5 13, Lily Hilderbrand 0-0 2-2 0, Tiara Gilham 0-2 0-0 0, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 24-35.

3-pointers: 5-12 (Kehr 2, Caruth 3). Rebounds 29 (Hovde 6), Fouls 15; Foule out Aslan.