Streaking Skylights roll the Vikings

With a three-game winning streak on the line, there was no let-up in the Montana State University-Northern Skylights on night two of the Duck Inn Corporation Classic.

Instead, the Skylights rolled to their second straight blowout win.

Monday night in the Armory Gymnasium, the Skylights blew past Alberta-Augustana, 80-55, improving to 6-5 on the season ahead of their final three non-conference games, which will come next week.

"By in large, we were much better again tonight," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "This team has really made some strides these last three games, and I'm happy for them. I thought we did a really nice job offensively again tonight, we shared the ball, we had 25 assists as a team, and our posts got good looks and finished around the rim. It was another really nice effort by our kids."

While the Skylights were dominant, thanks to the inside play of Jessica Curl and Sydney Hovde, the Vikings, playing their fourth game against Frontier Conference competition in as many days, didn't make things easy for Northern.

Thanks to 10 3-pointers, Augustana pushed MSU-N to be really good, and the Skylights were. Curl got the ball rolling with eight straight points in the first quarter to give MSU-N a 19-14 lead after 10 minutes. Peyton Kehr hit a triple early in the second to give Northern a bit more of a cushion, and the Skylights would finish the first half on a 12-3 run thanks to driving layups from Gokce Aslan. The spurt helped Northern to a 41-27 halftime advantage.

But the Vikings refused to go quietly into the night.

Three treys in the third quarter made things interesting again, but Curl scored the last six points of the stanza to put MSU-N ahead by 13 points, and when Lily Hilderbrand made back-to-back, old-fashioned 3-point plays, the Skylights upped their lead to 67-49 with seven minutes left in the game, and from there, Northern cruised home to victory.

For the second straight night, Northern shot the ball well, this time shooting 57 percent from the floor. The Skylights also out-rebounded the Vikings 34-24, while forcing 17 turnovers. They also got contributions from all over, too.

Curl finished with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while Hovde added a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards. Hilderbrand scored 10 points off the bench, while Aslan added 10 points as well.

"I thought we were just really efficient again tonight," Mouat said. "And we got some really good individual performances. It was just a really good night for us offensively again, and that's a credit to our kids continuing to learn and grow."

Northern will get one more chance to learn and grow before Frontier play resumes in January. The Skylights have three games against NAIA opponents next week in Phoenix.

Skylights 80, Augustana 55

Alberta-Augustana 14 13 17 11 - 55

MSU-Northern 19 22 16 23 - 80

AA - Hannah Mitchell 0-3 2-2 2, Jessica Haenni 5-8 0-0 11, Alyssa Banez 2-8 0-0 5, Samantha Dargis 3-6 0-0 6, Torey Lauber 4-9 0-1 11, Teagan McKinnon 0-1 1-2 1, Payton May 1-4 0-0 3, Tobore Okome 1-4 1-1 3, Alexis Myschuk 2-4 0-0 6, Emma Van Bruinessen 4-8 0-0 8. Totals: 22-60 3-6.

MSU-N - Sydney Hovde 8-14 2-3 18, Gokce Aslan 5-7 0-0 10, Sabin Keo 3-8 1-2 7, Allix Goldhahn 2-8 1-2 7, Peyton Kehr 2--6 1-2 6, Petra Sellin 1-2 0-0 2, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 9-11 2-2 20, Lily Hilderbrand 4-4 2-2 10. Totals: 34-60 9-13.

3-pointers: AA 8-32 (Haenni 1, Banez 1, Lauber 3, May 1, Myschuk 2), MSU-N 3-10 (Goldhahn 2, Kehr 1). Rebounds: AA 24 (Mitchell 4), MSU-N 34 (Hovde 10). Fouls: AA 18, MSU-N 13. Fouled out: None.