Skylights suffer setbacks against Frontier powers Rocky, Carroll

The Frontier Conference is loaded with nationally ranked women's basketball teams. The Montana State University-Northern Skylights saw that first-hand this weekend in the Armory Gymnasium.

Friday night, Northern lost yet another close battle with a Top 25 Frontier rival, falling to No. 21 Rocky Mountain College 55-50. Northern started strong and put together a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter, but the Skylights couldn't hold off the charging Bears in the end.

"We made a good run at them," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "Our kids stepped up. But then we didn't finish in the fourth quarter like we would have liked. Bottom line, we have to make more shots in those situations."

Northern did make a run. The Skylights started the game hot, with Allix Goldhahn and Tiara Gilham knocking in 3-pointers to stake the Skylights to a 15-11 lead after 10 minutes.

From there, however, the Skylights were the opposite of hot. In a streak that started late in the first stanza, MSU-N went nearly 10 minutes without a bucket, and the Skylights wound up scoring just four points in the second stanza, while Rocky reeled off a 10-0 run. Still, MSU-N's defense was stellar throughout the first 20 minutes, and that enabled the Skylights to trail just 24-19 at intermission.

"We only scored four points in the second quarter, and that's not going to get it done," Mouat said. "But I thought our defense and our rebounding were very both very solid, and so at halftime, we were OK. And from there, we made a game of it."

Rocky made a game of it in the third quarter by going up by as many as 10 points, but Northern didn't fold. Instead, back-to-back baskets from Hailey Nicholson and Peyton Kehr cut the Rocky lead to 33-29 going into the fourth quarter, and big plays by Sabin Keo helped Northern turn that finish into an eventual 12-0 run. At that point, the Skylights led 35-33, and while Gilham, Keo and Sydney Hovde all made key plays down the stretch, Rocky answered Northern's run with a 11-0 spurt of its own, and the Skylights never full recovered.

"We got plenty of shots," Mouat said. "And I thought we played well enough defensively. But it's the same old, same old, we have to finish. We have to make more shots when we're in a position to win or even put these games away, and we didn't do that tonight."

Northern's defense was good against a star-studded Rocky offense. The Skylights held the Bears to 39 percent shooting and 22 percent from beyond the arc, though two big three's by Justyn Juhl in the fourth stanza proved to be back breakers. Juhl and Brooke Jones would combine for 23 points for the Bears. Offensively, Northern got 11 points each from Kehr and Goldhahn, while Hovde added nine points and nine rebounds.

Saints shoot down

Skylights

Saturday night in the Armory, the Skylights weren't just facing their second Top 25 in as many nights, they were facing an angry Carroll College team - one that had lost a heartbreaker at Providence Friday night.

And as one would expect, the No. 8 Saints played inspired basketball, burying eight 3-pointers and getting a 29-poiint effort from Hannah Dean in a 72-60 win over Northern.

"Hannah Dean was awesome," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "From the second quarter on, we didn't have an answer for her. I thought Dani did a nice job tonight, too. She hit some big shots.

"And overall, Carroll was very, very good tonight," he continued. "They came in here, shot it really well, and took advantage of every mistake we made. There's a reason they're ranked where they are and they showed that tonight."

And while Dean, and former Havre Blue Pony Dani Wagner, who scored 14 points and hit three triples, were the catalysts for the Saints, Northern was in the fight for much of the game.

Allix Goldhahn and Peyton Kehr hit back-to-back threes in a first quarter that saw Northern lead on three different occasions, including one in which the teams traded threes on five trips down the floor, ending with a Sabin Keo bomb that left the Skylights trailing just 17-15.

However, Keo's three would start a stretch where the Skylights went five minutes without a field goal, while the Saints knocked in three more bombs, including a Dean buzzer beater that sent the Saints into halftime with a 35-26 lead.

And Dean wasn't done. The senior All-American scored 15 points in the third quarter, including three different 3-point plays, as Carroll upped its lead to 22 points at one point, and led by 18 with 10 minutes to play.

Northern didn't go away without a fight, though, as Goldhahn hit two triples down the stretch, and Lilly Hilderbrand gave the Skylights a boost off the bench. But, an eight-point gap was as close as the Skylights would get as they fell to 2-10 in league play.

"I did think the kids that played in the fourth quarter really battled for us tonight," Mouat said. "Carroll put us in a position we're not used to. We haven't given up that much defensively in a long time, but those kids showed a lot of pride in the fourth quarter, and got us back in it. So I thought we finished with a lot of pride. But again, credit Carroll, they executed at a very high level, and we just didn't have enough answers for them."

Goldhahn would pace the Skylights with 18 points and four of Northern's seven bombs, while Hailey Nicholson finished with 11 and Hilderbrand added seven. Carroll, which shot 44 percent and won the battle of the boards, 30-28, got 29 and nine from Dean, while Wagner scored 14 and Jaidyn Lyman added eight.

The Skylights (8-14) will be back at home Wednesday night when they play Providence for the third time this season. They will remain in the Armory to host Montana Tech for a third time Friday night.

Skylights are 2-10 in Frontier, 10-14 overall; Next Up: Vs Providence Wednesday

Rocky Mountain 55, Skylights 50

Rocky Mountain College 11 13 9 22 - 55

MSU-Northern 15 4 0 21 - 50

RMC - Justyn Juhl 4-10 2-5 11, Markaela Francis 4-7 0-4 8, Kloie Thatcher 2-9 4-4 8, Alyssa Big Man 1-4 0-0 3, Alecia Chamberlain 3-7 0-0 7, Marissa Van Atta 2-3 0-0 4, Antuanisha Wright 0-5 2-4 2, Brooke Jones 4-6 4-4 12. Totals: 20-51 11-19.

MSU-N - Hailey Nicholson 3-12 0-0 6, Sydney Hovde 4-8 1-2 9, Gokce Aslan 1-6 0-0 2, Allix Goldhahn 4-6 2-2 11, Peyton Kehr 4-11 0-0 11, Sabin Keo 3-8 0-0 6, Petra Sellin 0-1 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 0-0 0-0 0, Lilly Hilderbrand 0-0 0-0 0, Tiara Gilham 2-5 0-0 5. Totals: 21-57 3-4.

3-pointers: RMC 4-18 (Jhl 2, Big Man 1, Chamberlain 1), MSU-N 5-16 (Goldhahn 1, Kehr 3, Gilham 1). Rebounds: RMC 27 (Chamberlain 5), MSU-N 28 (Hovde 9). Fouls: RMC 12, MSU-N 14; Fouled out: None.

Carroll College 72, Skylights 60

Carroll College 17 18 22 15 - 72

MSU-Northern 15 11 13 21 - 60

CC - Hannah Dean 10-19 8-8 29, Jaidyn Lyman 3-5 1-2 8, Dani Wagner 4-9 3-4 14, Christine Denny 2-4 2-2 6, Brittney Johnson 2-7 0-0 6, Taylor Salonen 2-2 0-0 5, Sienna Swannack 0-3 0-1 1, Nikki Krueger 1-1 0-0 2, Emma Madsen 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 24-54 16-20.

MSU-N - Hailey Nicholson 4-13 3-3 11, Sydney Hovde 2-4 4-4 5, Gokce Aslan 1-2 2-2 5, Allix Goldhahn 4-10 6-6 18, Peyton Kehr 3-13 0-0 7, Sabin Keo 1-3 0-0 3, Petra Sellin 0-0 0-0 0, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 1-1 0-0 2, Lilly Hilderbrand 2-2 3-5 7, Tiara Gilham 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 19-49 15-20.

3-pointers: CC 8-25 (Dean 1, Lyman 1, Wagner 3, Johnson 2, Salonen 1), MSU-N 7-16 (Aslan 1, Goldhahn 4, Kehr 1, Keo 1). Rebounds: CC 30 (Dean 9), MSU-N 28 (Hovde 9). Fouls: CC 25, MSU-N 19; Fouled out: Wagner.