Another comeback for the Skylights

Comebacks and close calls are what the Montana State University-Northern Skylights are used to this winter.

And for the second straight game in the Armory Gymnasium, the Skylights pulled off a thrilling comeback in Frontier Conference play.

On a frosty Friday night in Havre, Northern erased a 10-point deficit against Montana Tech, including trailing by five with under a minute left, with a 3-point play by sophomore Sydney Hovde with :15 left lifting the Skylights to a 52-51 win over the Montana Tech Orediggers.

The win gave the Skylights a season sweep of the Diggers, and was especially emotional, with former Skylight Hall of Famer Charna Ophus-Seibert in the building to watch her alama mater wearing special pink uniforms. Ophus-Seibert, one of the greatest to ever suit up for the Skylights, has been battling breast cancer and was honored before the game.

So to say the least, Northern's latest dramatic win was a special one.

"It's beyond words what it meant to us to have Charna here tonight," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "She spoke to the team today before the game, and it was such an amazing message to our kids. Then, to have her and her family on the floor tonight and here in this gym, where she had so many amazing memories, it was incredible. She's a competitor in basketball and in life, she's an amazing person, and tonight was very humbling for us. And I'm just so glad we were able to win with her here. It was special."

The last play was special, too.

"The play was supposed to be for T (Tiara Gilham) driving to the basket, but she got stuck," Hovde said of the game-winner. "And she just gave me the perfect bounce pass, and it all worked out perfectly.

"Our kids executed that play perfectly, out of the time out," Mouat added. "So, very proud of them for hanging in there and finding a way at the end."

The comeback was spectacular, too. It was also necessary, as the Orediggers ripped off a 13-2 run in the third quarter to turn a 26-25 Northern lead at the break, into a 42-34 lead of its own with 10 minutes to play. The run would grow to 15-2 at the start of the fourth, as Tech led 44-43.

But as the Skylights have done so many times this season, they rose up. Peyton Kehr would cap a quick 8-0 run with a layup and Hovde tied the game at 44-44 with a putback bucket. Tech rose right back up, though, and when Mesa Williams hit her third trey of the game, the Diggers were back in front, 50-45.

Hovde, who would be the hero of the night, answered with a deuce, and then Tiara Gilham nailed a triple to pull the Skylights to within 50-49 with :30 left. Tech would eventually miss a key free throw, setting up a dramatic finish that saw Hovde and the Skylights execute a perfect inbounds play, then force the Orediggers to miss not one, but three close range shots in the final nine seconds.

"We were very fortunate tonight," Mouat said, "Tech is such a talented, tough team, and they took it to us for three quarters, and we didn't respond very well at all. We just didn't shoot it well, and it put a lot of pressure on our defense. But in that end, I thought our kids were great. We defended really well for four quarters, and that is not easy because Tech has so many weapons. But our defense gave us a chance, and then in the fourth quarter we had multiple kids step up and make huge plays down the stretch."

It was a great win indeed, especially coming on the heels of Wednesday night's thrilling victory over Providence. Hovde finished with a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double, while Gilham added 12 points, including a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer which gave the Skylights an 11-8 lead. Hailey Nicholson would add two key buckets in the second stanza, and she finished with eight points, but Williams hit two second-quarter triples and Dani Urick scored 14 points, including helping Tech close the gap to one point at halftime.

"We've been in so many of these games," Hovde said. "And I think we're at a point where we're just sick of losing these close games. So again tonight, we just played as hard as we could and played with heart, and it worked out.

"Very proud of our kids," Mouat added. "They kept grinding, they kept fighting, and they once again found a way to get it done at the end. I'm just really proud of them."

With the victory, the Skylights finished their four-game homestand at 2-2 and improved to 4-10 in the Frontier. Northern (12-14) will now go on the road for the final time in the regular season when the Skylights visit Carroll College Thursday night and Rocky Mountain College Saturday.

Skylights are 4-10 in Frontier, 12-14 overall; Next Up: At Carroll Thursday

Skylights 52, Montana Tech 51

Montana Tech 8 17 17 9 - 51

MSU-Northern 11 15 8 18 - 52

MT - Mesa Williams 4-10 0-0 11, T'Jaden Pallister 0-1 1-2 1, Kaylee Zard 2-6 6-6 10, Hailey Crawford 0-1 1-2 1, Dani Urick 4-8 6-7 14, Mollie Peoples 4-12 0-0 9, Celestina Faletoi 2-7 1-2 5. Totals: 16-46 15-19.

MSU-N - Sydney Hovde 5-9 3-5 13, Tiara Gilham 5-9 0-3 12, Gokce Aslan 3-10 0-0 6, Allix Goldhahn 0-5 2-2 2, Peyton Kehr 3-6 0-0 7, Sabin Keo 0-4 2-2 2, Petra Sellin 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 1-1 0-0 2, Hailey Nicholson 4-7 0-1 8, Lily Hilderbrand 0-0 0-0 0, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-51 7-13.

3-pointers: MT 4-12 (Williams 3, Peoples 1), MSU-N 3-16 (Gilham 2, Kehr 1). Rebounds: MT 34 (Zard 10), MSU-N 25 (Hovde 11). Fouls: MT 16, MSU-N 17. Fouled out: None.