Carroll sweeps MSU-N in Helena

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have had some big Frontier Conference wins of late. In their three-game winning streak heading into their final road trip of the regular season, no win, however, was as big as the Lights' victory over Carroll College two weeks ago in the Armory Gymnasium.

Thursday night though, Carroll got back at the Lights, and with a vengeance. In the third meeting between the two rivals, the No. 7 Fighting Saints clobbered the Lights 75-45, ending Northern's three-game streak, and dropping the Lights to 8-7 in the Frontier.

From the start, Carroll was determined to play at a high level. The Saints would shoot a sizzling 57 percent from the field and jump out to a 36-20 half-time lead. Things would never get better for the Lights either. They shot a season-low 28 percent from the floor and went just 3-of-19 from beyond the 3-point-line.

Northern had just one player in double figures, as Cedric Crutchfield scored 10 points to go with seven rebounds. Caulin Bakalarski scored nine, while Kavon Bey added six.

On the other end of the floor, Northern's defense was no match for Carroll senior Match Burnham. He scored 31 points to go with five rebounds, while Dane Warp added 15 and Ife Kalejaiye scored 13 as Carroll improved to 11-4 in league play.

Saints sweep Skylights

Sometimes, a certain team just doesn't match up well with another. That may be the case for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights when it comes to playing the Carroll College Fighting Saints.

Thursday night in Helena, the No. 8 Saints held the Skylights to just 45 points in a 58-45 win. The victory was Carroll's third over the Skylights this season, while Northern fell to 4-11 in the Frontier Conference.

MSU-N, which has struggled offensively against the Saints this season, fell behind 13-6 in the first quarter, but Northern rebounded with a 13-11 run to only trail 24-19 at the half. Carroll answered out of half-time, though, with an 18-11 run of its own, and the Skylights could never full climb back into the game.

Carroll's stingy defense held the Skylights to just 35 percent shooting, while the Saints won the battle of the boards 32-31 and also forced Northern into 19 turnovers. Peyton Kehr paced MSU-N with three 3-pointers and 11 points, while Tiara Gilham scored nine and Sydney Hovde added eight points and nine boards.

Carroll shot 44 percent for the game, and got another huge outing from Hannah Dean. She scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Christine Denny chipped in with nine.

The Northern men and women will now play their final road games of the regular season when they head to Billings to meet Rocky Mountain College Saturday. MSU-N is home next Friday to host Lewis-Clark State before wrapping up the regular season next Saturday against Montana Western.

Carroll College 58, Skylights 45

MSU-Northern 6 13 11 15 - 45

Carroll 13 11 18 16 - 58

MSU-N - Lily Hilderbrand 1-1 0-0 2, Peyton Kehr 4-11 0-0 11, Jessica Curl 0-0 0-0 0, Tiara Gilham 4-8 1-1 9, Sydney Hovde 4-7 0-1 8, Hailey Nicholson 3-9 0-0 7, Allix Goldhahn 2-7 1-2 6, Petra Sellin 0-0 0-0 0, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0, Sabin Keo 0-5 0-0 0, Gokce Aslan 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 19-54 2-4 45.

CC - Jaidyn Lyman 3-7 1-2 9, Danielle Wagner 3-6 2-2 9, Christine Denny 4-9 2-2 10, Taylor Salonen 1-3 0-0 2, Sienna Swannack 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Dean 8-13 6-8 23, Brittney Johnson 2-6 0-0 5, Emma Madsen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 11-14 58.

3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 5-19 (Kehr 3-6, Gilham 0-2, Nicholson 1-1, Goldhahn 1-5, Keo 0-2, Aslan 0-3), Carroll College 5-16 (Lyman 2-4, Wagner 1-2, Denny 0-3, Dean 1-1, Johnson 1-5, Madsen 0-1). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 31 (Hovde 9), Carroll College 32 (Wagner 7). Fouls Montana State-Northern 16, Carroll College 8. Fouled out: none. Technical: none.

Carroll College 75, Lights 45

MSU-N - Justin Dunsmore 2-6 0-0 4, Devin Bray 1-9 2-2 4, Adam Huse 1-4 0-0 3, James Fry 0-2 0-0 0, Caulin Bakalarski 4-8 0-0 9, Cedric Crutchfield 4-5 2-4 10, Kavon Bey 3-10 0-0 6, Joe Fons 0-1 1-2 1, Mascio McCadney 1-11 0-0 3, Kamari Burnside 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 17-60 8-12 45.

CC - Dane Warp 7-9 0-0 15, Eetu Villa 1-4 0-0 3, Chase Burnham 0-0 1-2 1, Match Burnham 9-17 10-12 31, Jovan Sljivancanin 3-6 0-0 7, Shamrock Campbell 1-6 0-0 3, Ife Kalejaiye 4-4 3-4 13, Thomas Austefjord 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-47 14-18 75.

Halftime: Carroll 36-20. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 3-19 (Dunsmore 0-2, Bray 0-4, Huse 1-3, Fry 0-1, Bakalarski 1-3, Fons 0-1, McCadney 1-5), Carroll College 9-20 (Warp 1-1, Villa 1-2, Burnham 3-8, Sljivancanin 1-2, Campbell 1-5, Kalejaiye 2-2). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 32 (Crutchfield 7), Carroll College 36 (Sljivancanin 9). Fouls Montana State-Northern 13, Carroll College 13. Fouled out: Austefjord .