Skylights land star point guard

The 2019 Montana State University-Northern women's basketball recruiting class is growing, and earlier this week, the Skylights certainly got better.

Northern head coach Chris Mouat recently announced the signing of McKenzie Gunter to an NAIA national letter of intent. Gunter is a 5-5 point guard from McCammon, Idaho, who is transferring to Northern from Walla Walla Community College.

"McKenzie will make us better immediately." Mouat said. "She has good vision, handles the ball well and can score it. She is also a very good defender. She is skilled and has an excellent head for the game.  She had a great year at Walla Walla and I'm thrilled she chose us. Coach Hazeltine does an amazing job there and we are really excited to have one of her kids coming our way."

This season, Gunter averaged nearly 14.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. She shot 45 percent from the field and nearly 80 percent from the free throw line. She earned First Team All-Region honors and was also named the NWAC East Region Defensive Most Valuable Player. She was a member of the 2018 NWAC Champions at Walla Walla, helping the Warriors to a 32-1 overall record.

"McKenzie is a winner. She did so much for her team at both ends of the floor and took what was a very young team and helped get them into the NWAC Tournament. She will be a great fit in our program because of her competitiveness and team-first attitude," Mouat added.

Gunter is a 2017 graduate of Marsh Valley High School in McCammon, Idaho, where she was an all-state performer in basketball and a three-time all-area selection in soccer. She also participated in rodeo for a pair of seasons. Her basketball teams qualified for the state tournament three times, while her soccer team qualified in each of her four seasons.

Gunter carries a 3.43 grade point average. She plans on majoring in health promotion at MSU-Northern. She is the daughter of Ralph and Valerie Gunter.

Gunter is part of a Northern recruiting class which also includes Harlem's L'Tia Lawrence and Columbia Falls' Ryley Kehr.