Happy Thanksgiving: MSU-N hoops sweeps

The college basketball season pushes onward and many teams are still upholding the undefeated record, including the Montana State University-Northern basketball teams.

Last Friday, the Skylights and the Lights beat the Yellowstone Christian College Centurions in the AmericInn Classic in the Armory Gymnasium.

The Skylights beat the Lady Centurions 74-28 to open the classic and the Lights followed, beating the Centurions 63-42. The two games left both Northern teams undefeated.

With the Skylights up first, head coach Chris Mouat was looking for more from his team but is happy about the win, nonetheless.

"To be honest, I thought we were sloppy tonight (Friday)," said Mouat. "I thought we missed some shots we generally make, including some layups, and free throws even. But I thought all 11 went in, gave good energy and played hard, but we made a lot of mistakes, including 13 turnovers, which that's too many."

Northern got off to a strong start, with Peyton Kehr and Sydney Hovde leading the charge to get the team going on a 14-0 run to take a quick 18-4 lead. YCC made four free throws afterwards but the Skylights pushed their lead to 24-8 at the end of the first.

The second period saw the Northern defense consistently contain the Centurion offensive attack and the Skylights pushed even further in the lead on a 12-0 run. Hanna Hayes put up two shots to pull YCC closer to MSU-N 38-14 at the half.

Mouat made it a point for his team to contain Hayes before Friday's game and the team did quite well, holding Hayes to a low percentage of shooting. But, Mouat knows that Hayes and the Lady Centurions are still a strong team.

"She (Hayes) can get her shot off whenever she wants," Mouat said. "She was a tough matchup and I thought she played extremely hard throughout the game. Honestly, credit their whole team. They're playing with six kids right now, came here with a great attitude and they're just a little dinged up with injuries right now. They get back to healthy, they'll be a lot better, but I credit those kids for playing hard the entire 40 minutes."

In the second half, Hovde and McKenzie Gunter put up more points and Hayes kept trying to push YCC closer. In the end, Northern would stay on top the whole game and win, to improve to 7-0.

The Skylights had a decent night with their shooting, making 46.2-percent of field goals, 33.3-percent of 3-pointers and 77.8-percent of free throws. Northern had 16 second-chance points, 28 points from the paint and 22 points off turnovers, as well. Kehr led Northern with 16 points, while Hovde add 13.

After the win from the Skylights, the Lights took to the court against the Centurions, and head coach Shawn Huse was proud of his teams' hard work on the court Friday.

"It was a strange game in a lot of ways," said Huse. "But, overall, I was pleased. I thought we did a good job of making a lot of great plays out of some ugly situations, and sometimes you got to do that."

It was a slow start for both teams in the first half, but Kavon Bey put up the majority of Northern's points to lead 5-2, while the defenses were physical and intense. Then, the Lights surged and went on an 11-0 run, including a Jesse Keltner dunk to cap it off. YCC fought back with vigor, with Derrian Reed putting up some nice shots, but Mascio McCadney and Bey kept at it for Northern, pulling the Lights to lead 35-17 at the half.

The second half was more of a back-and-forth situation, with Keltner and McCadney driving MSU-N further into the lead, while DeVante King and Devin Jones worked to thin the Lights' lead. The Centurions went on a couple runs, as well, but it was not enough and Northern won the game, remaining unbeaten.

Even with the win, Huse commended YCC for its efforts and physicality in the game.

"One thing Yellowstone does is fly around, hustle, and they're quick and athletic," Huse said. "They're disruptive and I think that threw us off a little bit. Credit to them for that. At the same time, I know what we're capable of offensively and this was certainly not our best offensive performance."

Northern shot 37.1-percent of its field goals, 28.6-percent of its threes and 40.9-percent of its free throws. The Lights had 20 points from the paint, 11 points from turnovers and 13 second-chance points, too.

McCadney scored 14 points, Bey and Keltner added 10 points.

With the wins in the Armory, both teams remain undefeated, but the real test will come in two Frontier Conference games Thursday and Saturday.

The Skylights play Montana Western Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Armory Gymnasium, followed by a game against Rocky Mountain College Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Armory. The Lights will play the same teams on the same days in the Armory at 8 p.m.

Skylights 74, Yelowstone Christian 28

YCC 8 6 4 10 - 28

MSU-Northern 24 14 22 14 - 74

YCC - Hanna Hayes 6-16 1-6 13, Gabby Worley 3-10 2-4 9, Aleita Amparan 1-7 0-2 4, Nia Johnson 0-3 0-1 2. Totals: 10-46 3-16.

MSU-N - Peyton Kehr 6-9 4-6 16, Sydney Hovde 6-7 0-0 13, McKenzie Gunter 5-10 1-4 11, Allix Goldhahn 3-8 2-6 8, Ryley Kehr 3-6 0-0 8, Kenya Lorton 2-6 0-0 4, Morgan Mason 1-5 0-3 3, Reilly Walsh 0-2 0-1 2, Jada Nicholson 1-3 0-0 2, Petra Sellin 1-5 0-1 2. Totals: 30-65 7-21.

3-pointers: YCC 3-16 (Worley 2, Hayes1), MSU-N 7-21 (P. Kehr 4, Goldhahn 2, Gunter 1). Rebounds: YCC 15 (Hayes 5, Amparan 3, Johnson 3, KiAra Sullivan 3, Molly Lundby 1), MSU-N 45 (R. Kehr 10, H. Nicholson 8, P. Kehr 6, Hovde 6, Gunter 4, J. Nicholson 3, Lorton 2, Mason 2, Walsh 2, Sellin 1, Goldhahn 1). Fouls: YCC 9, MSU-N 6. Fouled out: none.

Lights 63, Yellowstone Christian 42

YCC - DeVante King 6-13 0-4 12, Devin Jones 3-19 0-8 10, Derrian Reed 2-13 1-6 8, Shaun Noble 2-4 0-0 6, Chris Pendley 2-6 0-3 4, Malcolm Smauldon 0-2 0-0 1, Seth Duston 0-2 0-0 1. Totals: 15-64 1-22.

MSU-N - Mascio McCadney 6-12 2-5 14, Kavon Bey 4-10 1-4 10, Jesse Keltner 3-6 0-0 10, Adam Huse 3-7 2-4 8, Cedric Crutchfield 3-7 0-0 7, Gio Jackson 2-6 1-4 6, David Harris 1-6 1-4 5, TJ Reynolds 1-3 1-2 3. Totals: 23-62 8-28.

3-pointers: YCC 1-22 (Reed 1), MSU-N 8-28 (McCadney 2, Huse 2, Bey 1, Jackson 1, Harris 1, Reynolds 1). Rebounds: YCC 36 (King 12, Pendley 6, Noble 6, Reed 5, Jones 3, Smauldon 2, Duston 2), MSU-N 47 (Harris 10, Crutchfield 9, McCadney 8, Keltner 7, Bey 4, Bray 4, Jackson 2, Huse 1, Reynolds 1, Other 1). Fouls: YCC 22, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: none.