Skylights make one last stand at home

There's just two games left under the bright lights of the Armory Gymnasium for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights. And they're two games in which Northern desperately wants to win, for a myriad of reasons.

The oft-injured Skylights (4-10, 15-11) are home to host Rocky Mountain College Friday night, before taking on Montana Western in their home finale Saturday. And the Skylights, who have been without key players at different times this season, including leading scorer McKenzie Gunter, senior forward Hailey Nicholson and standout Tiara Gilham, who is likely out with an injury currently, really want to hold serve at home, one so they can stop the heartbreaking seven-game Frontier Conference skid they're on, but two, because a pair of wins over nationally ranked teams would put Northern right back in the NAIA national tourney hunt.

There's also the matter of senior night. The Skylights have just two seniors, Nicholson, who was averaging 10 points, six rebounds and a league-best three blocks per game before an injury sidelined her last month, as well as Petra Selin. Selin is a second-year transfer who originally came to the states from Sweden to pursue her dream of playing college basketball.

And together, they'll be honored Saturday night.

"Our seniors have done an outstanding job for our program," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "Hailey and Petra both transferred to us from NCAA programs, and both have made a big difference for us on and off of the court. They are excellent teammates and each brings their own set of leadership qualities. Each have also provided some great moments for our team over the past two seasons, and they will be missed dearly. I am thankful that they chose Northern, and the Skylight program, and know that they will do great things in life."

Senior night will be emotional, but it will be that much more so if the Skylights can beat the No. 19 Bulldogs (10-4, 17-8), who are back in the lead in the Frontier standings, even after they lost a ton to graduation from last year's national championship team. Western, led by Shannon Worcster, Savanna Bignell and others, has split the season series with the Skylights, with the Dawgs winning just two weeks ago in Dillon.

"Western is playing at an extremely high level right now," Mouat said. "They are solid at both ends of the floor and are tough to guard. They play with a ton of energy and will take advantage of mistakes really well. They are very balanced with a bunch of kids who are capable of leading them in scoring any given night. Like their team from a year ago, they play much bigger than they are. "

Before the Skylights can worry about the Bulldogs, they have to face No. 24 RMC (7-7, 15-9) Friday night. Like with Western, the Skylights are 1-1 against the Battlin' Bears, but two weeks ago, Rocky sank the Skylights with a barrage of 3-pointers in Billings. The Bears also have a Player of the Year candidate in Markaela Francis, who is averaging a double-double. Francis leads the Frontier in scoring with her 17 ppg, while she also hauls in 10 boards per night.

So, she and the Battlin' Bears will be a handful for a short-handed Skylights team that has Gunter scoring 14 points per outing, while Peyton Kehr and Sydney Hovde, as well as Allix Goldhahn and Kenya Lorton will also be relied upon heavily, not just against the Bears, but also down the stretch of the season.

"Rocky is a good team, and they play very hard on the defensive end," Mouat said. "They are physical and do a nice job executing and getting after offensive boards. They are talented and have Markaela Francis, one of the top posts in not only the Frontier, but in the nation. She is capable of a double-double every night.

"Both teams will present plenty of challenges," he continued. "We will need to continue to work on taking care of the ball. Limiting our turnovers for points is big against both teams. And we have to continue to make it a goal to win on the boards, which will be a challenge in both games. We need to continue to work toward a complete, 40-minute effort where we avoid scoring droughts."

The Skylights meet RMC Friday at 6 p.m. in the Armory Gymnasium. Northern's senior night game against Western also tips at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Skylights (4-10, 15-11) vs #24 RMC Battlin' Bears (7-7, 15-9) Friday 6 p.m; vs #19 Western Bulldogs (10-4, 17-8) Saturday, 6 p.m.

In Armory Gymnasium

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Skylights Projected Starters

G McKenzie Gunter, 5-5, Jr., 12 ppg

G Allix Goldhahn, 5-8, So., 9 ppg

G Peyton Kehr, 5-10, Jr., 11 ppg

G Kenya Lorton, 5-8, Jr. 9 ppg

F Sydney Hovde, 6-0, Jr., 9 ppg, 7 rpg