Skylights fall to Warriors in Frontier-like battles

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights and Lewis-Clark State Warriors know each other well. And so, while almost everything about this weekend's games between the two former Frontier Conference rivals was unfamiliar, especially the Armory Gymnasium being almost empty due to COVID-19 restrictions, the games themselves, weren't.

And while the Warriors swept the Skylights in a pair of non-conference games - LC State is now a member of the Cascade Conference, Skylight's head coach Chris Mouat was glad his team got two more games under their belt during these challenging times.

"It was great to have LC here," Mouat said. "They're a very good team. And it was really good for us to play a good team like this twice. It was also good for us to be on our home floor. I was really happy for our kids, and we feel very fortunate to get two more games, when a lot of teams haven't had that. So it was a good weekend to play basketball at home. But, at the end of the day, we also want to win. And we didn't get that done. So that part stings."

Indeed. It was a tale of two different games, too.

Friday night, in MSU-N's home debut, the Warriors rattled off a 12-0 run to start the game, putting the Skylights in a hole early. However, a 3-pointer by Peyton Kehr brought Northern back to within 16-10 at the end of the first quarter and a triple by Allix Goldhahn late in the second stanza put the Skylights in front 26-23. Northern would go on to finish the first half on an 8-2 run to lead 32-30.

The Skylights added to their lead early in the third period, but back-to-back threes from the Warriors sparked a 12-3 run by LC State, in a quarter that saw the Warriors outscore Northern 24-13. And while an old-fashioned 3-point play by Sydney Hovde early in the fourth quarter got MSU-N back to within six points, LC State scored eight unanswered from there and went on to win by double-digits.

"Our turnovers for points really were the biggest difference," Mouat said. "They converted those so many times. And the second half, we just didn't do enough offensively. So the biggest takeaway from last night is, we have to take better care of the ball."

Turnovers were a big story as the Skylights committed 20 of them, while also shooting just 35 percent and going 3-of-19 from downtown. Kehr led Northern with 13 points, while Goldhahn and Hovde both had 10 points and rebounds as the Skylights won on the boards 47-44. However, on the other end of the floor, LC State made timely threes, got 15 points each from Abbie Johnson and Peyton Souvenir.

Northern and LC State then met Saturday afternoon for a rematch, and for the third time this season. And while the Skylights had a huge night offensively, and got a career game from Allix Goldhahn, it still wasn't enough as the Warriors won 90-84.

"We haven't given up 90 points in a long time," Mouat said. "But that's the game we had to play. It was a fast-paced game where we had to go bucket-for-bucket with them, and I thought we did that. We had chances right down to the end of the game. We made a ton of big shots. But, when you make big shots, you also need to get stops, and we didn't do that tonight. We fouled way too much and didn't get the stops when we absolutely needed them. And you have to credit LC for a lot of that. They're really good. They made huge shots, too, and Kiara Burlage had a monster game. So there's a lot we can learn from this, and one of those things is we just have to play smarter, and we have to be able to get stops when we need them the most."

Stops were hard to come by for both teams. Both teams shot 48 percent from the floor, while the Warriors led 8-2 early on. However, Allix Goldhahn, who would have a career night, including 17 points in the first half, hit a three to help the Skylights cap a 10-0 run and lead 22-18 after one.

Both teams continued their torrid pace in the second. But when Peyton Kehr nailed a triple with 4:30 left in the half, the Skylights went back in front and would end up leading 43-42 at intermission. The game, though, was just getting interesting. LC wrestled the lead away from Northern midway through the third, but Ryley Kehr hit a bomb, and Peyton added another of her own as the two sisters scored Northern's last 11 points of the third stanza, giving the Skylights a 63-62 lead with 10 minutes to play.

And the pace only quickened in the fourth. The two former Frontier rivals traded the lead on seven occasions in the final period, but a triple by Abbie Johnson capped an 11-2 run that put the Warriors up 79-76 with 2:32 to play. Goldhahn answered twice more, but Northern never got closer than three points again, as Burlage would seal the game at the foul line, finishing with a game-high 34 points.

"I was very proud of our kids for the way they played," Mouat said. "We only had one day of prep this week, and a second game on short rest, and our kids played so hard. And they played really well today. Allix Goldhahn had a monster game. I was so happy for her to see her break out like she did because she's put so much hard work into this. And we had a lot of kids step up. Cameron Mooney got into double digits and gave us a big life. We had so many kids make big shots and make big contributions. So it's unfortunate that it wasn't enough in the end, but I'm very proud of our kids for the effort."

It was a herculean effort by the Skylights. Goldhahn scored 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, with three treys. McKenzie Gunter added 18 points and Peyton Kehr scored 12. Mooney, who scored key buckets in the second and third quarters, and had a pair of blocks, scored 10 points, while helping Northern out-rebounded the Warriors for the second straight night.

And while the losses do hurt, as the Skylights fell to 1-3 on the young season, Mouat said, his team will only get better from having played two home games against LC.

"This felt like a typical Frontier weekend," Mouat said. "LC is a very good team. So we'll take a lot away from this. We'll be better for having played these games. We'll come back from the break and we'll get better. And that's the most important thing right now."

Northern will look to begin Frontier Conference play Jan. 4-5 at home against Carroll College.

LC State 66, Skylights 54

Lewis-Clark 16 14 24 12 - 66

MSU-Northern 10 22 13 9 - 54

LCSC - Peyton Souvenir 6-12 1-2 15, Abby Farmer 3-5 0-0 9, Jansen Edmiston 2-7 0-0 4, Sara Muelhausen 2-7 0-0 2, Abbie Johnson 5-12 5-8 15, Callie Stevens 2-7 0-0 5, Kiara Burlage 6-18 2-4 14. Totals: 26-70 8-14.

MSU-N - Brandi White 0-1 0-0 0, Allix Goldhahn 2-9 5-6 10, L'Tia Lawrence 1-4 0-0 2, Ryley Kehr 2-8 1-2 5, McKenzie Gunter 2-9 0-0 4, Peyton Kehr 5-13 1-1 13, Dulci Skunkcap 1-1 0-0 2, Morgan Mason 1-4 0-0 2, Cameron Mooney 3-5 0-0 6, Sydney Hovde 4-6 0-0 0. 21-60 9-11.

3-pointers: LCSC 6-19 (Souvenir 2, Farmer 3, Stevens 1), MSU-N 3-19 (Goldhahn 1, P. Kehr 2). Rebounds: LCSC 44 (Burlage 9), MSU-N 47 (Goldhahn 8, Hovde 8). Fouls: LCSC 9, MSU-N 13. Fouled out: None.

LC State 90, Skylights 84

Lewis-Clark 18 24 20 28 - 90

MSU-Northern 22 21 20 21 - 84

MSU-N - Allix Goldhahn 11-17 4-5 29, L'Tia Lawrence 1-6 4-4 6, Riley Kehr 3-6 0-0 7, McKenzie Gunter 6-11 4-5 18, Peyton Kehr 3-8 6-6 12, Morgan Mason 0-4 0-0 0, Cameron Mooney 4-6 2-2 10, Sydney Hovde 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 29-60 20-22 84.

LCSC - Peyton Souvenir 3-5 0-0 9, Abby Farmer 1-4 0-0 3, Jansen Edmiston 3-10 3-4 10, Sara Muelhausen 1-1 0-0 2, Maddie Holm 5-11 3-5 13, Abbie Johnson 7-11 1-1 15, Callie Stevens 1-6 0-0 2, Kiara Burlage 8-14 18-19 34, Hannah Broyles 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 30-64 22-26.

3-pointers: MSU-N 6-17 (Goldhahn 3, R. Kehr 1, Gunter 2), LCSC 8-24 (Souvenir 3, Farmer 1, Holm 3, Broyles 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 36 (Hovde 6), LCSC 33 (Holm 9), Fouls: MSU-N 19, LCSC 19, Fouled out: Hovde.