First road games for Lights, Skylights

In front of a rabid crowd, hungry for college basketball, the Montana State University-Northern Lights and Skylights opened their 2021-22 season to a rousing success last Tuesday night.

Those wins over Dickinson State however, were in the Armory Gymnasium. Now, both Northern hoops teams will get their first taste of life on the road.

The Skylights (1-0) won't have to travel far, visiting Great Falls for two non-conference games hosted by the University of Providence. Northern will play Cascade Conference member Corban University Friday afternoon, and return to the court Saturday to take on Central Baptist College.

And after beating the Blue Hawks to open the year, Northern head coach Chris Mouat is hoping to capitalize on the momentum.

"The Great Falls tournament is also a good one, as we'll see Corban, who has been a top team in the Cascade Conference and a team who has had success at nationals recently," Mouat said.

Of course, in both games, the Skylights will be tough to beat. L'Tia Lawrence is coming off a double-double and Frontier Conference Player of the Week honors. Senior Sydney Hovde also looked sharp in the opener, as did sophomore Ryley Kehr. Northern should also get back key players who missed the opener, so the Skylights will be a handful in both games in Great Falls.

And while the Northern women won't stray too far from Havre this weekend, the Lights (1-0) are traversing halfway across the country for three good games. Northern (1-0) head to Michigan this weekend for games against Rochester University, U of M Dearborn and Siena Heights. It's a great opportunity for Northern, for more reasons than one according to head coach Shawn Huse.

"This is a win-win opportunity for us," Huse said. "We get a chance to play three quality NAIA caliber opponents. Filling our non-conference schedule is never an easy task. Getting three on one trip is huge. And traveling and handling adverse atmospheres is certainly something we will need to do in conference play, to be successful. This should lend to helping prepare us for that later on in the year. Not to mention, this gives us a chance to play in front of some of our guys' from that region. Any time we get that opportunity to play in front of our family and friends, we like to take it if possible."

Those guys include star guard Mascio McCadney, who hails from Detroit. McCadney is a three-time All-Conference pro0frmer for the Lights, who, late last season, became part of the exclusive 1,000-point clubs at MSU-N. Along with fellow veterans David Harris and Jesse Keltner, the Lights are looking to get off to a really strong start this fall, and this trip to Michigan should help Northern do just that.

"These teams will be a huge challenge," Huse said. "As an example, our first game is against a very good Rochester team. Including but certainly not limited to, two guys I recruited and were on our radar a couple years ago, who have had great success for them."

The Lights begin the road trip with Rochester at 4 p.m. today. Northern then travels to Dearborn to play U of M Dearborn at 2 p.m. Saturday, before wrapping up the trip in Siena Heights Sunday at 1 p.m. The Skylights meanwhile, play Corban Friday at 3 pm. And Central Baptist Saturday at 4 p.m.