Carroll proves too much for ailing Skylights

Frontier Conference competition has not been kind to the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team with an 0-5 start to the season. And on Saturday afternoon at Armory Gymnasium, the Skylights faced more adversity in conference play when they lost, 60-34, to No. 6 Carroll College.

"We didn't play too great. Carroll's pressure really bothered us," MSU-N assistant coach Sierra Richards said. "Just the little things that we didn't do and then we couldn't get some shots up because of their pressure."

The Saints started the game with a pair of buckets from Jamie Pickens and Kamden Hilborn to take a 4-0 lead. The Skylights responded with a layup from Sydney Hovde and a pair of free throws from Peyton Kehr to tie the game. Christine Denny made a pair of layups to take the lead for Carroll and a bucket from Maddie Geritz extended the lead to 10-4.

L'Tia Lawrence tried to start a run for the Skylights with a 3-pointer, but the Saints kept up their play. The Saints built a 16-7 lead late in the first quarter, but a basket from Kehr cut it to 16-9 to end the quarter.

The Saints kept up the pace in the second quarter. After Hovde made a free throw to cut into the deficit, Kyle Olson made a 3-pointer to increase the Carroll lead to 10 points. Ryley Kehr made a basket to try to keep pace but Olson and Geritz made a pair of baskets to make the lead 26-12.

The Skylights and Saints exchanged scores for most of the quarter but Carroll still led, 31-19, in the final minutes. Looking to end the half on a strong note, Genesis Wilkinson made a layup and Sienna Swannack made a pair of free throws for a 35-19 lead heading into the break.

Looking to get back in the game, the Skylights started the second half on a 6-2 run. Hovde got things going down low for four points during this run. Kehr then made a layup to cut the deficit to 37-25 with just under seven minutes left in the quarter.

But the rest of the quarter belonged to the Saints. Former Havre Blue Pony Dani Wagner got a run started for the Saints with a pair of 3-pointers. After Wilkinson made a free throw, Addi Ekstrom made a 3-pointer to give Carroll a 47-25 lead to end the third. The Saints finished the game shooting 36 percent from deep while pressuring the Skylights into only shooting 25 percent from the 3-point line.

"They weren't falling but at the same time, they did rush our shots," Richards said. "I think we shot it a little too fast instead of getting our feet right and knocking them down."

Over the final quarter, the Saints kept the Skylights at bay to pull away for the victory. Hovde finished the game with nine points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field. Wagner led the Saints with 11 points as she shot 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-5 from deep.

The Saints played strong and disciplined defense throughout the night. The Skylights only made 32.6 percent of their 43 shot attempts and they went 3-for-6 from the field. On the other hand, the Saints made 36.4 percent of their 55 attempts from the field and went 11-for-16 from the free-throw line. Richards credited the Saints for being the more aggressive team which got them to the line more often than the Skylights.

"They did a good job getting straight to the rim," Richards said. "Sometimes we would fade away a little too much instead of going into the contact and finishing with contact."

The Skylights are now 0-6 in conference play and are 7-13 this season. The Skylights hope that they will get more practice time this upcoming week in order to try to get their issues corrected. For now, Richards wants the Skylights to continue on their shots and handle opponents' defense.

"We just got to keep shooting the ball right now. Our problem is getting the ball in the hoop and handling pressure." Richards said.

The Skylights will try to pick up a conference win when they face University of Providence on Thursday night at 5 p.m. at the Armory Gymnasium.

Carroll College 60, Skylights 34

CC 16 19 12 13 - 60

MSU-N 9 10 6 9 - 34

CC - Danielle Wagner 4-7 0-0 11, Addi Ekstrom 2-6 2-2 7, Genesis Wilkinson 2-7 3-4 7, Jaidyn Lyman 3-5 0-0 7, Maddie Geritz 2-5 2-2 6, Kyle Olson 2-5 0-0 6, Kamden Hilborn 1-6 2-2 5, Sienna Swannack 1-3 2-2 5, Christine Denny 1-4 0-2 2, Jamie Pickens 1-3 0-0 2, Emma Madsen 1-3 0-0 2, Rakiah Grende 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 20-55 11-16.

MSU-N - Sydney Hovde 4-4 1-2 9, Ryley Kehr 3-9 0-0 7, L'Tia Lawrence 3-8 0-0 7, Peyton Kehr 1-7 2-2 4, Shyan Krass 1-3 0-0 3, Morgan Mason 1-4 0-0 2, Dulci SkunkCap 1-3 0-2 2, ShaAnn Danelson 0-1 0-0 0, Sydney Prather 0-2 0-0 0, Savannah Toms 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 14-43 3-6.

Halftime: CC 35-19. 3-pointers CC 9-25 (Danielle Wagner 3, Kyle Olson 2, Sienna Swannack 1), MSU-N 3-12 (Ryley Kehr 1, L'Tia Lawrence 1, Shyan Krass 1). Rebounds: CC 33, (Addi Ekstrom 5), MSU-N 23 (Shyan Krass 5). Fouls: CC 14, MSU-N 16. Fouled Out: None.