Skylights unable to keep pace with Bears

On Saturday afternoon at the Armory Gymnasium, the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team was looking to win its first Frontier Conference game this season. However, the Skylights had to face Rocky Mountain College, one of the top teams in the conference.

Early on, it looked like the Skylights might compete against the Bears as they led, 25-16, halfway through the second quarter. But the Bears went on a run to end the first half and they used that momentum to pull away in the second half for a 57-43 win.

"Our kids showed some guts, no doubt about it," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "I know we can play better for 40 minutes, but we still cannot put that 40-minute effort together. I thought it was about a 20-25-minute effort tonight when we're playing consistently good and that's got to be the goal against great teams."

Looking for their first conference win this season, the Skylights started the game strong. L'Tia Lawrence got things going with a 3-pointer for the MSU-N lead. After Kloie Thatcher responded with a three to tie the game, the Skylights went on an 8-0 run to take an 11-3 lead halfway through the opening quarter. Morgan Mason made an impact with four points during the run.

"We came out of the gate ready to go. Kids had great energy and I thought we were pretty locked in on defense," Mouat said.

N'Dea Flye made a 3-pointer and a free throw to cut into the lead, but Peyton Kehr responded with a pair of free throws and a corner three to extend the MSU-N lead to 16-7. A free throw from Flye and a 3-pointer from Thatcher cut the Skylights' lead to 16-11 to end the first quarter.

Mason started the second quarter strong with a pair of baskets to stretch the lead to 20-11. The rest of the Skylights continued to play well as they built a 25-16 lead halfway through the quarter. While the Skylights got some timely buckets, it was their defense that led to early success.

"I thought we forced them into some things early and got some turnovers," Mouat said. "I thought they were pretty locked in and I thought they played some good team defense."

But over the final minutes of the half, the Bears finally got on a roll with an 11-0 run. Thatcher got the run started with a layup and then Flye made a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 25-21. Shauna Bribiescas then made a pair of 3-pointers over the final two minutes to give the Bears a 27-25 lead heading into halftime.

The Skylights retook the lead with a 3-pointer from Lawrence to start the third, but they could not regain momentum. Thatcher and Mackenzie Dethman made a pair of baskets to give the Bears a 31-28 lead. Kehr then made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one point. Later in the quarter, the Skylights had possession and a chance to retake the lead. But Mouat was called for a technical foul and Thatcher nailed both free throws to extend the lead.

"It was a poor choice on my part given the fact that we were in a tight game and we had the basketball," Mouat said. "I just think I personally killed some momentum for us at that moment and I'm not very happy about it."

Over the rest of the quarter, the Bears slowly pulled away with a 12-4 run. Thatcher continued to make plays for the Bears as she scored six straight points during this run. Kehr tried to answer with a layup to cut the deficit to 45-36, but Thatcher ended the quarter with a 3-pointer to give the Bears a 48-36 lead heading to the fourth.

The Bears limited the Skylights to only seven points in the final quarter to pull out the win. Thatcher finished the game with 27 points as she shot 10-for-20 from the field and 4-for-11 from deep. Kehr led the Skylights with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line. As a team, the Skylights shot 26.4 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from deep.

The Skylights are left still searching for their first win in the Frontier Conference as they are 0-8 in conference play and are 7-15 overall. While they failed to pick up the win, Mouat believes they showed they can compete against the best teams in the conference. But if they want to continue doing that, they will need to put together a complete performance next time out.

"You got to win on the boards, you got to score and you got to take care of the ball. We did take care of the ball much better but we didn't score and we didn't win on the boards. If you can do those three things, you have a chance to win every night," Mouat said. "I think we're showing as time goes on here that we can be competitive with even nationally ranked teams. We can do that but we've got to do that for 40 minutes."

The Skylights will next play when they head on the road to play Montana Western this Thursday at 5 p.m.

RMC 57, MSU-N 43

RMC - 11 16 21 9 - 57

MSU-N - 16 9 11 7 - 43

RMC - Kloie Thatcher 10-20 3-4 27, N'Dea Flye 4-11 2-6 12, Shauna Bribiescas 4-13 0-0 10, Mackenzie Dethman 1-6 1-2 3, A Baca-Martinez 1-3 0-0 3, Dominique Stephens 0-4 2-2 2, Gracee Lekvold 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 20-60 8-14.

MSU-N - Peyton Kehr 4-9 4-4 13, L'Tia Lawrence 4-17 1-2 12, Morgan Mason 3-5 4-4 10, Sydney Hovde 2-5 1-2 5, Danielle Tyler 1-6 1-2 3, Ryley Kehr 0-9 0-0 0, Shyan Krass 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 14-53 11-14.

Halftime: RMC 27-25; RMC 3-pointers 9-29 (Kloie Thatcher 4, N'Dea Flye 2, Shauna Bribiescas 2), MSU-N 4-13 (L'Tia Lawrence 3, Peyton Kehr 1). Rebounds: RMC 36, (Shauna Bribiescas 10), MSU-N 32, (Sydney Hovde 13). Fouls: RMC 14, MSU-N 15. Fouled Out: N'Dea Flye.