Western women cage Skylights in MSU-N home finale

They got off to the start they wanted. But, they just couldn't hold it.

Saturday afternoon in the Armory Gymnasium, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights dropped their home finale to the Montana Western Bulldogs, 75-62. It was a tough, senior day loss for Northern, which got off to a great start, leading 22-13 after the first quarter.

"We got off to a great start at both ends of the floor," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said.

"I thought we did a good job on the boards, defended well, and executed really well. Unfortunately, turnovers for points were again tough to overcome. The third quarter was the game because we got outscored 26-12 and they gained all of the momentum. Western got hot from the three in the second half and Brynley Fitzgerald was really tough tonight. They made big shots in the second half and we didn't answer on the other end too many times."

The Bulldogs cut the lead to six points going into halftime, 38-32. Montana Western came ready to play in the third quarter where they took the lead for the first time of the game. They kept the lead going into the fourth quarter 58-50. The Skylights couldn't catch up in the fourth.

Western, which shot 55 percent from the field, 47 percent from the 3-point line, and 76 percent from the free throw, rode an incredible performance by Fitzgerald, who scored 35 points and grabbed nine rebounds on the night, as the Dawgs swept the season series with the Skylights.

On the other side, the Skylights shot 47 percent and made 11 three's, but, they cooled off some in the second half. The Skylights were led by L'Tia Lawrence, who had 24 points going 9-17 from the field. Peyton Kehr had 13 points and five rebounds. Sydney Hodve added eight point and grabbed 10 rebounds.

"I thought we shared the ball well and won on the boards, but our inability to hit shots in the second half hurt us," Mouat said. "We simply have to put a complete game together. We played a solid first half but still gave them a big run because we turned the ball over too much. We made strides in a lot of areas against a good team tonight, but need to put four complete quarters together to win in this league.

"We shot it better from the three and made some big ones," he continued. "I was also proud of the fact that we got 10 offensive rebounds. We just didn't have an answer for their runs at times."

Northern (1-13, 8-20) will wrap up Frontier Conference play this Thursday when the Skylights travel to Montana Tech.

"We will go back to work and get ready for a good Montana Tech team," Mouat said. "Our goal has been to play our best basketball in the conference tournament and we have to keep pushing toward that goal, because we'll be playing one of the best teams in the country in the first round. For now, we will put all of our focus into next Thursday and get ready to go."

Western 75, Skylights 62

Montana Western 13 19 26 17 - 75

MSU-Northern 22 16 12 12 - 62

MW - Brynley Fitzgerald 12-18 6-6 35, Shainy Mack 3-4 1-2 9, Lilly Gopher 3-7 1-1 7, Sydney Sheridan 4-9 1-2 10, Mesa King 1-3 1-2 3, Natali Deming 1-2 0-0 2, Joelnell Momberg 2-4 3-4 9. Totals: 26-47 13-17.

MSU-N - L'Tia Lawrence 9-17 0-0 24, Ryley Kehr 2-8 0-00 4, Peyton Kehr 4-11 1-2 13, Morgan Mason 1-2 0-1 2, Sydney Hovde 4-5 0-1 8, ShaAnn Danelson 0-1 0-0 0, Danielle Tyler 1-5 00-0 3, Savanna Toms 2-5 0-0 4, Sydney Prather 0-1 0-0 0, Syan Krass 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 25-57 1-4.

3-pointers: MW 10-21 (Fitzgerald 5, Mack 2, Sherdian 1, Momberg 2), MSU-N 11-29 (Lawrence 6, P. Kehr 4, Mason 1), Rebounds: MW 25 (Fitzgerald 9), MSU-N 29 (Hovde 10), Fouls MW 13, MSU-N 16. Fouled out: None.