Skylights season ends against Fighting Saints

Sometimes a team is just too good. That's been the case when it comes to the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team and Carroll College.

In the fourth meeting between the Skylights and Saints this season, Carroll cruised to a 73-39 win over Northern in the Frontier Conference quarterfinals Wednesday night in Helena.

It was a tough ending to a tough season for the Skylights.

"This team has battled adversity for two straight years and they never quit coming to work and getting better," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "I thought we went into the game with a good plan at both ends. We just got off to a terrible start. We had an awful night from the field, the three, and the free throw line.

And tough is exactly what the Fighting Saints were, too.

Carroll came out on fire, scoring 25 points in the first quarter, and on the other end, holding Northern to just five. The Skylights picked up the pace in the second, but it was too late, as the Saints rolled to a 48-20 halftime lead behind a scorching 57 percent shooting performance. Northern never gave in in the second half, but it wasn't to be as the Skylights were held to just 32 percent shooting, and just 3-for-19 from the 3-point-line. The Saints also won on the boards, while forcing Northern into 20 turnovers. Offensively, Jamie Pickens led the Saints with 18 points, while former Blue Pony Dani Wagner chipped in with 10.

On the other end, Peyton Kehr had a strong game in her final outing as a Skylight. She scored 16 points, while Savvannah Toms added eight points off the bench.

"We had an awful start to the night and Carroll was really good," Mouat said. "They got a big lead and we never recovered. It was a very disappointing performance across the board. We got killed by the main things we were emphasizing, defensive transition and rebounding. They pressured us into turnovers for 25 points. Credit Carroll because they are a great team, but we played nowhere near to what we can."

The loss meant the season came to an end for Northern, while Carroll advanced to the Frontier semifinals, where it will face the University of Providence in Great Falls Saturday night. The other semifinal will pit Montana Western at top-seeded Rocky Mountain College.

Carroll College 73, Skylights 39

MSU-Northern 5 15 13 6 - 73

Carroll 25 23 16 9 - 39

MSU-N - L'Tia Lawrence 2-13 0-0 5, Ryley Kehr 0-7 1-2 1, Peyton Kehr 6-11 3-6 16, Morgan Mason 0-4 0-0 0, Sydney Hovde 2-5 0-0 4, Sydney Prather 2-3 0-0 5, Shyan Krass 0-0 0-0 0, ShaAnn Danelson 0-0 0-0 0, Savannah Toms 4-7 0-0 8. Totals: 16-50 4-8.

CC - Dani Wagner 4-8 0-0 10, Christine Denny 6-8 0-1 13, Kamden Hilborn 1-3 1-2 3, Sienna Swannack 4-9 0-0 11, Jamie Pickens 9-10 0-0 18, Genesis Wilkinson 3-5 1-2 8, Jaidyn Lyman 2-8 0-0 4, Addi Ekstom 1-2 0-0 2, Kyle Olson 1-9 0-0 2, Emma Madsen 0-1 2-2 2. Totals: 31-65 4-7.

3-pointers: MSU-N 3-19 (Lawrence 1, Kehr 1, Prather 1), CC 7-23 (Wagner 2, Denny 1, Sweannack 3, Wilkinson 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 28 (Hovde 7), CC 35 (Pickens 9); Fouls: MSU-N 9, CC 10. Foule tout: None.