Dickinson State comes back to defeat Northern women's basketball

Through the first two and a half quarters of its game on the road against Dickinson State University Tuesday night, the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team looked like it had control with a 51-35 lead early in the third quarter.

But the Blue Hawks stormed back over the next quarter and a half. After the Hawks took away the momentum and the lead, the Skylights were unable to recover as they wound up losing 76-70.

“I thought we played a really solid 25 minutes and I thought the last 15 minutes, we fell apart,” MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. “It’s a road game and you have to play well on the road to win and we didn’t do that well enough in the second half.”

As a team, the Skylights shot 42 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line. However, they struggled at the free-throw line where they went 4-for-11. Ryley Kehr led the team with 18 points as she shot 7-for-13 and 3-for-5 from deep. Briaunna McCullough and Shyan Krass each recorded 14 points in the losing effort.

The Hawks shot 37.1 percent from the field and 35 percent from the deep. Where they had the advantage over the Skylights was at the free-throw line, where they went 17-for-21. Kayden Steele led the way for the Hawks with 21 points on 8-for-21 shooting. Samantha Oase also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks.

The night started strong with buckets from Kehr and Savannah Toms to take a 4-0 lead. After the Hawks responded to take a 6-4 lead, the teams went back and forth through the rest of the first quarter. Late in the quarter, Dulci Skunkcap made a basket to give the Skylights an 18-17 lead. But at the buzzer, Tinley Pierson scored to give the Hawks a 19-18 lead.

The Skylights started the second quarter with an 8-0 lead to take a 26-19 lead. Krass got rolling as she knocked down a three as well as a jumper. After the Hawks responded with a run to cut their deficit to two points, Kehr knocked down another three for the Skylights.

The Hawks responded with a three of their own to keep pace, but the Skylights played well over the rest of the half. Kehr got the run started with another three and Toms followed that up with a bucket. After another three from Kehr, the Hawks scored to break up the run. Right before the end of the half, Krass scored to give the Skylights a 39-29 lead at the break.

“I thought we shot the ball really well. We came out really shooting the ball well from three,” Mouat said about the Skylights in the first half. “We came out and made shots. We had shots on the block, we had shots on three and we were shooting a good percentage.”

The Skylights continued to play well to start the third quarter. After the Hawks made a three to start the third, McCullough made a pair of baskets to stretch the lead to 11 points. After a pair of Dickinson free throws, Sydney Hansen, McCullough and Kehr scored to stretch the lead to 49-34.

After another Dickinson free throw and a bucket from Toms, the Skylights had a 51-35 lead with about six minutes remaining in the third quarter. But that's when Steele and Oase got rolling for the Hawks as they scored a combined seven points to cut the deficit to 51-42.

McCullough made a free throw and Krass scored in response to build a 54-42 lead. But Steele continued to roll as she went on a personal 8-0 run for the Hawks. After her teammate Sunshine Vicente made a free throw, the Hawks had cut the Skylights lead to 54-51 late in the quarter.

The Skylights tried to recapture momentum as they ended the quarter on a 4-2 run. But even with a 58-53 lead heading to the fourth, they could not hold off the Hawks. The teams exchanged scores to start the fourth as the Skylights had a 63-58 lead. The Hawks then took control with a 12-0 run.

Several different players contributed during this stretch for the Hawks, with many points coming at the free-throw line. After holding a 16-point lead earlier in the half, the Skylights now trailed, 70-63, with about four minutes remaining in the contest.

McCullough finally scored to break up the run and keep the Skylights in the game. After another Dickinson bucket, Jalen Callender made a three to cut the deficit to 72-68 with 34 seconds left. But the Hawks made their free throws down the stretch to pull out the victory.

The loss dropped the Skylights to 3-5 on the season. They will have a short break before their next game which is this Thursday at home against Briercrest College. After their loss Thursday, Mouat believes his team will be ready to play.

“Our team will be very motivated to come out and play at home and move forward,” Mouat said. “We all feel like we let one go (against Dickinson) and that’s really hard. Winning basketball games is hard and when you have the thing by the throat, you have to finish the deal so I think we’ll see a very hungry team on Thursday.”

The game against Briercrest College will also serve as the team’s field trip day. Third, fourth and fifth graders from 11 different schools around the area will attend the game to watch the Skylights play, so the Skylights will be looking to inspire some aspiring basketball players.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to show what MSU-Northern is about and what basketball is about at our school,” Mouat said. “Ultimately, it’s just a great outreach thing for us in our schools.”

The MSU-N women’s basketball team will tip off against Briercrest College Thursday at noon at Armory Gymnasium.

Dickinson 76, MSU-Northern 70

MSU-N - 18 21 19 12 - 70

DSU - 19 10 24 23 - 76

MSU-N - Ryley Kehr 7-13 1-2 18, Briaunna McCullough 6-18 2-6 14, Shyan Krass 6-10 0-0 14, Savannah Toms 4-7 0-1 8, Rachel Van Blaricom 2-4 0-0 6, Jalen Callender 2-5 0-0 5, Dulci Skunkcap 1-3 1-2 3, Sydney Hansen 1-5 0-0 2, ShaAnn Danelson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 29-69 4-11.

DSU - Kayden Steele 8-21 4-4 21, Lindsay Peterson 3-8 4-5 12, Samantha Oase 4-12 2-4 10, Heather LaBree 3-5 0-0 8, McKenzie Johnson 3-8 0-0 7, Jenna Jacobson 1-3 4-4 6, Tinley Pierson 2-6 0-0 4, Sunshine Vicente 1-3 1-2 4, Danielle Wallace 1-4 2-2 4. Totals: 26-70 17-21.

Halftime: MSU-N 39-29. 3-pointers: MSU-N 8-24 (Ryley Kehr 3, Shyan Krass 2, Rachel Van Blaricom 2), DSU 7-20 (Lindsay Peterson 2, Heather LaBree 2, Kayden Steele 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 52 (Briaunna McCullough 11), DSU 47 (Samantha Oase 11). Fouls: MSU-N 16, DSU 11. Fouled Out: Briaunna McCullough.