Skylights bury Orediggers on senior day

Time and time again this season, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights were on the verge of a much-needed win. But, before Saturday, the young Skylights had been unable to close the deal.

That all changed on the final game of the regular season, however.

On senior day in the Armory Gymnasium, Northern won its final Frontier Conference game of 2023, as the Skylights beat the Montana Tech Orediggers.

“Just really happy for our kids,” MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. “Tonight shows the character of our team. They’ve had a tough season. Our conference is the number one league in the country and we’ve went through a lot tough times. But they came to work every Monday, ready to get better, to improve., They kept fighting. Lesser teams would have folded a long time ago, but not these kids. I’m just very proud of them.”

The win was therapeutic for the Skylights, 1-14 in the Frontier, who have been so close, so many times this season. But it didn’t come easy as the Orediggers raced out to a 9-0 lead. MSU-N didn’t fold, though. Instead, the Skylights did what they always do — fight.

Ryley Kehr hit a 3-pointer and scored in the paint to narrow the early gap, and Jalen Callender added a triple to help MSU-N only trail 17-16 after the first quarter.

Briaunna McCullough hit two shots to give Northern its first lead early in the second stanza, before the Skylights and Diggers traded the lead several times. But, MSU-N took the lead back when Shyan Krass hit a trey to send her team into halftime up 28-27.

From there, things got even better for Northern. Savanna Toms opened the second half with a bucket, and Kehr hit another trey, which ultimately led Northern on a 10-3 run and a 48-43 lead with 10 minutes to go.

The Skylights weren’t done either. Krass scored inside to spark another 9-0 run, and MSU-N led 55-43 with seven to play. Under former Light and Chester native Jeff Graham, Tech had one more run in them, as the Diggers rattled off a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 55-53 with 3:39 to play, but the Skylights weren’t going to be denied.

McCullough stopped the run with a shot in the paint and two big free throws to put the Skylights back up six, and they clinched their first conference win of the season at the free-throw-line.

“Credit to our kids for responding when we were down 9-0,” Mouat said. “Tech is a really good team, and they jumped us early. But we made shots tonight, we made our free throws, we got rebounds and we got stops. When you do all those things, life is a lot better.”

The win was sparked by a good shooting performance from the Skylights that led them to outscore the Diggers 38-30 in the second half. Kehr hit four threes and scored a season-high 26 points, while McCullough had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, as Northern won on the boards as well. Krass added 11 points off the bench, while the Northern defense held Tech to just 4-for-20 from three and forced the Diggers into 16 turnovers.

“Ryley Kehr had an incredible game,” Mouat said. “She really did a lot for us tonight. Overall, I thought our kids just played really well.

“This was a big win for us,” Mouat continued. “We’re a young team, that’s went through a lot this year. But the goal has always been to just keep getting better and to be playing our best at the end of the season, and these kids stuck to that goal. They came to work every Monday. I’m just extremely proud of them.”

The Skylights (8-20) will now head to Great Falls for the Frontier Conference Tournament, which runs Sunday through Tuesday at the Four Seasons Arena.

Skylights 66, Montana Tech 57

Montana Tech 17 10 16 14 - 57

MSU-Northern 16 12 20 18 - 66

MT - Madison Allen 4, Dani Urick 21, Tavia Rooney 13, Aubrie Radamacher 12, Soda Rice 5, Challis Westywarter 2. Totals: 21-58 11-13.

MSU-N - Jalen Callender 5, Rachel Van Blaricom 6, Ryley Kehr 26, Savannah Toms 2, Brianna McCullough 14, Sydney Hansen 2, Shyan Krass 11. Totals: 20-48 20-25.

3-pointers: MT 4-20 (Urick 4), MSU-N 6-18 (Callender 1, Kehr 4, Krass 1); Rebounds: MT (Westwater 7), MSU-N 30 (McCullough 10); Fouls: MT 18, MSU-N 11; Fouled out: Rice.