Skylights beat Blue Hawks in home opener

Making the long-awaited home debut, the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team beat an old rival, and a future Frontier Conference foe.

The Skylights beat Dickinson State University in their home opener 76-58 Monday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

It wasn’t easy as Northern trailed 40-30 at halftime. From there though, head coach Chris Mouat’s team absolutely dominated the Blue Hawks.

The Skylights went on a 23-9 run in the next eight minutes and ended up holding the Blue Hawks to just 18 points in the second half.

The Skylights were led by Taya Trottier, who had 17 points, and seven assists. Canzas HisBadHorse went 7-13 from the field with 15 points. Katelynn Forner added 10 points and Maddie Williamson had four steals. The Blue Hawks were led by Kayden Steele with 20 points going 9-12 from the field. Samantha Oase added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Katherine Fox added 11 points.

The victory pushed Northern’s early season record to 2-2 ahead of this Friday’s game against Embry-Riddle in Great Falls.

The doubleheader in the Armory Monday night ended with a tough loss for the Montana State University-Northern men’s team.

The Lights fell to the Blue Hawks, who will join the Frontier next season, 79-69. The Lights led by two at halftime, but, the Blue Hawks exploded for 51 points in the second half.

Cinque Maxwell and Leon Sayers IV each scored 15 points for the Lights while Raefe McEnroe added 14 points off the bench as the Lights fell to 1-4 on the year.

The Lights will be off until Nov. 28 when they travel to Valley City State before a rematch with the Blue Hawks Nov. 30 in Dickinson.