Skylights breeze past Cougars

If the Montana State University-Northern Skylights were needing a competitive push — they got it in the form of the Mount Royal Cougars. For a half anyway.

On Friday night at the Armory Gymnasium, the Cougars, a member of the CIS, the highest division of college basketball in Canada, gave the Skylights all they could handle for 20 minutes. But, in the end, it mattered little as Northern used a monstrous third quarter to cruise to an 82-52 win, its third straight to open the season.

“It was great,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said of the tough first half, in which the Skylights led just 34-33 at intermission. “It was good for our team to be pushed like that. I knew from watching them (Cougars) on film, we would be in for a battle. They’re a good team, they have played a really tough schedule. Tons of credit to them. They were ready tonight, they played great, and they had us on our heels.”

The Cougars may have had the Skylights on their heels following a back-and-forth first half in which a Jacy Thompson 3-pointer and two free throws by Natalee Faupel gave the Skylights a 16-15 lead after 10 minutes. And in the second quarter, it was more of the same as the Cougars knocked in shots and forced the Skylights’ defense into some tough situations in what would eventually be a one-point Northern lead at the break.

When the third quarter started, though, the Skylights were anything but on their heels. MSU-N rode a 14-1 run to not only wrestle the lead away from the Cougars, but also bust the game wide open. The run include a wealth of offense from Faupel, as well as big plays by reserves Peyton Filius, Brandy Lambourne and Katie Fetterer. A running layup by Lambourne capped the run, and the Skylights ended up out-scoring the Cougars 32-16 in the frame.

And while the offense was dazzling, it was MSU-N’s crackdown on defense in the second half that impressed Mouat the most. The Skylights would go on to hold the Cougars to just three points in the fourth period, and for the second half, the Cougars shot just 37 percent and 21 percent from the 3-point-line.

“We made some adjustments on defense at halftime, because they (Cougars) were really taking it to us. They were doing some really good things, and things we were doing just weren’t working. So our kids did an excellent job of executing those adjustments. I thought we also rebounded the ball much better. And I think our depth really showed. Not only did we get a nice lead in the third quarter, but that lead grew with all of our kids that came off the bench. They did a great job for us right there.

“Another big thing was, we just played a lot harder,” Mouat added. “We really got after it much better, with the loose balls and on the boards. Our intensity was just much better. I’m really proud of that third quarter. The kids showed me a lot in that stretch.”

Faupel also showed her coach, fans and in particular, the Cougars a lot. The junior standout was nearly unstoppable, and as close to perfect as it gets in basketball. She finished the game with 31 points, four assists and five rebounds, while going an impressive 9-of-11 from the field, 1-of-1 from three and 12-of-12 from the foul line.

She had help, too. Jessica Anderson, pressed into a starting role with a couple of her teammates out with injuries, scored 12 points, while Thompson kicked in 10. Northern’s young bench added 22 more as Filius hit two triples and scored eight, while Lambourne and Fetterer each scored seven. Lambourne also finished with a game-high six assists.

And the end result of all of that was Northern improving to 4-0 on the young season. But what mattered most to Mouat was just how his team stayed perfect on the year. For the first time this fall, the Skylights had to overcome some adversity, and a big challenge for a solid team.

“To go in at half in a one-point game, that was really good for us,” Mouat said. “We had to adjust and respond tonight, and I thought the kids did that really well. It was good play a very good team and good to come out with a win.”

The Skylights will now be off again until a Nov. 7 showdown with rival Dickinson State in Havre. That game will be MSU-N’s last at home until Dec. 14.

Skylights 82, Mount Royal 52

Mount Royal 15 18 16 3 - 52

MSU-Northern 16 18 32 16 – 82

MRU – Yasmine Saghir 4-9 1-2 9, Melissa Moore 6-11 0-0 13, Drew Knox 1-5 0-0 2, Angela Driscoll 1-6 3-4 5, Michelle Tiffany 2-5 0-0 5, Katie Waring 1-6 1-1 3, Abby Gibb 1-2 0-0 3, Beck Nash 2-5 1-2 5, Cassidy Taal 0-1 2-2 2, Brooke Lister 2-5 0-0 5. Totals: 20-54 8-11 52.

MSU-N – Jessica Anderson 5-7 2-4 12, Jacy Thompson 3-11 3-7 10, Natalee Faupel 9-11 12-12 31, Molly Kreycik 1-3 0-0 3, Katie Fetterer 3-4 0-0 7, Brandy Lambourne 2-3 3-5 7, Peyton Filius 3-9 0-0 8, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Sierra Richards 1-3 2-2 4. Totals: 27-51 22-30 82.

3-pointers: MRU 4-19 (Moore 1, Tiffany 1, Gibb 1, Lister 1), MSU-N 6-19 (Thompson 1, Faupel 1, Kreycik 1, Fetterer 1, Filius 2). Rebounds: MRU 23 (Lister 5), MSU-N 31 (Kreycik 6). Fouls: MRU 24, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: Moore.