Skylights collar Bulldogs

With how tough the Frontier Conference is, it’s been tough for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights to string a winning streak together this season. But, they’re on one now.

Thursday night in Dillon, the No. 17 Skylights captured their third straight road win in league play after out-lasting the UM-Western Bulldogs 61-51. The victory pushed Northern to 8-5 in league play and a stellar 19-5 overall. Perhaps more importantly, the Skylights are also now 3-2 on their current six-game road stretch, and have just one game away from home remaining this season.

The winning streak Northern is on right now hasn’t been easy either, and things weren’t easy in Dillon Thursday night. Western played tough even without star forward Molly Klinker, and the Skylights managed to only scratch out a 16-15 edge after the first period.

However, Northern used a staunch defensive effort in the second quarter, as the Bulldogs managed just one field goal, and the Skylight went into halftime with a 30-21 edge.

“We had a nice little push there right before halftime that allowed us to take a lead,” said MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. “And then we played really well in the third quarter, and we just kind of never let it go.”

Indeed. MSU-N picked up the scoring pace in the second half, as the Skylights shot 50 percent from the floor and made five 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Western too shot the ball much better in the second stanza, but a star effort from Natalee Faupel, and timely shooting throughout the second half helped the Skylights stay in front.

“Western played very well,” Mouat said. “But I thought our execution was really good in the second half, and Natalee just really had a great game. We also got great contributions from our bench and we rebounded the ball well.”

Faupel, the reigning Frontier Player of the Week, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but she got a great lift from Cydney Auzenne, who scored 17 points and drilled two triples, as well as Jacy Thompson, who hit three long-range bombs and scored 16 points. Brandy Lambourne and Peyton Filius also came off the bench to hit key 3-pointers, while the Skylights got work done on the inside, beating Western 37-28 on the boards.

The win gave Northern a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs this season, and kept MSU-N in a third-place tie with UGF in the Frontier standings, heading into Saturday night’s critical road game at Rocky Mountain College. The Skylights and Battlin’ Bears have split their first two meetings this season, and Saturday’s game will be a big one, especially considering Northern plays its last four regular season games at home.

“I’m proud of the kids, they gave a great effort tonight,” Mouat said. “Now we’ll just get rest and get ready for a very tough game at Rocky Saturday night.”

Swept by the Dawgs

Sometimes an opponent just has your number. And that’s the case right now with the Montana State University-Northern Lights when it comes to the UM-Western Bulldogs.

On Thursday night in Dillon, the Bulldogs turned away the Lights 76-62, giving Western three straight wins over Northern this season. The loss also dropped Northern to 4-9 in the Frontier Conference heading into its final road game of the regular season on Saturday night.

And while the Lights lost by double-digits in Dillon for the second time this season, the first 20 minutes weren’t that way at all as Trevail Lee and Tyler Chandler were red-hot from the outside, while Western got big shots from Demetrius Balark and Shyke Smalls in what was a torrid first half, which Western led 38-34 at intermission.

However, as has happened to the Lights too many times this season, the second half was another story. The Bulldogs shot a scorching 61 percent from the field, as Balark, Smalls and Dexter Williams Jr., couldn’t miss. And even though the Lights canned six more 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes, it just wasn’t enough to stop the Dawgs from pulling away.

"We played a very good first half once again tonight,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “Good steals by Western and bad turnovers by us did us in unfortunately, particularly in the second half. We need to correct the turnovers immediately. Each game is of huge importance from here on out ... there's no time to hang our heads."

For the third time this season, Balark hit the 20-point plateau against the Lights as he dropped 22 Thursday night. Williams Jr. added 17 points and Smalls chipped in with 15, while the Lights got 15 points on five threes from Lee, as well as 12 points from K.J. Rech and 11 by Chandler, who also knocked down three treys.

Now, the Lights (15-10) must quickly regroup as they head to Rocky Mountain College Saturday night for their final road game of the regular season. Northern won at Rocky in overtime back in December but fell in overtime to the Bears last month in Havre.

Skylights 61, Western 51

Northern 16 14 21 20 - 71

UM-Western 15 6 19 21 – 61

MSU-N - Cydney Auzenne 5-13 5-5 17, Molly Kreycik 2-6 2-2 7, Natalee Faupel 8-13 4-4 20, Makhayla Farmer 1-2 0-0 2, Peyton Filius 1-3 0-0 3, Brandy Lambourne 1-2 0-0 3, Jacy Thompson 5-9 3-6 16, Katie Fertterer 0-0 0-0 0, Sierra Richards 1-4 1-2 3, Tina Doughty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 15-19 71.

3-pointers: MSU-N 8-23 (Auzenne 2-5, Kreycik 1-5, Faupel 0-2, Filius 1-3, Lambourne 1-2, Thompson 3-6), UM-W 2-13 (Higheagle 1-4, Baker 0-2, Palmore 1-4, Hasquet 0-1, Bignell 0-2). Rebounds: MSU-N 37 (Faupel 10), UM-W 28 (Cooper 5). Fouls: MSU-N 12, UM-W 18. Fouled out: Schye.

Western 76, Lights 62

MSU-N - Trevail Lee 5-13 0-0 15, KJ Rech 6-10 0-0 12, Kevin Oberweiser 1-2 2-3 5, Nikola Ivanovic 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Tatarka 1-1 0-0 3, Warren Edmondson 2-7 0-0 6, Ryan Reeves 0-0 0-0 0, William Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 3-9 2-2 11, Justin Dunsmore 1-2 0-0 2, David Straughter 1-4 0-2 2, Badhasa Margarsa 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 23-52 4-7 62.

Halftime: Western 38-34. 3-pointers: MSU-N 12-30 (Lee 5-9, Rech 0-2, Oberweiser 1-2, Tatarka 1-1, Edmondson 2-7, Chandler 3-8, Margarsa 0-1), UM-W 3-9 (Smalls 0-2, Balark 1-1, Woodill 1-3, McCarty 1-3). Rebounds: MSU-N 28 (Straughter 7), UM-W 29 (Williams Jr. 9). Fouls: MSU-N 19, UM-W11. Fouled out: none.