Northern women roll in Washington

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights were looking for stiff challenges on their first true road trip of the season. But, with the way the Skylights are playing to start the season, it was once again tough to find those challenges.

Against a pair of Cascade Conference foes this past weekend in Kirkland, Washington, the No. 16 Skylights improved to 6-0 with two more blowout wins. Northern beat Evergreen State Friday by 36 points and Northwest University by 30 points on Saturday night, as the Skylights have now won all their games by 20 points or more.

And while both games looked easy, neither opponent was a slouch going in. MSU-N just played that well.

Friday night, the Skylights topped Evergreen State 71-35 behind 22 points from Natalee Faupel and a defensive effort that allowed the GeoDucks to score in double figures in just one quarter. Northern led 35-17 at halftime and never looked back, as Jacy Thompson added 10 points and Kaelani Sagaplou scored nine to go along with nine rebounds.

Things were just as good Saturday night as the Skylights thumped Northwest, 67-37. Once again, a stifling MSU-N defense was crucial, as the Eagles shot just 22 percent from the field. On the other end, senior Sierra Richards had a career night, scoring 18 points and grabbing 17 boards, while Faupel added 14 and Sagapolu chipped in with nine.

"I am very proud of our defensive and rebounding effort in both games, especially against a much taller Northwest team, our defensive rebounding was excellent,” MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said.  “Coming into the weekend, they were undefeated and had been scoring a lot of points, so holding them down like we did was very encouraging.  We got a lot of contributions from a lot of kids, and everyone who stepped on the floor was very dialed-in on our game plan. Our kids gave great effort.”

Northern now has a week off before finally getting that stern test its best looking for. The Skylights will go east to Jackson, Tennessee to play in an NAIA invitational only tourney where they’ll face a pair of nationally-ranked opponents from last year’s NAIA national tournament field.

Skylights 71, Evergreen State 35

Northern 15 22 18 16 – 71

Evergreen 9 8 8 10 – 35

MSU-N – Jacy Thompson 10, Katie Fetterer 2, Natalee Faupel 22, Molly Kreycik 5, Sierra Richards 6, Brandy Lambourne 5, Peyton Filius 4, Shiloh McCormick 8, Makhayla Farmer 0, Kaelani Sagapolu 9. Totals: 13-41 8-10 71.

Skylights 67, NW University 37

Northern 16 19 15 17 – 67

Northwest 10 7 8 12 – 37

MSU-N – Jacy Thompson 8, Natalee Faupel 14, Molly Kreycik 7, Kealani Sagapolu 9, Sierra Richards 18, Katie Fetterer 0, Brandy Lambourne 5, Peyton Filius 2, Shiloh McCormick 2, Makhayla Farmer 2.