Strong Finish: Skylights sweep at home

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights had already beaten the UM-Western Bulldogs twice in Frontier Conference play. But, they needed to do it one more time.

Even with the two wins in hand over the resurgent Bulldogs, the Skylights needed to beat Western Friday night in order to secure a second-place finish in the Frontier.

And beat them they did. Thanks to a herculean effort from Natalee Faupel, the No. 15 Skylights completed the trifecta over No. 20 Western with a 57-53 win inside a raucous Armory Gymnasium.

“To beat this Western team three times, that’s so incredibly difficult,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. “They’re a great team. But our kids had a goal at the beginning of the season, to get that first-round bye and host the semifinals. They really felt like they let that slip away last season. So to see them accomplish that tonight, especially having to beat a great Western team a third time to do it, it’s special.”

Special included Faupel, who wasn’t afraid to put Northern on her shoulders when she had too. First, she answered an Aneise Palmore shot that had tied the game at 51-51 with 2:20 to play with a bucket of her own. And while Northern added two Cydney Auzenne free throws to go ahead 55-51, Faupel’s heroics were still needed. Western pulled to within two on a Taylor Howlett basket, and the Skylights had to launch a Molly Kreycik 3-pointer as the shot clock expired on the other end. The shot missed and could have given Western a chance to tie or win the game with :15 left.

Faupel though, had other ideas. She grabbed her eighth rebound of the night, an offensive board that would send her to the free-throw-line with :07, where she calmly sank both to lock up the huge win for Northern.

“We joke all the time that our comfort zone is being in close games,” Faupel said. “So we knew we just had to stay composed down the stretch. They’re a great team, and they were fighting for a lot tonight just like we were. So we knew it was going to be tough. But we have a belief in ourselves that we’re going to get that big stop and then get a score. We just stay composed and that’s what we did tonight.”

The Skylights had to scrap and claw for everything once again, because, in a battle of the No. 4- and No. 6-ranked defenses in the NAIA, everything was a fight.

“It was a slugfest,” Mouat said. “It was two really good teams going at it. I thought we did a great job defensively. Aneise Palmore and Kaye Bignell are such phenomenal players, but I thought, Jacy Thompson’s defense was incredible tonight, and we got big stops when we needed them. That speaks to how hard our team plays.”

Northern fought off a sluggish start to lead 18-12 at the end of the first quarter as Kreycik buried a clutch triple. But Kaye Bignell caught fire for the Dawgs, scoring 14 first-half points, and, when Britt Cooper scored the last three of the first half, Northern’s once-12-point lead was down to 27-24 at the break.

Things got even more interesting from there. Cooper knocked in a shot to start the third quarter, and Western went on an 8-2 run, leading 32-29. However, buckets from Jacy Thompson, Sierra Richards and Kreycik helped the Skylights fight right back and actually lead 42-38 with 10 minutes left.

Western was never going to go away, though, and Palmore started to heat up. She hit a three early in the fourth and eventually scored nine points in a four-minute span. Her last bucket tied the game at 51-51. But Faupel was answering every time. She scored 12 points in the final 10 minutes, including the go-ahead bucket with 1:55 left, which set up the dramatic finish.

The Northern All-American was sensational all night, too, scoring a game-high 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. She also grabbed eight boards, had three steals and dished out a couple of assists. Richards was clutch in the second half too, scoring 11 points, while Thompson added nine.

“Natalee really carried us at times tonight,” Mouat said. “She hit big shots when we needed them the most. But she also goes out and gets a huge o-board, she’s guarding their tallest player all night, she got a couple huge steals, it’s just incredible the way she does it all, and she did it all for us tonight.”

As expected, Northern was great defensively, too. The Skylights held Western to 22 percent shooting from three, forced eight second-half turnovers and out-rebounded the Dawgs 32-20. And while Palmore had a big second half, finishing with 17 points, Northern also held Bignell scoreless for the final 20 minutes.

“This was a big win, we really wanted this one,” Faupel said. “We knew that it would be a really tough game, but we just have so much belief in ourselves and each other, and that helps us finish these close games like we did tonight.”

Big Finish

Speaking of close games, the MSU-Northern women didn’t need to beat the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears in the Frontier Conference regular season finale Saturday night. But, on senior night, Northern wanted to beat the Bears.

So they did.

In another tight battle, Northern sent its seniors out in style with a 53-49 win over the Bears, a team that had beaten the Skylights twice this season. Behind 28 points and eight rebounds from Natalee Faupel, the Skylights scratched out yet another hard win, improving to 12-6 in the Frontier and securing a solo second-place finish.

“We were focused tonight,” MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. “That is how much respect we have for Rocky. They beat us twice. Wes (Keller) does such a great job with that program. But, yes, our girls wanted to win tonight. They wanted to win on senior night. They wanted to get that 22nd win. They are always ready to compete and always excited to play, and they were tonight.”

Rocky is good, and the Bears have been especially tough against the Skylights, but it didn’t start out that way. Northern may have been tired after its hard-fought win over Western just 24 hours earlier, but Faupel came out on fire, and the Skylights ripped off a 16-4 run to start the game.

Rocky, though, was never going away, and the Bears went on an 8-0 run, and, despite a huge half from Faupel and a key three by fellow senior Molly Kreycik, Northern led just 30-24 at the break.

From there, it was nothing short of another battle.

Faupel hit a three to start the third, but Rocky answered with a 7-0 run, and, with just 10 minutes left, the Skylights lead was just 42-40. Things stayed close, and several times in the fourth, Rocky had the game down to one possession. But the Skylights weren’t about to buckle on senior night. Senior Cydney Auzenne banged in a three, Kreycik hit a key shot, and Auzenne made a big free throw and also grabbed a key board to keep the Bears at bay.

And, fittingly, Faupel made four free throws in the final :30 to seal the exciting win.

“Credit Rocky, they just wouldn’t go away,” Mouat said. “They made a great run at us, and it was just a real dogfight down the stretch. And we’re glad we made enough plays to hold on.”

Faupel was again incredible. Just one night after scoring 25 points, she hit four three’s and went 9-of-15 from the field, as well as a perfect mark from the foul line. Kreycik added seven, senior Sierra Richards had six and 11 boards, and Auzenne hit the big three and foul shot to help Northern win on the night when the foursome of seniors were honored for their incredible run as Skylights.

“Tonight was special,” Mouat said. “Senior night, and this group has done so much in their great careers here. So, for them to come out and get that one last win in the regular season, it was special to watch them do that.”

Now, Northern will look to the postseason, which, will begin Friday night in the Armory Gymnasium. MSU-N (22-7) will host a Frontier semifinal game, against the highest remaining seeded team left from Tuesday’s quarterfinal. With a win, the Skylights would advance to their second conference title game in four years. That game would be played either at Lewis-Clark State or in Havre next Monday.

Skylights are 12-6, 2nd in Frontier, 22-7 overall; Next Up: Frontier Semifinal Friday

Skylights 57, Western 53

Western 12 12 14 15 – 53

Northern 18 9 15 15 – 57

UM-W - Jill Jacobs 0-1 0-0 0, Aniese Palmore 6-11 3-4 17, Sierra Bignell 1-1 0-0 2, Taylor Howlett 3-6 1-1 7, Britt Cooper 3-6 3-4 9, Cierra Lamey 2-3 0-0 4, Alexa Welch 0-1 0-0 0, Kaye Bignell 5-12 4-5 14, Darby Schye 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-41 11-14 53.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 4-9 1-2 9, Katie Fertterer 0-1 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 11-16 2-2 25, Peyton Filius 0-2 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 2-8 0-2 5, Shiloh McCormick 1-2 0-0 2, Cydney Auzenne 1-5 3-4 5, Sierra Richards 4-7 3-5 11. Totals 23-50 9-15 57.

3-pt FG:Montana Western 2-8 (Jacobs 0-1, Palmore 2-6, Howlett 0-1), Montana State University- 2-18 (Thompson 0-2, Fertterer 0-1, Faupel 1-2, Filius 0-2, Kreycik 1-6, McCormick 0-1, Auzenne 0-4). Rebounds: Montana Western 20 (Cooper 6), Montana State University- 32 (Faupel 8, Richards 8). Fouls Montana Western 16, Montana State University- 9. Fouled out: none.

Skylights 53, Rocky Mountain 49

Rocky Mountain 6 18 16 9 – 49

Northern 16 14 12 11 – 53

RMC - Jayde LeFevre 3-7 2-2 8, Justyn Juhl 0-8 0-0 0, Hailee Farstveet 6-14 2-6 14, Markaela Francis 6-14 1-2 14, Ronnie Harris 1-1 0-0 2, Madeline Jacquart 1-4 1-1 3, Eboney Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Keisha Engelhardt 2-8 1-2 5, Addy Martin 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 20-59 7-13 49.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 0-8 2-2 2, Katie Fertterer 2-6 2-4 6, Brandy Lambourne 0-0 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 9-15 6-7 28, Peyton Filius 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 3-9 0-0 7, Shiloh McCormick 0-0 0-0 0, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Cydney Auzenne 1-9 1-2 4, Sierra Richards 3-7 0-2 6. Totals 18-54 11-17 53.

3-pt FG:Rocky Mountain College 2-12 (LeFevre 0-1, Juhl 0-4, Farstveet 0-3, Francis 1-2, Engelhardt 0-1, Martin 1-1), Montana State University- 6-23 (Thompson 0-4, Fertterer 0-2, Faupel 4-6, Kreycik 1-6, Auzenne 1-5). Rebounds: Rocky Mountain College 32 (Jacquart 7, Engelhardt 7), Montana State University- 39 (Richards 11). Fouls Rocky Mountain College 16, Montana State University- 10. Fouled out: none.