by Ryan Divish
Montana State University-Northern women's basketball coach Mike Erickson called this past weekend's four-day road trip to North Dakota a trip his team would remember in March.
Unfortunately, the memories will be bad ones.
Northern dropped three games in four days to fall to 5-4 overall on the season.
The trip started out tough from the beginning as Northern fell to Jamestown 77-68 on Friday night at the Minot State Invitational tournament.
Jamestown jumped out to a 41-22 first half lead and never looked back. Brietta Bowerman scored 26 points, including three three-pointers to lead the Jimmes to the win.
Northern fell despite rallying in the second half. Jaci Heny led Northern with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jessi Reome added 15 points, including three three-pointers.
On Saturday, Northern's woes continued with a 72-57 loss to the host Minot State Beavers.
Minot took a 33-21 lead at halftime en route to the win. The Beavers overcame 10 missed free throws and 23 turnovers by outrebounding the Skylights, 49-32.
Former Dillon standout Jenny Castro scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds and forward Brenda Robinson added 12 points and nine rebounds to lead Minot. Northern was led by Heny's 15 points and four assists. Reome added 12 points.
The tough loss to Minot was followed with a short rest and early Sunday afternoon game against the highly-ranked University of Mary in Bismarck. The Marauders, behind a 32-point performance from Jessica Zundel, rolled the Skylights 97-81. Zundel made 13 of 22 shots and pulled down 10 rebounds in the win. Mary also got 21 points from Natalie Brunner and 12 points and seven assists from Andrea Ronderos.
Northern was led by Michele VanDyke's season-high 23 points and nine rebounds. Heny added 19 point with four three-pointers, while Reome chipped in with 12.
The Skylights will return to action this weekend when they travel to Great Falls for a pair of games in the Argo Invitational.
