By Rob Everingham
It was a great way to wrap it up.
The MSU-Northern Skylights wrapped up the regular season on Saturday night with an 83-41 trouncing of Westminster College.
When the two teams played at Salt Lake City, Utah, on the Griffins' home floor, Westminster downed the Skylights, 52-44.
"It was a decisive win," Northern head coach Ray Peters said.
The Skylights put four players in double figures, with Abby Hjorth leading the way with 16.
Northern opened up a 10-4 lead early and never looked back.
The Skylights were dominate on both ends of the floor in the first half, and opened up a 35-20 lead at the half after a pair of 3-pointers.
Northern's biggest lead of the game came at the end of the game after Myra Bagley hit a shot with 46.1 seconds left.
Also in double figures for the Skylights was Jennifer Young, who had 14 points and six rebounds.
Anna Fabatz finished the game with 11 points and Laura Munson had 10. Both Fabatz and Munson pulled down six rebounds.
Peters said his team did a great job of moving the ball and was able to attack against Westminster's zone defense.
Brianne Dunn had an outstanding game on the boards. Dunn did not score any points but came down with seven rebounds.
The Skylights shot 51 percent from the field this time around, after shooting just 20 percent in Salt Lake City.
Peters said he was pleased to see such a high percentage from the field, especially with star Jana Smith on the bench for all but 12 minutes of the game.
Smith has an injured knee and, Peters said, he was thankful she was able to rest and get healed up for next weekend's Frontier Conference Tournament.
Peters also said he was impressed with Fabatz, Young, and Jackie Rasnick. All three came in off the bench and combined for nine of the Skylights' 11 3-pointers.
The two teams will meet again as the Skylights finished third in the conference and Westminster finished sixth. They will meet Thursday in the first round of the Frontier Conference Tournament at Lewiston, Idaho.
Northern is also on the opposite side of the bracket as the nation's top ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors, who will be hosting the tournament after winning the regular season crown.
Westminster (41)
Brittany Hazen 1-6 2-3 5, Heidi Bruce 0-2 0-0 0, Renella Wright 1-2 0-0 2, Dana Voorhees 1-5 0-2 2, Amanda Rush 0-0 1-2 1, Brook Neeley 0-2 0-0 0, Amy Jensen 2-6 4-6 8, Angie Bonham 1-4 0-1 2, Shari Kelsch 5-12 2-2 12, Lindsey Doxey 0-3 1-4 1, Kati Bradshaw 2-2 0-3 4, Brianne Wallace 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 15-47 10-23.
MSU-Northern (83)
Kristine Noel 2-4 2-2 6, Abby Hjorth 7-7 2-2 16, Jana Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Laura Munson 3-7 4-5 10, Brianne Dunn 0-4 0-0 0, Anna Fabatz 4-8 0-0 11, Shannon Ketchum 0-1 1-2 1, Myra Bagley 2-5 0-0 5, Jennifer Young 4-6 1-2 13, Jackie Rasnick 2-5 0-0 6, Kelsy Burgmaier 1-2 4-4 7, Lynn Kansteiner 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 29-57 14-17.
Halftime score: Northern 35, Westminster 20. Three-point goals: Wesminster 1-15 (Hazen 1-4), MSU-N 11-23 (Fabatz 3-7, Smith 0-2, Bagley 1-2, Young 4-6, Rasnick 2-4, Burgmaier 1-2). Rebounds: Westminster 30 (Kelsch 5), MSU-N 40 (Dunn 7). Assists: Westminster 8 (Voorhees 3, Jensen 3), MSU-N 22 (Young 5). Steals: Westminster 9 (Jensen 4), MSU-N 13 (Kansteiner 3). Total fouls: Westminster 22, MSU-N 22. Fouled out: Rasnick.
