By Jason Shoot
Entering Saturday's contest against 16th-ranked Western Montana, the Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team knew it had to stop two Bulldog players Bobbi Suhr and Misty Covington, ranked second and third in scoring in the Frontier Conference.
The Lights slowed down Covington, but couldn't contain Suhr, who finished with 25 points on 9 of 10 shooting to lead the Bulldogs to an 83-80 overtime win over No. 20 Northern at Northern Gym.
Northern lost its third conference loss in five games and slipped to 15-5 overall.
Northern trailed 45-33 at halftime but outscored the Bulldogs 12-4 at the end of regulation to force the overtime period with the two teams tied at 72-all.
Abby Hjorth, who scored a team-high 19 points, scored six points for the Skylights in overtime, but her effort wasn't quite enough.
Trailing 81-80, Northern forward Lana Quintyne attempted a heavily-contested jumper that rattled off the rim. Suhr came down with the rebound and was immediately fouled by Hjorth with 10.6 seconds left.
Suhr, who entered the contest averaging 18.3 points a game, calmly made both free throws for an 83-80 lead.
Quintyne fired a three-point attempt at the buzzer, but the ball made a full rotation around the rim before falling out to allow Western Montana to escape with the victory.
"We let them go on a big run in the first half, and that took us out of the game," Northern coach Kevin Emerick said. "You have to give credit to the girls for fighting back, but the deficit was just too big."
Havre graduate Julie Sherrill made her final collegiate appearance in her hometown for the Bulldogs, scoring seven points, grabbing three rebounds and securing two steals.
Northern was unable to establish an inside game and was forced to heave 29 3-pointers. The Skylights made just eight of those attempts.
Anna Fabatz scored 17 points, and Quintyne added 16 for Northern.
The Bulldogs' Covington, who averages 14.9 points a game, scored just 11 points.
Western Montana 83, MSU-Northern 80 (OT)
WESTERN MONTANA (83) Jones 4-10 4-8 13, Tait 1-5 1-2 3, Burlingame 4-11 0-1 11, Sherrill 1-5 4-4 7, J. Suhr 2-4 0-0 5, B. Suhr 9-10 7-9 25, Williams 3-5 0-0 6, Covington 5-9 0-0 11, Vosen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 30-61 16-24 83.
MSU-NORTHERN (80) Fabatz 7-15 1-2 17, Quintyne 7-12 1-1 16, Hjorth 6-12 6-7 19, Balgua 1-4 0-0 2, Young 2-3 0-0 6, Munson 0-1 0-0 0, Shoemake 1-7 0-0 2, Rasnick 2-3 0-0 5, Burgmaier 3-4 1-3 8, Owens 2-10 1-2 5. Totals 37-71 10-15 80.
Western Montana
45
27
11
83
MSU-Northern
33
39
8
80
