LEWISTON, Idaho Montana State University-Northern women's basketball coach Kevin Emerick couldn't have asked for a better performance by his Skylights in the first round of the Frontier Conference tournament last night.
Northern took command early against Great Falls, and Emerick was able to go deep into his bench and rest his players in the Skylights' 93-74 rout at Warrior Gymnasium.
The win sends Northern into a semifinal contest against Western Montana a 76-69 winner over Rocky Mountain at 5 p.m. In the other semifinal, Carroll takes on Lewis-Clark State at approximately 7 p.m.
Skylights guard Anna Fabatz led all scorers with 19 points. The 5-foot-7 guard buried 4 of 7 three-point attempts to lead Northern's long-range shooting attack.
Abby Hjorth aided Northern with a 17-point performance, including a 7 of 9 effort from the free-throw line. The Skylights dominated UGF from the line, scoring 26 points from the charity stripe compared to just 14 for the Argonauts.
Other Northern players scoring in double figures were Paula Owens with 12 points including an 8-for-8 performance from the foul line and Lana Quintyne with 10.
Northern's full-court pressure left the Argonauts discombobulated. Great Falls turned the ball over 25 times, compared to just 14 for the Skylights. Nine different Northern players had at least one steal.
The Argonauts' starting backcourt of Deena Wisniewski and Alicia Hazlett combined to shoot just 2-for-12 and also committed 10 turnovers.
MSU-NORTHERN 93, GREAT FALLS 74
GREAT FALLS (74) Rae 3-4 0-1 6, Gaughler 2-4 2-2 6, Garrett 2-4 4-6 9, Wisniewski 1-8 3-4 6, Hazlett 1-4 2-2 5, Kipp 3-7 0-0 9, Rasby 0-0 0-0 0, Walter 1-5 1-3 3, Alsbaugh 4-11 0-0 11, O'Connor 3-4 1-2 8, Acra 1-2 0-0 3, Hugs 4-6 1-1 9. Totals 25-59 14-21 74.
MSU-NORTHERN (93) Hjorth 5-10 7-9 17, Owens 2-5 8-8 12, Burgmaier 2-5 0-0 4, Fabatz 6-9 3-4 19, Shoemake 2-4 2-2 6, Walterskirchen 0-4 0-0 0, Quintyne 5-10 0-0 10, Balgua 0-1 2-4 4, Knox 3-4 2-4 8, Young 2-2 0-2 6, Munson 1-4 1-5 3, Rasnick 2-4 1-2 6. Totals 30-62 26-40 47.
Great Falls
26
48
74
MSU-Northern
47
46
93
W. Montana 76, Rocky Mountain 69 (AP) Misty Covington had 19 points and 11 rebounds Thursday in Western Montana College's 76-69 victory over Rocky Mountain College.
Third-seeded Western (21-7) led 35-25 at halftime, and by as many as 61-47 on a 3-pointer by Trish Jones with 7:41 remaining.
Sixth-seeded Rocky (14-15) used some key 3-pointers to pull within 67-60 on a 3-pointer by Beth Gerber with 4:04 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Callie Sparing pulled Rocky within 72-68 with 1:06 remaining, and the Bears were within 73-69 with 45 seconds to play.
Julie Sherill made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 39 seconds to seal the win for Western, ranked 15th in the NAIA.
Western had jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but Rocky answered with a 12-4 run to tie the score at 14-all on a 3-pointer by Julie Bergum with 13:18 remaining in the half.
Western went on a 13-0 run to take a 27-14 lead on a jumper by Karly Tait at the 7:03 mark.
Also in double figures for Western were Bobbi Suhr with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Tait with 10 points.
Sparing and Hannah Heller led Rocky with 13 points each, followed by Gerber with 11 points and Jada Simonson with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Lewis-Clark St. 98, Montana Tech 71 (AP) Brianne Jolley scored 22 points Thursday to lead regular-season champion Lewis-Clark State to a 98-71 victory over Montana Tech.
Lewis-Clark State (28-3), ranked 5th in the NAIA, led 60-26 at halftime.
Other Warriors in double figures were Alyssa Erickson with 18, including 10-of-11 from the free throw line, and Bozeman's Brianne Kottwitz with 15. Cassie Chapman of Lewistown had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Lewis-Clark State, which outrebounded Tech 52-40.
Sophomore guard/forward Kaila Minehan led Tech (6-25) with 18 points and seven rebounds while Jaime Scharnowske added 16 points and six rebounds.
Carroll 66, Westminster 58 (AP) Nikki McElligott scored 16 points and Erica Gilliland added 12 points and 15 rebounds Thursday to lead Carroll College to a 66-58 victory over Westminster College.
Fifth-seeded Carroll (16-10) led by as much as 30-22 on a 3-pointer by McElligott with 2:20 left in the first half. The Saints led 32-29 at halftime.
Fourth-seeded Westminster (16-12) tied the score at 32-all on a 3-point play by Shari Kelsch with 19:41 remaining.
Carroll's largest lead was 48-38 on a basket by Gilliland with 12:16 remaining.
Westminster got within two points several times, the last at 60-58 on a jumper by Rachael Patterson with 2:31 remaining.
Danielle Zelinski hit a jumper with 2:13 remaining, made two free throws with 28 seconds to play and Gilliland hit two free throws with 14 second to play to seal the win.
Also in double figures for Carroll were Jennifer Driscoll, Zelinski and Carly VanDyke with 10 points each.
Rebekah Steenblik and Misty Griffiths led Westminster with 15 points while Patterson had 10.
