LEWISTON, Idaho Lewis-Clark State was certainly the team to beat at this past weekend's Frontier Conference women's basketball tournament.
The fifth-ranked Warriors also turned out to be the team that could not be beat.
The Montana State University-Northern squad led the Warriors at halftime, but eventually the deep, athletic host team rallied for a 71-64 win in the tournament title game at Warrior Gymnasium.
With the second-place finish, the 11th-ranked Skylights are set to compete in the NAIA national tournament March 14-20 at Jackson, Tenn.
The list of teams advancing to the 32-team national tournament will be released Tuesday, and matchups and brackets will follow on Wednesday.
Northern athletes missed a few days of classes last week, but the Skylights will be spending their spring break at the national tournament so they will not miss any additional time in the classroom.
Against the Warriors, Northern led 33-31 at halftime, but that advantage lasted all of 41 seconds in the second half until Shannon Russel's 3-pointer gave the Warriors a 34-33 lead.
Northern did not score a point for the first six minutes of the second half. Meanwhile, Lewis-Clark State was in the midst of a 10-0 run that made the score 41-33.
The Skylights fought back to tie the game twice, but they were never able to reclaim the lead.
Ahead 51-50 with 7:42 remaining, Lewis-Clark State went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 58-50 lead and put the game away.
Northern got no closer than seven points the rest of the contest.
"We certainly dug a hole again for ourselves, but we came back and got it within 51-50," Skylights coach Kevin Emerick said. "We just didn't have enough left at the end of the game."
Lana Quintyne paced the Skylights with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. Teammate Anna Fabatz added 14 points and five assists.
Lewis-Clark State harassed Northern into an uncharacteristic 27 turnovers, including seven by both Abby Hjorth and Davina Shoemake. The Warriors committed 18 turnovers.
Northern was an exemplary 16 of 18 from the foul line, but Lewis-Clark State was a solid 22-for-28.
"I think we expected to win," Skylights forward Kelsy Burgmaier said. "To play with L-C after losing by so much there the first time (108-71 on Jan. 6), it was heartbreaking. But overall I felt we did as much as we could. We played with them."
Alyssa Erickson and conference co-player of the year Brianne Jolley each scored 15 points to lead four Lewis-Clark State players in double figures. Brianne Kottwitz added 14 points, and Sara McEachern chipped in with 11.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE 71, MSU-NORTHERN 64
MSU-NORTHERN (64) Hjorth 3-5 2-2 8, Shoemake 1-9 0-0 2, Owens 2-8 4-6 8, Fabatz 4-11 2-2 14, Quintyne 6-13 4-4 17, Balgua 0-2 0-0 0, Knox 1-2 3-3 5, Young 1-1 0-0 3, Munson 0-0 0-0 0, Rasnick 2-2 0-0 4, Burgmaier 1-1 1-1 3. Totals 21-54 16-18 64.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (71) Jolley 5-13 3-4 15, Erickson 4-10 7-10 15, McEachern 4-6 3-3 11, Kottwitz 2-6 9-10 14, Russel 3-8 0-0 8, Shelton 0-3 0-0 0, Foot 0-2 0-0 0, Gabaniova 3-5 0-0 6, Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Lytle 0-0 0-0 0, Cushman 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 22-55 22-28 71.
MSU-Northern
33
31
64
Lewis-Clark State
31
40
71
