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MSU-N women darken the Knights

Skylights stay unbeaten with a Sunday night romp over Warner-Pacific

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights are off to a 4-0 start in their 2014-15 basketball campaign. But for a half, the Warner-Pacific Knights made getting to 4-0 plenty difficult.

However, Northern turned on the jets in the second half of Sunday’s battle at the Armory Gymnasium, and wound up running away from the NAIA Division II Knights, 61-38.

The Skylights led just 21-15 at halftime against the Knights, who hail from the tough Cascade Conference. But, Northern’s relentless defensive effort, and a 9-0 run to start the second half, pushed the Skylights to another impressive victory.

“Our defensive effort was really good for 40 minutes,” said MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. “We were very prepared to guard them (Knights) today. I thought the whole team was great on defense, but Taylor Cummings was special. Her on-ball pressure sets the tone for us, and she was fantastic today.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t finish offensively,” he continued. “I thought we executed well enough in the first half, we just didn’t finish. So we have to get that cleaned up going forward.”

The Skylights shot 21 percent from the floor in a slow-paced first stanza. Northern did get a couple of early 3-pointers from Jacy Thompson, but all-in-all, MSU-N was off offensively through the first 20 minutes. But the MSU-N defense did a number on the Knights, holding them to just 15 points and a dismal 20 percent shooting.

The second half, especially at the start, was a different story.

Behind a couple of quick A’Jha Edwards’ buckets, the Skylights ran off nine straight points to start the half, and led 37-18 after two straight layups from Cummings. Cummings would cap another Northern spurt with a breakaway layup, and with 7:56 to play, the Skylights led 43-25, and they didn’t look back.

“I thought we came out much better offensively in the second half,” Mouat said. “We kind of jumped them (Knights) at the start of the half, and credit our kids for coming out determined and prepared to play better. Our leaders really stepped up right there and gave us a spark and that was nice to see.

“Also, give them (Knights) their due,” he continued. “They defended us really hard, they played us very physical, and they had a good game-plan. I thought they played very well defensively. But we also understand we’ve got a lot to clean up on the offensive end, and we will do that.”

Northern shot much better in the final 20 minutes, going 44 percent from the floor. The Skylights, as expected, held a big edge in rebounding too. MSU-N grabbed 43 boards to 31 for Warner-Pacific.

Edwards scored a game-high 17 points, and had her second straight double-double with 12 rebounds. Thompson added 12 points and three triples, while Cummings scored 10. Natalee Faupel chipped in with eight points, while Taybra Teeters added six off the bench as Northern improved to 4-0 in non-conference play.

“I was happy with the win,” Mouat said. “I really liked our defensive effort, and I thought we rebounded pretty well. We just know we have a lot to work on, and we will continue to get better going forward.”

The Skylights won’t be back in the Armory Gymnasium until Nov. 28. Northern travels to Lethbridge, Alberta for games against Mount Royal University this Friday, and the University of Lethbridge on Saturday.

Skylights are 4-0: Next Up: at

Lethbridge

Tournament

Skylights 61, Warner-Pacific 38

WP – Megan Tullis 2-4 0-0 4, Jordan Wilcox 4-11 3-5 12, Lindsey Loe 1-13 3-5 5, Lorena Torres 3-5 0-0 9, Daesha Jackson 0-4 2-2 2, Kyeli Hendryx 0-5 1-2 1, Kasara Bradenburg 1-4 1-2 3, Britt Larson 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 12-53 10-17.

MSU-N – Megan Feldman 1-2 0-0 2, A'Jha Edwards 4-12 9-14 17, Jacy Thompson 3-12 3-4 12, Natalee Faupel 3-10 1-2 8, Taylor Cummings 4-9 2-2 10, Brandy Lambourne 0-1 0-0 0, Taryn Norby 0-1 4-4 4, Molly Kreycik 0-2 0-0 0, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 1-2 1, Cydney Auzenne 0-0 1-2 1, Taybra Teeters 2-5 2-2 6. Totals: 17-53 23-32.

Halftime: Northern 21-15. 3-pointers: MSU-N 4-13 (Thompson 3, Faupel 1), WP 4-14 (Wilcox 1, Torres 3). Rebounds: MSU-N 43 (Edwards 12, Faupel 7), WP 31 (Loe 10). Fouls: MSU-N 14, WP 22. Fouled out: Larson.

 

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