Skylights top Bulldogs, Lights fall at home

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights bounced back in a big way Saturday night. One night after an upset loss to Rocky Mountain College, the No. 11 Skylights handed UM-Western just its third loss of the season in a 67-50 victory.

Northern started fast, ripping of a 15-0 run in the first quarter which led to a 25-11. The Skylights would eventually lead42-26 at the break, while Western managed to close the gap some in the third stanza, Northern's Sierra Richards was too good, as she scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the win. The Skylights also got 22 combined points for Natalee Faupel and Jacy Thompson as they improved to 4-2 in the Frontier Conference.

The Northern men also got off quickly Saturday night in the Armory Gymnasium, but, thanks to 51 combined points from Dom Robinson and Shyke Smalls, the No. 11 UM-Western Bulldogs ended up running away from the No. 15 Lights, 75-62.

MSU-N got big 3-pointers from Cam Epps and Devin Bray early, but, Smalls scored 15 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half, lifting the Dawgs to a 34-33 lead at intermission.

Bray connected twice from deep early in the second half, and the Lights trailed by just one with 10 minutes to play. From there however, Western ripped off a 9-0 run and when Robinson hit back-to-back three's with under four minutes to play, the Bulldogs led by 13, and the game was all but over.

Robinson poured in a game-high 26 points, while Smalls added 25, as Western remained unbeaten in Frontier play. Bray scored 12, all on three's, while Epps, David Straughter and Tyler Chandler each scored 10, and Northern dipped to 3-3 in Frontier play.

Both the Lights and Skylights will be back home next Friday to host Montana Tech, as well as next Saturday to face Lewis-Clark State.