Halting the March

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights put a lot of effort and emotion into Thursday night’s gritty home win over the UGF Argos. The question then was, would the Skylights have enough left in the tank to beat Carroll College?

The answer came with a resounding yes Friday night in the Armory as the No. 11 Skylights once again overcame a second-half deficit, beating the Saints 47-43. In a wild finish, Natalee Faupel hit a jumper with 1:09 to play, grabbed a rebound on the other end, and then her teammates withstood :27 of Carroll shot attempts in front of a huge crowd in the Armory.

“We know every game in the Frontier is tough,” senior Molly Kreycik said. “And tonight was no different. We knew they (Saints) were tough, and with us playing last night and they didn’t we knew we would be in for a fight from the very beginning. I thought we did a great job of keeping our poise. We stayed focused, we didn’t rush things. That was big for us.”

Northern and Carroll both fought admirably. Especially on the defensive end, where both teams are ranked in the NAIA Top 10.

“Both teams had to fight for everything tonight,” said MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat. “It was a fight for every point. I thought both teams played extremely well defensively. It was a slugfest and they didn’t go away and neither did we. Both teams showed so much pride and heart tonight. It was just a really hard-fought, well-played basketball game.”

A fight indeed, right from the start.

Bailey Pasta hit two early shots for Carroll, and Northern went the last 5:10 of the first period without a bucket as Carroll jumped out to a 13-7 lead. The defensive chess match continued in the second quarter where good looks and buckets were hard to come by. But eventually, the Skylights broke through as Molly Kreycik, Peyton Filius and Cydney Auzenne all buried 3-pointers to lift the Skylights to a 24-21 lead at intermission of a half the Skylights closed on a 12-4 run.

“Molly Kreycik’s scoring was big for us, all weekend really,” Mouat said. “Her shooting was clutch tonight, and last night (Thursday). She does a lot for us, and leads us in a lot of ways every night. But her offense was huge for us, and I thought she had her best weekend as a Skylight.”

The 3-pointer was big for the Skylights in the first half in general, but it was just as big for Carroll in the third. Star Carroll center Cassidy Hashley drilled her second shot from distance, while Pasta also drilled one in a quarter that saw the lead change six times, with Carroll leading 35-33 at the end.

But that exciting 10 minutes was just a prelude to the final 10.

Northern wrestled the lead back on a floater by Kreycik, but Hashley answered with a turnaround layup. Jacy Thompson came right back with a baseline drive, but Pasta answered to tie the game at 39-39 with 8 minutes left.

From there, however, Northern’s defense, while tired, took control. Faupel made two free throws at the 7:46 mark to give the Skylights the lead, and on her next trip down the floor she scored on a jumper from the elbow, giving Northern a 43-39 edge. Northern got another stop and Auzenne drove in for two more, putting the Skylights ahead by six with 5:55 to play. Carroll would cut it back down to two on buckets from Pasta and Hashley, but Faupel’s last of her 13 second-half points was enough of a cushion, thanks to some great rebounding and defense by the Skylights in the final minute. Carroll is one of the top rebounding teams in the country, but Northern held a 27-23 edge on the boards.

“We finally started to hit some shots,” Kreycik said. “We got the ball moving, and found the right people and we made some shots in the fourth quarter. We just did a good job of keeping our poise.”

While the Skylights fought like crazy on defense, they also got timely offense, too. Faupel, who broke Northern’s all-time scoring record (see related story) Thursday night, finished with 16 points to go with nine boards. Kreycik added 11 and Auzenne chipped in with nine as the Skylights shot 45 percent from the field, while holding Carroll to just 18 percent from three on the other end. Hashley did lead all scorers with 18, but it went for not as Northern beat Carroll for the second time this season.

“We just found ways down the stretch,” Mouat said. “We found ways to get stops and boards, and we made a few key shots. A lot of kids stepped up in different ways tonight, and we needed all of it because Carroll played a great game. So I’m just really proud of our kids. They keep finding ways to gut out these close games. It just says a lot about the pride our kids have in this team.”

Friday night’s exciting win was big for Northern in many ways. The Skylights (7-3, 17-4) kept hold of their second-place standing in the Frontier, and also held serve at home, as they now have to strike out on the road for three straight weeks. Northern won’t be back in the Armory until the final weekend of the regular season when the Skylights host UM-Western Feb. 24 and Rocky Mountain College Feb. 25. Northern’s next two games are also against the Battlin’ Bears and Bulldogs, this Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

“Any win you can get in this league is big,” Kreycik said. “But these home wins are big because we want to host playoff games, and we need these home games. These are big for what we want to accomplish the rest of the season. So these to were major wins for us. And they’re big home wins because we love playing at home in front of our fans. They were great tonight, and they give us so much energy. We feed off that, and we love to win games here in this gym. So this was a huge weekend for us.”

Skylights are 7-3 in Frontier, 17-4 overall; Up Next: at RMC Thursday

Skylights 47, Carroll 43

Carroll College 13 8 14 8 – 43

Northern 7 17 9 14 – 47

CC - Bailey PASTA 5-13 0-0 11, Michaela DOWDY 0-0 0-0 0, Sara CHALICH 0-2 0-0 0, Mikaela OLSON 0-0 0-0 0, Cassidy HASHLEY 8-16 0-0 18, Baylee WATSON 3-9 0-0 6, Hannah DEAN 3-8 0-0 6, Brittney JOHNSON 0-0 0-0 0, Oona HARRINGTON 1-1 0-0 2, Mikaela ROBINSON 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 0-0 43.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 2-4 4-4 8, Katie Fertterer 0-1 0-0 0, Brandy Lambourne 0-0 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 6-10 4-8 16, Peyton Filius 1-3 0-0 3, Molly Kreycik 4-8 2-2 11, Cydney Auzenne 4-9 0-0 9, Sierra Richards 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-37 10-14 47.

3-pt FG: CC 3-16 (PASTA 1-7, CHALICH 0-1, HASHLEY 2-6, WATSON 0-2), MSU-N 3-8 (Faupel 0-1, Filius 1-1, Kreycik 1-3, Auzenne 1-3). Rebounds: CC 24 (DEAN 11), MSU-N 27 (Faupel 9). Fouls: CC 13, MSU-N 5. Fouled out: none.