BILLINGS HERE THEY COME

Make it four in a row for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights. Not that it was in doubt, but Northern’s fourth straight trip to the NAIA national tournament became official Wednesday night.

MSU-N, ranked No. 11 in the final NAIA Women’s Coaches Poll, and runners-up in the Frontier Conference Tournament, which received an at-large berth in the 2017 NAIA National Tournament, drew a No. 3 seed in the field and will play No. 22 Loyola of Louisiana in the opening round of the tournament. The game is set for next Thursday at 8 p.m. inside the Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings.

The Skylights, who went 23-8 overall and finished second in both the Frontier regular season and the Frontier playoffs, will be looking to advance in the national tourney for the second time in the last three years. Last season, Northern fell to Benedictine in the opening round of the tourney in Independence, Missouri. In 2015, Northern won twice, before falling in the Elite 8 at the same venue.

But before Northern turns its focus to next Thursday’s game against the Wolfpack (26-6), the Skylights could take a moment to just be excited about making an unprecedented fourth straight trip to the Big Dance, as they gathered to watch the NAIA Women’s Selection Show Wednesday night.

“It’s awesome,” MSU-N senior Molly Kreycik said. “This is why you come to play college basketball. The goal is to always play in March, to go as far as you can. So for us to be able to do this four years in a row, it’s just awesome.

“I still get goose bumps when our name is announced,” added MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat, who is now taking his fifth Skylight team to a national tourney. “It brings back memories of that special team 12 years ago, and all the teams we’ve had that have gone since. So to be going again, it says a lot about our team, about these kids we have and about our program. It’s great for Northern, and it’s very exciting.”

Part of the excitement will also be the fact that Northern, along with Frontier champion Lewis-Clark State, UM-Western and host Rocky Mountain College, will be playing on home turf. The national tourney is in Billings for the first of two straight years, and, with Northern having such a tremendous fan base, it only adds to what should be an amazing trip for the Skylights.

“The tournament being in Billings is really exciting for us,” said junior Jacy Thompson. “To not have that extra travel, and all the distractions with going to the tournament the last couple of years, that will be really good for us. And to have our fans be able to come, it’s going to be incredible.”

Incredible indeed. The Metra will feel like home for the Skylights, who are in the Liston Bracket. The bracket also includes second-seeded Vanguard, which the Skylights could possibly meet in the Sweet 16, as well as top-seeded and fourth-ranked Shawnee State.

The NAIA field also includes second-ranked and top-seeded, Frontier champion Lewis-Clark State, which plays William Penn in the opening round next Thursday. Western, which finished third in the Frontier, drew a No. 6 seed and plays Columbia of Missouri Wednesday night, while Rocky opens the tournament with the No. 1 overall seed, Freed-Hardeman Wednesday morning. MidAmerican Nazarene is the defending national champion. The tournament starts next Wednesday and runs through the championship game March 21.

“It’s exciting,” Mouat said. “It never gets old. We don’t take this for granted for one second. These kids have worked so hard to get here. They’ve had a great season, been resilient and overcome a lot of adversity at times. They’ve earned this and we’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to the challenges and, when game time comes, we’ll be ready to play. We’re just really, really excited.”