Skylights drop heartbreakers in Tennessee

Montana State University-Northern head coach Chris Mouat knew the Skylight's second straight trip to the Rotary Classic in Tennessee was going to be daunting.

The two-day NAIA extravaganza is designed to pit highly-ranked and premier NAIA women's basketball teams against each other.

But being short-handed due to some key injuries made things even tougher on the No. 21 Skylights, who dropped both games in Jackson, Tennessee over the weekend. Northern fell to No. 6 Campbellsville Friday afternoon and lost a heartbreaker to Martin-Methodist in overtime Saturday.

"Our kids have no quit in them," Mouat said. "I love the fight in them. We were beaten against Campbellsville and yet our kids fought back and gave ourselves a great opportunity down the stretch. I can't say enough about the heart and toughness and the effort of this team."

Toughness Indeed.

Playing without sophomore guard Shiloh McCormick, the Skylights got off a to a slow start against Campbellsville, a Final Four team from a year ago. Northern trailed 35-22 at halftime, and against one of the best teams in the NAIA it would have been easy for the Skylights to just go away. They did anything but, however. Northern scored 37 points in the final 20 minutes and at one point had cut the deficit all the way down to five points before the Tigers were able to put the game on ice.

Jacy Thompson paced the Skylights with 19 points, while Peyton Filius added 15 and Brandy Lambourne scored 12.

Northern then had to turn around Saturday afternoon and play Martin-Methodist, another NAIA tournament squad that is receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches Poll.

And again, the short-handed Skylights fell behind. Northern trailed the Red Hawks 34-27 at the break, but this time around the Skylights looked like they would pull off a comeback win. Northern wrestled the lead away in the fourth period and held onto it until a desperation 3-pointer from the Red Hawks knotted the game at 62-62 at the end of regulation.

From there, the Skylights battled, but the Red Hawks outscored them 12-7 in the extra frame.

"The 3-pointer at the buzzer was huge," Mouat said. "The girl made an incredible play. I thought we defended it really well. But on our end it should have never come down to that. We just made too many little mistakes, even after we had gotten the lead. We battled hard, but mistakes cost us a chance to put that game away."

Thompson came up big for Northern again, scoring 24 points, while Filius added 17 and Lambourne scored 15.

The loss was heartbreaking, especially since the Skylights have been through the road ringer of late, playing two top NAIA squads this weekend, and two NCAA Division II foes last weekend in St. George, Utah.

"From that standpoint, we played really tough competition," Mouat said. "And we held our own in every one of those games. All of those games will prepare us well for what we're about to face in conference, and we knew this stretch was going to be tough going.

"But at the end of the day, we've got to get some things cleaned up," he continued. "We've got to play better and really tighten things up. They're all things that are controllable, so that's what we've got to do. Just get those things cleaned up and get ready for two more tough games this weekend."

Those tough games come Friday and Saturday night when the Skylights (5-3) return to the Armory Gymnasium to open Frontier Conference play against Rocky Mountain College and Carroll College.

Campbellsville 58, Skylights 59

Northern 10 12 20 17 - 59

Campbellsville 17 18 20 - 68

MSU-N - Peyton Filius 5-10 2-4 15, Brandy Lambourne 4-8 0-0 12, Jacy Thompson 7-12 4-5 19, Kealani Sagapolu 4-8 1-1 9, Lily Hilderbrand 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 2-5 0-2 4, Naomi Terry 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 22-47 7-12 59

CU - Madison Clements 3-8 4-4 12, Lexxus Graham 0-8 2-2 2, Lauren Turner 0-5 0-0 0, Madison Kaiser 2-5 1-2 6, Madison Stewart 1-7 4-4 6, Jordan Doram 6-8 5-6 17, Madison Faulkner 2-6 0-0 4, Caitlin Hall 1-2 0-0 2, Savannah Gregory 8-12 2-2 19, Alexus Calhoun 0-1 0-0 0, Shyla Calbert 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 18-20 68

3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 8-15 (Filius 3-5, Lambourne 4-6, Thompson 1-1, Terry 0-3), Campbellsville (Ky.) 4-12 (Clements 2-4, Graham 0-4, Kaiser 1-2, Gregory 1-2). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 24 (Thompson 6), Campbellsville (Ky.) 33 (Kaiser 8). Fouls Montana State-Northern 13, Campbellsville (Ky.) 23. Fouled out: Graham.

Martin-Methodist 74, Skylights 69, OT

Martin-Methodist 21 13 14 14 12 – 74

Northern 15 12 13 22 7 – 69

MM - Lacey Reed 0-1 0-0 0, Treasure Hunt 2-5 0-0 6, Laken Arnett 0-0 0-0 0, Mickey Head 5-9 4-8 15, Sydney Mize 0-0 0-0 0, Brooklyn Blanchard 7-16 2-5 18, Jemia Carpenter 7-12 1-2 15, Bethany Lamon 0-1 2-2 2, Erin Freeman 5-6 0-0 10, Keely Ellison 0-2 0-0 0, Destiney Williams 0-1 3-4 3, Taylor McNairy 2-3 0-0 5. Totals 28-56 12-21 74.

MSU-N - Peyton Filius 7-12 2-2 17, Brandy Lambourne 5-10 4-5 15, Jacy Thompson 7-17 9-10 24, Kealani Sagapolu 3-4 1-2 7, Lily Hilderbrand 0-0 0-0 0, Peyton Kehr 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Curl 1-3 1-2 3, Naomi Terry 1-5 0-2 3. Totals 24-51 17-23 69.

3-pt FG:Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 6-13 (Hunt 2-2, Head 1-3, Blanchard 2-5, Ellison 0-1, McNairy 1-2), Montana State-Northern 4-17 (Filius 1-3, Lambourne 1-4, Thompson 1-6, Terry 1-4). Rebounds: Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 23 (Head 5), Montana State-Northern 30 (Thompson 9). Fouls Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 20, Montana State-Northern 15. Fouled out: Carpenter, Freeman.