Skylights split at tournament

Montana State University-Northern women's basketball coach Mike Erickson didn't know if the sun was going to come up on Saturday morning. Following his team's lackluster performance in a disappointing 78-62 loss to Rocky Mountain College on Friday night, Erickson wasn't sure about seeing the light of day.

How bad was it? Rocky opened the game with a tough basket inside from Callie Sparing and never looked back. Northern turned the ball over 24 times in the game and when the players did get a shot, it didn't fall. The Skylights shot an anemic 32 percent from the field including 1-16 from three-point range and made only 19 field goals in the game.

"We just came out flat and couldn't find our way out of it," Erickson said. "We didn't make any type of a run where we showed any competitiveness. Basically, it was a nightmare."

Despite Erickson's doubts, the sun rose on Saturday and so did his team.

Northern rebounded from the loss and played with purpose, defeating the University of Great Falls 76-64 Saturday night at the MSU-Northern gymnasium.

"I was so disappointed with the way we played Friday night," Erickson said. "I told the girls that I didn't think the sun was going to come up on Saturday. But it did and I knew we needed to put that game behind us. We didn't talk much about the Rocky game. We really focused on Great Falls."

The difference was immeasurable. It was as if a completely different Skylight team was on the floor. Northern played with emotion and enthusiasm from the opening tip.

"The girls were playing with a smile on their face," Erickson said. "They were embarrassed by the way they played on Friday. It really gave them some fire on Saturday."

Northern had plenty to smile about. Unlike the night before, the Skylights were able to execute their offense and get open shots against UGF and, more importantly, they made those shots.

"We talked before the game about how important running our offense was," Erickson said. "Rocky's defense really took us out of our offensive sets. We were doing a lot of dribbling and not getting anything run. We need to be disciplined enough to run the the things we have."

The Skylights didn't have that problem against UGF. By running its offense Northern was able to establish an inside game which, in turn, opened up some shots from the outside.

Up 29-28 at halftime, Northern put together an 18-6 run to open the second half to take a 47-34 lead. After being held scoreless the night before, senior guard Davina Shoemake made her presence felt. Shoemake scored scored 10 points during the run, including a pair of three-pointers.

Great Falls was able to trim the lead to five with about 10 minutes remaining on a basket by former Havre High standout Jayla McPherson. But baskets from Khadiga Mohamed and Miranda Valley pushed the lead back to nine. Northern iced the rest of the game, making 18 of 22 free throws down the stretch.

Northern had five players in double figures, led by Shoemake with 15 points and Nichole Neill with 14. The Skylights had 10 points apiece from Mohamed, Anna Bateman and Katie Zilkoski.

But it wasn't just execution on offense that keyed the Skylights' win. Defensively, Northern took a page out of Rocky's playbook and forced Great Falls out of its offensive comfort zone, forcing the Lady Argos into 34 turnovers.

"We needed to be more physical on defense," Erickson said. "We did a better job of denying their cutters and movement."

McPherson led the Lady Argos with 14 points. Former Chinook standout Erin Acra added 14 points for UGF.

The win was especially satisfying for Erickson and his team considering Friday night's performance.

"Coming off a game like that, it showed the girls can come back and focus," Erickson said. "They've been listening to us and getting better every game. We tell them the only time you're a failure is when you accept it, and they didn't do that."

Northern will travel to Billings on Saturday to take on the MSU-Billings Lady Yellowjackets.