Skylights excited for Frontier home debut

Lengthy gaps in home games have been the norm this season for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights. And now, after not having played in the friendly confines of the Armory Gymnasium for over a month, the Skylights are back home, and they’re staying for a while.

The No. 11 Skylights (3-1, 13-3) open a six-game Frontier Conference home stand tonight at 6 when they host the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears. MSU-N will follow tonight’s game up with a showdown with upstart UM-Western Saturday night at 6 p.m.

And though MSU-N is happy to be home, the Skylights, led by senior standout Natalee Faupel, who averaged 17 points and six rebounds per game, as well as veteran Jacy Thompson, Molly Kreycik, Sierra Richards and Cydney Auzenne, are hoping to bring the road momentum home with them. Northern comes into tonight’s game with Rocky fresh off two road wins over nationally ranked opponents last weekend.

But, as well as the Skylights played on the road, aided by a defense that is fourth in the NAIA and scoring, as well as solid bench play from the likes of Katie Fertterer, Brandy Lambourne and Peyton Filius, this weekend’s home games won’t be a walk in the park either, according to head coach Chris Mouat.

“Rocky and Western are both talented teams with some new kids that are making a huge difference for them,” Mouat said.  They both have some very big wins to their credit, and we know both will present big challenges for us, especially defensively. As always, we will have to be sound defensively and be very focused on the boards. Both Western and Rocky played well against Lewis-Clark State last weekend.”

The Battlin’ Bears (1-3, 9-7) record is misleading, too, as they have plenty of talent, led by newcomer Mikayla Jones (5-5), who averages 14 point per outing. Keisha Englehardt (5-9), as well as veterans Hailee Farstveet (5-11) and Jayde LaFevre (5-7) also give RMC’s guard-oriented offense a boost. But, RMC also averages just 67 points per game and gives up 60, so the Skylights will look to exploit those numbers tonight.

“Their (Bears’) point guard (Mikayla Jones) is about as quick as it gets. She can literally score from everywhere. Keisha Engelhardt plays a little bit everywhere for them and is also capable of big nights offensively. She has big-time range and is very strong around the basket,” Mouat noted. “Hailee Farstveet is a long, athletic guard who caused us a lot of problems last year. They are also getting a lot of production from Alecia Chamberlain and Justyn Juhl. Jayde LaFevre has been providing an instant spark off of the bench and leads a very deep and talented group of kids who give them a lot of quality minutes.  Rocky is fast and they do a lot of different things at both ends. Wes Keller has done a great job there and he always has his kids prepared.”

And as good as RMC is, Mouat knows Western (2-2, 13-2) might be even more dangerous. The Bulldogs come to Havre having lost just two games all season, and are off to their best start in over a decade. Defensively, they are a top-notch club, allowing just 53 points per game, while opponents shoot just 34 percent against them. So in many ways, they are just like Northern, as defense and rebounding is their bread and butter.

But the Bulldogs have scoring punch too. They average 77 ppg, led by senior Kaye Bignell (5-9) and point guard Aneise Palmore (5-5). Together, they score 28 ppg, while forwards Britt Cooper (5-11) and Cierra Lamey (5-9) give the Dawgs a nice combo in the paint.

“Western is led by Kaye Bignell, who has played at a very high level all year long. She is a player that never seems to stop moving, and if you make a mistake on her, she makes you pay for it. She is shooting an incredible percentage from the field and has really upped her game this year,” Mouat said. “Anise Palmore, their point guard, is a returning honorable mention All-American, and she is playing great right now. They also have a couple of transfers who have really made them better in Cierra Lamey and Taylor Howlett.

“Like Rocky, they have a lot of kids contributing off of the bench,” he continued. “They got off to a great start and have played at a high level all season long. Lindsay Woolley has also done a great job and has his teams prepared every night.”

Yet, the Skylights will be prepared, too. Northern is coming off two huge road wins and is just a game behind LC State in the conference standings. And with home games against Montana Tech, the Warriors, Carroll and UGF all coming in the following two weeks, this run in the Armory, starting against the Bears and Bulldogs, will be big for the Skylights’ postseason aspirations.

Tonight’s game between Northern and RMC tips at 6, as does Saturday night’s game between the Skylights and Bulldogs at the Armory Gymnasium.