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Skylights set records in wins over Lady Storm

The Last eight games the Montana State University-Northern Skylights played were fierce, intense battles against brutally tough opponents.

Over the weekend, however, Northern returned to non-conference play with a pair of dominating performances against overmatched, and undermanned Nueta Hidatsa College. The No. 21 Skylights beat the Lady Storm 90-54 Friday night, and 105-49 Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium.

And while both games might have been blowouts, Northern head coach Chris Mouat still sees plenty of things his team can improve upon before the Skylights return to action Dec. 30.

"We played well in both games," Mouat said. "I was proud of the way we came out and started strong both nights. I thought we did some really nice things. We shot the ball well, we shared the ball really well, and we got a lot of minutes for a lot of kids.

"But we also have plenty to work on," he continued. "We want to keep getting better, so there's always things to work on. I thought our defense was up-and-down this weekend, and I didn't think we rebounded the ball as well as we should have. So, with things getting a lot tougher going forward, there's still plenty of room to improve."

One of the many things the Skylights did well in their two wins over the Lady Storm, was shooting the 3-pointer.

Friday night, MSU-N set a new school record for threes in a game with 15. The barrage started with Brandy Lambourne and Peyton Filius connecting on three in a row, and Jacy Thompson adding a triple of her own as Northern raced out to a 30-10 lead. Throughout the course of the game, the threes kept falling, too, as Filius and Thompson each hit one in the second quarter to lift the Skylights to a 54-23 lead at intermission, while Naomi Terry and Peyton Kehr combined for five bombs off the bench.

Filius would nail five treys for a game-high 20 points, while Thompson added 15, Terry scored a season-high 14 on four triples, and Lambourne hit two more and scored 10. Jessica Curl chipped in with 11 points, and finished with a double-double by grabbing 14 rebounds.

And Saturday night, the threes kept on coming, especially for Filius. The former Blue Pony star buried eight treys to tie a Northern single-game record. Filius was hot right from the start, banging in three bombs to give the Skylights a 24-5 lead. Terry added another trey early in the second, and Lambourne finished the half with a flurry to give the Skylights a 47-19 edge.

It was more of the same in the second as Filius poured in five more treys and finished the game with a career-high 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting. She also had 10 boards for a double-double. In all, Northern shot 50 percent from the field and made 15 threes for the second night in a row.

"Peyton was on fire," Mouat said. "She was shooting it so well. That was really exciting to see. She shot it so well all weekend."

As did many of her teammates. Kealani Sagapolu added a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards, while Thompson finished with 15 and Lambourne added 14 points and a season-high eight assists.

"That's something I'm really proud of," Mouat said. "Yes we shot it well, and we scored a ton of points, but what I really liked is the 29 assists on Friday and the 27 assists tonight. I thought we really shared the ball well, and everybody was out there getting each other involved."

Indeed. The Skylights were unselfish, and offensively, clicking on all cylinders as they improved to 8-4 on the season. Now Northern will break for Christmas before returning to the Armory for one last non-conference game. And it's a big one as MSU-N welcomes in nationally ranked Our Lady of the Lake Dec. 30, just two nights before Frontier play resumes.

"It was a good weekend," Mouat said. "I thought the kids were focused and played hard, and we had a lot to show for it. But we know things are going to get a lot tougher. We know what we have coming for us. So we'll have to keep improving and make sure we're ready for the next big games we have coming up."

Skylights 90, Nueta Hidatsa 54

Nueta Hidatsa 10 13 9 22 – 54

MSU-Northern 30 24 16 20 – 90

NH - Dee Sheets 1-3 0-0 3, Tayla Belgarde 4-12 4-4 12, Jess Hale 6-20 6-6 22, Shayla Gayton 1-4 0-0 3, Lanaya Driftwood 3-10 2-4 9, Ryane Wolf Necklace 1-8 0-0 3, Selena Finely 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-58 12-14 54.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 6-13 0-0 15, Brandy Lambourne 4-10 0-0 10, Naomi Terry 5-8 0-0 14, Jessica Curl 5-7 1-2 11, Peyton Filius 7-15 1-2 20, Peyton Kehr 3-10 0-0 7, Lily Hilderbrand 3-5 1-2 7, Kealani Sagapolu 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 36-73 3-6 90.

3-pt FG:Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 8-29 (Sheets 1-1, Belgarde 0-2, Hale 4-13, Gayton 1-2, Driftwood 1-3, Wolf Necklace 1-8), Montana State University- 15-36 (Thompson 3-6, Lambourne 2-5, Terry 4-6, Filius 5-12, Kehr 1-7). Rebounds: Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 26 (Driftwood 7), Montana State University- 45 (Curl 14). Fouls Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 12, Montana State University- 9. Fouled out: Belgarde . Technical: Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish Coach, Montana State University- Coach.

Skylights 105, Nueta Hidatsa 49

Nueta Hidatsa 5 14 17 13 – 49

MSU-Northern 24 23 34 24 – 105

NH - Dee Sheets 1-5 0-0 3, Tayla Belgarde 1-7 1-1 3, Jess Hale 4-11 5-5 14, Shayla Gayton 3-7 0-0 7, Lanaya Driftwood 3-10 5-10 13, Ryane Wolf Necklace 3-9 0-0 9, Selena Finely 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-49 11-16 49.

MSU-N - Jacy Thompson 4-11 6-6 15, Brandy Lambourne 6-10 0-2 14, Naomi Terry 3-5 0-0 8, Jessica Curl 2-3 3-4 7, Peyton Filius 11-19 1-2 31, Peyton Kehr 3-12 0-0 8, Lily Hilderbrand 1-5 3-4 5, Kealani Sagapolu 7-10 3-3 17. Totals 37-75 16-21 105.

3-pt FG:Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 8-24 (Sheets 1-4, Belgarde 0-1, Hale 1-4, Gayton 1-3, Driftwood 2-4, Wolf Necklace 3-8), Montana State University- 15-31 (Thompson 1-5, Lambourne 2-4, Terry 2-3, Filius 8-12, Kehr 2-7). Rebounds: Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 23 (Gayton 8), Montana State University- 48 (Sagapolu 12). Fouls Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish 19, Montana State University- 13. Fouled out: Belgarde Curl. Technical: Sheets.

 

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