Hi-Line Athlete Profile: Peyton Kehr, MSU-N Basketball

Graduation, coupled with a couple of injuries have thrust plenty of new faces into key roles for the Montana State University-Northern Skylights in the first half of their 2018-19 season.

And perhaps no one has filled a bigger void thus far than sophomore Peyton Kehr.

The 5-10 education major from Columbia Falls is in just her second season in a Skylight uniform, and yet, she's hit the ground running. Kehr enter the heart of Frontier Conference play leading the Skylights in scoring at 14 points per night. That's good for seventh in the Frontier. Kehr has also made a team-high 26 3-pointers so far this season, and she's topped the 20-point mark four different times, including pouring in a career-high 23 points at Dickinson State back in November.

Scoring is something Kehr has always liked to do, given she was a star scorer for the Columbia Falls Wildkats and their runs to Class A state supremacy during her time there. But as she transitioned to the college game, and especially into becoming a starter for head coach Chris Mouat's defense, she also wanted to become a more complete player.

"I have always liked to shoot, I've always liked to score," Kehr said, "but defense is something I kind of struggled with last year. So I worked really hard on that over the summer. I would do defensive drills every day when I was in the gym. I wanted to make sure when I came back, I could show coach that I was improving."

No doubt, she's improved. With her length, Kehr has established herself as a tenacious man-to-man defender at the guard position. She's racked up 11 steals and three blocks so far this season, a season in which she's logged over 29 minutes per outing for the short-handed Skylights.

And those minutes, while they haven't necessarily come as a surprise, they also might not have been what Kehr expected in just her second season of college basketball.

"I wasn't exactly sure what my role would be coming into this season," Kehr said. "I wasn't expecting to get this many minutes so soon. But I worked really hard this summer because I wanted to make sure I was ready to go."

No doubt, Kehr has been ready from the get-go. She scored 20 points in Northern's season-opening win over Mount Royal, earning her Frontier Player of the Week honors, and she's been producing for the Skylights ever since.

And now, Kehr, who says she loves the outdoors, growing up with Glacier National Park right in her backyard, will look to take that production to the next level as Frontier play heats up this weekend.

But before the Skylights host UM-Western Friday and Lewis-Clark State Saturday, the HDN caught up with Kehr for five questions.

HDN: Did you expect to be a starter, and a key contributor this early in your career?

Kehr: "Losing so many players from last year's team, I knew there were going to be spots open. So I knew I had to spend the whole summer working hard. I really pushed myself, knowing I was going to be playing a lot more this season. And I'm excited because I think it's paying off. All of us have been working really hard, and I think it's really paying off now."

HDN: What sort of things did you work on over the summer? What did you want to improve?

Kehr: "I worked on my shooting. I always want to improve my shooting. I shot a ton of free throws, too. But my main focus was working on my defense. So every day I would go to the gym, get shots up, shoot free throws and do defensive drills. I just wanted to show coach that the time I put in in the summer was paying off, and that I came in in shape and ready to go this season."

HDN: You have been reunited with (Columbia Falls) teammate Sydney Hovde this year. What's that been like?

Kehr: "I love it. I love Syd. We weren't just teammates in high school, we have been best friends since pre-school. We grew up together. So it's been great being with her on the floor. We have been playing together for so long, that we just are really familiar with each other on the floor together. We have a really strong bond, and now I think that bond is really strong with the entire team, too."

HDN: What was your favorite Christmas present this year?

Kehr: "I got a new pair of hiking boots. With it being so close, we go hiking in Glacier a lot in the summer. That's something I really love to do. I also got a new fly rod, so hopefully we'll get out and be able to do a lot of fishing this summer, too."

HDN: Conference play is here for good now. What's playing in the Frontier like, and what can we expect from the Skylights over the next two months?

Kehr: "Of course, we want to win every game we play. That's our main goal. But we really just want to make sure we play our best basketball every night, and keep getting better with each game. The Frontier is really hard. It's a battle every game. Coach always tells us, there's never an easy game in the Frontier. Everybody is really tough. But, everybody is also really even, so anybody can win each game. I think that some people might overlook us this year, or think we're the underdogs. But we don't see it that way at all. We know we have a chance to win every night, and that's what we're going to try and do."