Comeback Finished: Skylights beat Argos

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights had been here before. Here, was leading the University of Providence Argos late in the fourth quarter of a Frontier Conference women's basketball game.

The big difference in the latest rivalry game between MSU-N and UP was however, the Skylights were finally playing the Argos inside the Armory Gymnasium. And, they made the most of it by completing an exciting comeback in a 62-56 win over the No. 21 Argos Wednesday night in Havre.

The win was a big one for Northern, which spent the month of January coming oh-so-close to beating just about every team in the Frontier, including two heartbreaking close calls against the Argos. But, with the calendar now turned to February, MSU-N finally got the upper hand.

"Happy for the win, very happy for our kids," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "We've has some very tough losses, we've had a lot of adversity. But these kids have stuck together, they've continued to played hard, and I'm really happy they were able to find a way to finish this one off tonight. They deserve it."

Northern did indeed finish. But, before the Skylights could finish the Argos off in the final minutes, they had to overcome a double-digit deficit. The Argos got three first-quarter 3-pointers from Emilee Maldonado to go up 17-10, then, MSU-N's offense went cold, going eight minutes without a field goal, before Tiara Gilham ended the drought, and Sabin Keo made a running shot to the end first half. Still, the Skylights trailed 31-21.

"We shot it so poorly, from everywhere in the first half," Mouat said. "And Emilee Maldonado, she's just so hard to guard. She played great, not good but great. But, we still felt good about where we were at only being down 10, and that's a credit to our defense, and just how hard our kids were playing."

The Skylights were very much still in the game, and, while the Argos stayed in front by double digits for a portion of the third stanza, Northern started to heat up offensively. Keo sparked a quick Northern spurt, and Gilham ended the third with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to pull the Skylights to within five at 47-42.

But the fun was only beginning. Keo drilled a triple to make the score 49-48 with five minutes left, and Gilham made back-to-back shots to cap a 9-0 run, and put the Skylights ahead for the first time since they lead 2-0.

UP would nose back in front on a Maldonado runner, but Peyton Kehr answered with a three and a layup that was followed by Keo stealing the inbounds pass and scoring. The sequence put the Skylights ahead 59-54 with under two to play, and, fittingly, Keo would end up sealing the game with two last-second free throws.

"Sabin was huge for us tonight," Mouat said. "Her steal was huge. And she was attacking the basket with confidence all night. She helped us get into transition, and we got some layups down the stretch and that was big. Sabin had a big game, and it shows that she just continues to get better and better."

Keo paced the Skylights with 16 points, but Northern also got plenty of help from Kehr and Gilham, who scored 14 and 13 points, respectively. Mouat also gave an assist to his assistant coaches for the second half run as well.

"We made some adjustments at halftime, and I want to say, my assistants did a great job with that," Mouat said. "They made a couple of suggestions, and we went to some stuff that helped our defense get a few more stops, and the other big thing was, we didn't let them (Argos) hurt us on the offensive boards. They are a great rebounding team, and I thought we fought hard on the boards, especially in the second half. And then, we just had a lot of different kids step up and make big shots, and make big plays for us."

Big would also describe the win itself. The victory pulled Northern to 3-10 in the Frontier, but more importantly, it was against a rival that the Skylights had come so close to beating twice before. And it showed the young Northern squad that it certainly can get to the finish line.

"It was much-needed, and our kids deserved it," Mouat said. "Providence is a very good, very well-coached team. We had had two really good battles with them already, so to see our kids fight and finish the way they did tonight, against a really good team, I'm just so proud of them."

Now the Skylights (9-14) will go for a season sweep of the Montana Tech Orediggers. Northern finishes its four-game home stand Friday night when the Diggers come to the Armory Gymnasium.

Skylights are 3-10 in Frontier, 9-14 overall; Next Up: Vs Tech Friday

Skylights 62, Providence 56

Providence 17 14 16 9 - 56

MSU-Northern 10 11 21 20 - 62

UP - Marca Herron 0-0 0-0 0, Emilee Maldonado 11-20 3-3 27, Elly Teske 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Schmitz 0-3 0-0 0, Reed Hazard 0-4 0-0 0, Kenedy Cartwright 3-8 1-2 8, Parker Esary 4-9 3-5 11, Kerstyn Pimperton 1-4 1-2 4, Tristan Murphy 3-5 0-0 6, Alicia Oatis 0-1 0-0 0, Brittany White 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 8-12 56.

MSU-N - Gokce Aslan 0-8 0-0 0, Sabin Keo 6-10 3-5 16, Petra Sellin 0-1 0-0 0, Allix Goldhahn 3-4 0-1 7, Jessica Curl 0-0 3-4 3, Hailey Nicholson 0-9 0-0 0, Peyton Kehr 5-9 3-4 14, Lily Hilderbrand 1-3 0-0 2, Sydney Hovde 3-7 1-2 7, Tiara Gilham 6-10 0-0 13. Totals 24-61 10-16 62.

3-pt FG:Providence (Mont.) 4-12 (Maldonado 2-3, Schmitz 0-3, Hazard 0-1, Cartwright 1-2, Pimperton 1-3), MSU- Northern 4-13 (Aslan 0-2, Keo 1-3, Goldhahn 1-1, Nicholson 0-1, Kehr 1-3, Gilham 1-3). Rebounds: Providence (Mont.) 38 (Esary 17), MSU- Northern 25 (Goldhahn 7). Fouls Providence (Mont.) 19, MSU- Northern 10. Fouled out: none.