Skylights drop a heartbreaker to Bethel

The short-handed Montana State University-Northern Skylights knew they would have their hands full on the second day of the Phoenix Frontier Challenge. After all, Northern was talking on a Top 15 NAIA opponent.

And while the Skylights fought to the bitter end, they ultimately fell short against 15th-ranked Bethel University Thursday. The 11th-ranked Skylights dropped a heartbreaker 62-59 in Phoenix. The loss was Northern’s first official loss of the 2019-2020 year.

But it didn’t come without a fight.

"Our kids showed a lot of guts and character," MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said. "We had a short-handed roster tonight, against a really good team, and our kids never backed down. It was a great game, and credit to Bethel. They hit the big shots when they needed to, and they beat us. But I'm just really proud of our kids for the grit and their fight tonight."

Bethel led 13-8 after the first quarter, but the Skylights, playing without starting point guard McKenzie Gunter, and several more players from the bench, responded with 19 points in the second stanza, which made it a 29-27 game in favor of Bethel at the end of the first half.

Northern then took the lead in the third quarter, with a 20 point outburst, and the Skylights led 47-45 with 10 minutes to play. However, Bethel, which earlier this season, knocked off mighty Freed-Hardeman, wrestled the lead back away from the Skylights, and then held them off in the closing minute for a win in what was an exciting game.

Northern’s stout defense did do a solid job on Bethel, which shot just 35 percent and a dismal 19 percent from the three-point-line. However, the Skylights were out-rebounded 30-25 and they committed 18 turnovers to just 13 from Bethel.

Offensively, Northern didn’t play poorly either. The Skylights shot 46 percent and four players in double figures, led by 16 points and six rebounds from Peyton Kehr. Allix Goldhahn added 12 points, Sydney Hovde chipped in with 11 and Tiara Gilham scored 10, in a battle that saw the lead change 12 times, and the score be tied on 11 different occasions.

"It's a tough one to lose," Mouat said. "They're a nationally ranked opponent, and we had a chance to tie it up at the end. So it hurts. But at the same time, I thought our kids did what they needed to do. I thought we hit big shots on the offensive end, and we got big stops when we needed them. I thought our kids did everything they had to to win this game, but it just wasn't meant to be, and Bethel deserves all the credit for that. But again, I'm just really proud of my team, because they never quit, they never gave in."

The Skylights (2-0, 10-1) will now look to battle back when they face Benedictine-Mesa this afternoon. Northern will be back in the Armory Gymnasium next weekend against Alberta-Augustana.

Bethel 62, Skylights 59

Bethel (Tenn.) 13 16 17 16 - 62

MSU-Northern 8 19 20 12 - 59

BU - Morgan Martin 1-7 0-0 3, Jani Crawford 5-12 1-2 13, Millie Bryant 0-5 1-2 1, Ge'Naisha Robinson 1-3 4-4 6, Mickey Head 4-8 4-4 12, Tasia Jones 3-11 7-9 15, Ashton Hulme 1-1 0-0 2, Tyasia Willis 5-8 0-0 10, Ryann Roberts 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 17-21 62.

MSU-N - Peyton Kehr 6-11 3-3 16, Tiara Gilham 3-9 3-4 10, Sydney Hovde 5-6 1-1 11, Hailey Nicholson 2-7 0-0 4, Allix Goldhahn 3-5 6-9 12, Morgan Mason 0-0 0-0 0, Kenya Lorton 2-7 0-0 6. Totals 21-45 13-17 59.

3-pt FG:Bethel (Tenn.) 5-26 (Martin 1-5, Crawford 2-9, Bryant 0-3, Head 0-3, Jones 2-5, Roberts 0-1), Montana State-Northern 4-11 (Kehr 1-2, Gilham 1-2, Nicholson 0-1, Goldhahn 0-1, Lorton 2-5). Rebounds: Bethel (Tenn.) 30 (Willis 7), Montana State-Northern 25 (Nicholson 7). Fouls Bethel (Tenn.) 19, Montana State-Northern 18. Fouled out: none. Technical: none.