MSU-N hoops aim to close the regular season with wins in Butte

A long Frontier Conference season has reached the final games for the Montana State University-Northern men's and women's basketball teams, as they wrap up the regular season tonight in Butte against Montana Tech.

For the Northern men (6-8, 17-12), the Lights will try and secure a top four finish in the Frontier when they take on the No. 14 Orediggers (12-2, 23-6) in the HPER in Butte. Northern will also try to spoil Tech's senior night, and its chance at the Frontier regular season title. The Orediggers, led by top scorers Sindou Diallo and Caleb Bellach, are tied with Carroll in the Frontier standings entering the final night of the regular season.

"They have certainly shown they can get scoring from a lot of guys in a lot of ways this year," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said of the Orediggers. "They have a very experienced group. We need to be on our toes defensively to come out with a win down there. We really like how we have been playing ... just need to knock in more shots to validate our offensive possessions."

Northern will lean on seniors Mascio McCadney and David Harris as the Lights try to earn a third-place finish in the league standings. MSU-N, though, can't fall to fifth in the standings regardless of tonight's outcome, so, the Lights will be hosting a playoff game next Wednesday in Havre.

The Northern women unfortunately, won't be hosting a playoff game next week, so instead, the Skylights (1-13, 8-20) will look to continue to improve as they gear up for next week's Frontier playoffs.

Northern, led by seniors Peyton Kehr and Sydney Hovde, as well as point guard L'Tia Lawrence, has a win over Tech already this season, but the Orediggers (3-11, 12-17), have a strong lineup as well, so, head coach Chris Mouat knows tonight will be another tough battle for his squad.

"Montana Tech is a very talented and deep team," Mouat said. "They have a strong group of posts and guards that have quickness and can shoot it. Tavia Rooney is one of the best athletes in our league, and she can really do it all. She scores from everywhere and is an excellent offensive rebounder. Brooke Heggie and Celestina Faletoi are both very good scorers who have caused us problems in the past. On the perimeter, Dani Urick is about as tough a kid there is. She is in attack mode the entire night at both ends. Mollie Peoples is one of the best 3-point shooters in our league and has an extremely quick shot.

"Tech is playing really well right now. They get after it on defense and are really pushing it in transition. We lost them in transition in the last game and it cost us, so we will need to do a much better job of communicating on the run. They are a good rebounding team so we will need to be very focused on finding them and limiting them to one shot," he continued. "I am sure that we will see some full-court pressure from them again, so taking care of the ball is again a top priority for us. When we take care of it and execute, we have been getting shots. When we don't, it has usually meant points on the other end. We will also have to be very dialed-in on defense because they have so many kids that can score. Tech is a tough team and our last chance to play before the conference tournament opens, so we will need to be at our very best at both ends of the floor."

Tonight's regular season finale between the Skylights and Orediggers tips off at 5 in Butte. The Lights meet the Orediggers at 7.