Helena, Mont.-  Even though the Montana State University-Northern Skylights were riding high after a dominating performance against UGF Thursday night, head coach Chris Mouat knew his team was walking into a buzz saw in its next game. And that's exactly what the No. 25 Carroll College Fighting Saints were Saturday in Helena.

And yet, Northern, one of the best defensive teams in the NAIA, used its defense to get out of the Carroll P.E. Center with its fourth straight win, and its second in a row over a nationally ranked Frontier Conference opponent. Thanks to a blocked shot by MSU-N All-American Natalee Faupel as time expired, the No. 11 Skylights escaped Helena with a 58-56 win — improving to 3-1 in conference, and completing a road sweep of two of their biggest rivals.

Leading by two points with 3.1 seconds left, Carroll star Bailey Pasta kicked out to Hannah Dean for an attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer, but Faupel flashed out and blocked Dean's shot, preserving the win for the Skylights, who will now play their next six league games at home.

"We pride ourselves on defense and so do they," Mouat said. "It was a slugfest. They're (Saints) a great team. Pasta had an amazing game. Just full credit to her. (Sara) Chalich came in and stroked threes. They shot the heck out of it, and we were just able to hang on and get enough stops when we had to. And Natalee made an All-American type play. That's just a huge play for her to finish the game with. I'm happy to get out of here with one."

Thanks to big shots by Pasta and Chalich, Carroll staked itself to an early 18-15 lead. But the Skylights started the second period on a 9-0 run and held the lead from there. While Pasta did have a big game, scoring 20 points and making four triples, Northern still defended tremendously well. The Skylights held Dean, the reigning Frontier Player of the Week to just 20-of-10 shooting, and though she had a double-double, star forward Cassidy Hashley was limited offensively.

On the other side, Northern was efficient against the defensive-minded Saints. MSU-N made just two threes, but shot 42 percent from the field and got a hugely balanced game from the trio of Faupel, Sierra Richards and Jacy Thompson. Faupel poured in 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Richards added 16 on a near-perfect night, where she went 7-of-8 from the field and was perfect from the foul line. The performance was spectacular considering she was going up against the likes of Hashley and Dean all night long. Thompson chipped in with 15 points, and, as usual, gave an incredible effort on the defensive end — the end where Northern was able to buckle down and hold off the Saints in the end. MSU-N also won the battle of the boards, another biggie as Carroll is perennially one of the top rebounding teams in the country, and Hashley is the league's top rebounder.

"They were a physical team and they rebound really well," Mouat said of the Saints. "That was our goal. Win on the boards. Make it a grind. Hang in there. And hope to win it in the end. We didn't want to push it that far to the end. Glad we were able to get out with the win.

"I'm really proud of our kids. We weathered a lot of good runs from Carroll tonight," he added. "It's a great road win for our team, but we also found plenty we still have to work on. I thought Sierra was incredibly efficient tonight at both ends, and we had a lot of players step up when we needed scores. I'm just proud of our kids. They didn't get rattled and just kept fighting."

The win, coupled with Thursday's victory at UGF, gives the Skylights (13-2) a nice jump in the Frontier standings. Northern will go into its lengthy home stretch sitting one game behind Lewis-Clark State in the standings. MSU-N starts that home stand this Friday against Rocky Mountain College, before taking on upstart UM-Western on Saturday night.

STORY BY GEORGE FERGUSON, Havre Daily News