Box Score Butte, Mont.-  The MSU-Northern women were also trying to beat Montana Tech for a third time this season. Tech however, had other ideas.

In the third meeting between the two teams to be decided by five points or less, the Orediggers edged the No. 11 Skylights 54-49 Saturday night in Butte. The loss was the first time the Skylights, who dropped to third place in the Frontier Conference standings, have suffered back-to-back losses all season.

"When you look and see that we shot 24 percent from the field and 20 percent from three, that's not going to get it done," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "You have to give Tech credit. They made big shots, they made the hustle plays, and they made plays down the stretch. But the bottom line is we have to shoot the ball better. We just have to get that fixed because I thought we fought our hearts out defensively."

The Skylights did fight defensively. Northern allows a Frontier-best 54 points per night, and that's all Tech got Saturday night. The Skylights also got off to the start they wanted, especially coming off a heartbreaking defeat to Lewis-Clark State Thursday night, as they jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first period, and increased it to 13-5 at the start of the second. From there though, Northern went nearly seven minutes without a score, and the Orediggers outscored the Skylights 15-8 to lead 20-18 at intermission.

The third quarter was just as tight, as MSU-N 35-32 by the end of the stanza, and while Northern had the game down to a single possession on more than one occasion in the fourth period, the Skylights just couldn't get the basket they needed to get over the hump.

"We got off to a great start," Mouat said. "But then we went cold and they built up a pretty good lead on us. I thought our kids showed a lot of grit to fight back and give us chances down the stretch. But again, offensively, we just did not play well. We didn't execute very well, and even when we did, we missed open shots we needed to make. So we have got to get that cleaned up."

The numbers offensively weren't pretty for the Skylights. Natalee Faupel led the way with 16 points, but 12 of those came from the foul line. Sierra Richards had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, but those were Northern's only two double-digit scorers. Tech didn't shoot a lot better, going just 37 percent for the game, but Monica Landdeck scored a game-high 17 points and made two key 3-pointers, while Kourtney Coverdell chipped in with 15 as the Orediggers improved to 7-8 in the Frontier.

Now, Northern, which fell to 8-6 in league play, must quickly shrug off the two road losses, because the Skylights (18-7) have two more tough road games still to play. MSU-N travels to UGF this Thursday and Carroll College, which is just one game behind the Skylights, Saturday night.

"We've got work to do," Mouat said. "We have two more really tough road games, and then two really tough ones at home. So we'll find out what we're made of these last four games."

STORY BY GEORGE FERGUSON, Havre Daily News

PHOTO BY BILL FOLEY, buttesports.com