Box Score Great Falls, Mont.- Heading into their final road trip of the regular season, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights were in need of several things. They needed to pick up the pace offensively. And, after back-to-back road losses last week, the Skylights, in reality, needed to beat arch rival UGF for a third time this season.
Northern accomplished both those things in one shot Thursday night as the No. 15 Skylights thumped the Argos 81-63 in Great Falls. The win pushed MSU-N to 9-6 in the Frontier Conference with just three games left in the regular season.
"We played well as a team tonight," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "I'm proud of the way we responded to a tough loss."
The loss to Montana Tech last Saturday was tough, especially the fact that the Skylights shot a miserable 24 percent from the floor. But, they quickly turned that around against the Argos. Northern shot 48 percent from the floor at UGF and banged in five 3-pointers. But more importantly, MSU-N found some consistency offensively.
The Skylights led just 14-12 after the first period, but over the next two quarters MSU-N turned things up a couple of notches. The Skylights ran off 21 points in the second stanza to lead 35-25 at intermission, and they were even better in the third, scoring 28 points, and, not letting UGF keep pace. MSU-N led 63-25 with 10 minutes left, and the Skylights went on to finish off the Argos with 18 more points in the final stanza. Northern also won on the Argos' home floor for the second time this season, as the Skylights dropped UGF's record to just 1-14 in conference play.
"We did a great job on the boards against a very good rebounding team," Mouat said. "This was big for us because Great Falls is an explosive team with a ton of weapons."
The Skylights did win the battle of the boards 33-23, but, their offensive prowess couldn't be overlooked either. Senior Natalee Faupel was fantastic, scoring 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting and an 8-for-8 performance from the foul line. Molly Kreycik hit three 3-pointers and added 16 points, while Jacy Thompson added 13 and Peyton Filius came off the bench to score seven. Sierra Richards pulled down 13 rebounds as Northern improved to 19-7 on the season ahead of Saturday's trip to Carroll College.
"We got a lot of contributions from a ton of kids tonight," Mouat said. "I'm very proud of how we played."
STORY BY GEORGE FERGUSON, Havre Daily News
PHOTO BY JOSH WETMORE, UGF Sports Information Director
