Havre, Mont. - 2/18/2018

Game Recap:
The Skylights offense was ignited by a bank shot jumper from the foul line by senior forward Kealani Sagapolu in the opening possession of action as they took on the visiting No. 12 Lady Battlin' Bears of Rocky Mountain College.  At the 4:15 mark, sophomore guard Shiloh McCormick got steal and made a full court layup to put the Skylights up 11-9.  RMC then scored four unanswered points to move ahead 13-11, but Sagapolu converted on a three-point play and senior guard Brandy Lambourne hit a jumper in the middle of the key to extend the Skylight lead to 3 up 16-13 at the end of the period.  In the second quarter, Rocky went on a 7-0 run to put the Bears up 21-16 with 6:59 left in the half.  Northern chipped away at the lead by getting several defensive stops while freshman forward Tiara Gilham went on a run of her own, scoring the last eight points of the quarter to bring the Skylights within one point at the intermission 26-27.   Moments into the third quarter, Lambourne tossed a lob pass to Gilham in the paint where she scored after being fouled.  Gilham converted on the old-fashioned three-point play by sinking her free throw and putting Northern up 29-27 at the 8:50 mark.  The Skylights gained their largest lead of the game (34-29) after Lambourne sank two free throws at the 7:25 mark.  The Battlin' Bears fought back and eventually took the lead by four (43-39) with 19 seconds left to play in the third, but McCormick went 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to bring the Skylights within two points (43-41) at the end of the period.  For much of the fourth quarter, the Skylights played from behind (down by as many as six points midway through the stanza).  With 2:02 left on the clock, McCormick converted an and-one to bring the game within one point at 53-54.  Two turnovers in the last minute of action proved costly as the Skylights failed to get a good shot off to tie the game.

Stat of the Night:  Gilham continued her strong performance inside the paint as she scored a game-high (and new career-high) 20 points on 9-of-14 from the field.  She also collected eight rebounds and went 2-of-3 from the foul line.

The Skylights Now: Northern slips to 2-14 in the Frontier Conference and 10-18 overall.

Up Next: The Skylights host conference foe University of Providence on "Senior Night" this Wednesday (Feb. 21) with tip-off scheduled for 6PM.  This will be the last home game of the regular season and all live game links can be found on the schedule page.