Skylights complete season sweep of UGF Lady Argos

Skylights complete season sweep of UGF Lady Argos

Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com

A quick trip to Great Falls seemed to be just the remedy for the ills of the Montana State University-Northern basketball teams.
Both the Skylights and Lights picked up dominant wins on Saturday night at the McLaughlin Center, snapping their respective losing streaks to start the second half of the Frontier Conference season.

The Skylights ended a three-game losing streak, trouncing the Argos 89-65 to kick off the night.

Northern overcame 31 turnovers and a sluggish start to roll to its fourth conference win of the season.

"I was a little disappointed with committing 31 turnovers against a team that didn't really pressure us that much," said head coach Mike Erickson. "We just made some careless passes."

When the Skylights weren't throwing it away, they were tossing it in the basket, shooting 54 percent from the field, including a scorching 67 percent in the first half.

With starting point guard Anna Bateman seeing only limited action because of a sore foot, Erickson was looking for someone to step up and fill her offensive production.

Senior Khadiga Mohamed answered the call, scoring 19 points on a perfect shooting night. Mohamed sank all six of her field goal attempts and was also 7-7 from the free-throw line.

"Khadiga has been kind of in a slump offensively," Erickson said. "But she played great basketball. We talked about someone stepping up and she came in and did that."

Northern also got a game-high 21 points from freshman Jessi Reome including a 5-6 effort from three-point range. The fast-improving Reome is leading the Frontier in three-point percentage and in the top 10 in scoring.

"Jessi has been very consistent for us all year long," Erickson said. "The best part is that she seems to keep getting better."

But the key difference in the game was Northern's depth. The Skylights played all 12 players with all but two getting in the scoring column.

"We got a great effort from our bench," Erickson said. "Even if they didn't score, they contributed in some way with either rebounding or defense."

Indeed, Northern's bench outscored UGF's 50-15 and outrebound them 20-1.

Freshman Jena Heggem had a solid effort off the bench with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.

UGF was led by Kim Freeman with 20 points, while former Skylight Nichole Neill added 15.

The Skylights will be at home this weekend for games against Montana Tech and UM-Western.

MSU-NORTHERN (15-10, 4-4)

Megan Valgardson 2-2 0-0 4, Kristie Pullin 2-7 0-0 5, Khadiga Mohamed 6-6 7-7 19, Brettney Vermandel 1-4 0-0 2, Michele VanDyke 0-2 0-0 0, DeLayne Johnston 3-7 1-1 7, Jessi Reome 7-9 2-2 21, Anna Bateman 2-5 0-0 6, Kristal Lohse 0-1 0-0 0, Chasi Buffington 2-5 0-0 6, Jena Heggem 4-7 0-0 10, Sheena Darlington 2-2 5-7 9. Totals: 31-57 15-17 89.

UNIVERSITY OF GREAT FALLS (2-24, 0-8)

Kim Freeman 8-13 4-6 20, Janet Austin 3-6 3-4 9, Nichole Neill 4-12 5-8 15, Paula Meyer 1-2 0-0 2, Jayla McPherson 2-3 0-2 4, Heather Olson 3-8 0-0 7, Libby Oram 3-4 1-1 8, Jaclyn Bird 0-1 0-0 0, Deidre Ranf 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 24-52 13-21 65.

Halftime score: MSUN 43-32. Three-point goals: MSUN 12-20 (Pullin 1-2, Reome 5-6, Bateman 2-5, Buffington 2-3, Heggem 2-4), UGF 4-15 (Freeman 0-3, Neill 2-6, Olson 1-4, Oram 1-1, Bird 0-1). Rebounds: MSUN 35 (Heggem 6), UGF 23 (Austin 8). Assists: MSUN 7 (Pullin 3), UGF 12 (Meyer 4). Turnovers: MSUN 31, UGF 28. Total fouls: MSUN 22, UGF 20 . Fouled out: Meyer.