Skylights take on rival
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
It's about pride. When you are playing a rival, it doesn't matter if the
game has no meaning in the standings, you still want to win.
So don't think for a moment that the Montana State University-Northern women's
basketball team isn't playing to win in Saturday's game against the
Win or lose, the Skylights will finish fourth in the final conference standings
and will face Rocky Mountain College in the first round of next week's Frontier
Conference Tournament.
So, the game against UGF has no meaning, right?
Wrong.
"It's definitely a pride thing," said Skylight head coach
Indeed, a rivalry has grown between the two
teams, albeit a somewhat one-sided one. The Skylights have dominated UGF in
recent years, winning the last 10 meetings.
Still, the Argos (5-8, 11-16) have played the Skylights tough over the past few
seasons and they will be playing with added incentive on Saturday night.
It will be senior night at UGF as standout seniors Kim Freeman and Nichole
Neill will be playing in their final home game of their stellar career.
Freeman is probably the all-time leading scorer at UGF, although records aren't
complete. She has scored more than 1,300 points in her career and is averaging
16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
Neill, who started out her career at Northern, has been a dominant scorer for
the
"Obviously, they are going to be playing with a lot of emotion,"
Erickson said. "They're going to come out and compete hard and try and get
them a win in their last home game."
UGF also has solid players rounding out its starting five led by former Havre
High standout Jayla McPherson (10.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg). Also contributing are
transfers Dana Ball (13.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Melanie
Green (8.9 ppg, 2.4 apg).
As a team, the
"We know they can score points," Erickson said. "Our defense is
really going to have to set the tone right away. We want to aggressive and
physical and get up into them and hopefully take them out of their offensive
sets."
It's a strategy that's worked well for Northern in the second half of a 72-53
win over UGF earlier this season. But Erickson would like to see his team carry
it a step further.
"We really want to take it to them defensively," Erickson said.
"They don't like being guarded that way. We not only want take away the
outside shot, but stop their penetration. Neill and Ball really like to use the
ball screen to take you to the basket."
Another thing that Erickson wants to see improve is his team's rebounding. It's
not that it's been bad, it just hasn't been as good as
he hoped.
"I am little disappointed with the way we've rebounded," he said.
"We need to get more physical there too. It comes down to just wanting to
work to get rebounds."
All of these things that Erickson wants to see improved on Saturday aren't just
for the
"Obviously, that's our main goal right now," he said. "We need
these things to be successful for the conference tournament. That's what makes
this game important. We want to be playing our best basketball of the season
come tournament time."
Northern will have to do it with a banged up squad. Starting guard and leading
scorer Jessi Reome is nursing a bad back and is questionable for the game. The
Skylights still have players battling the remaining effects of illnesses as
well.
Still, Erickson knows his team will be ready to go.
"The pressure is really off us," he said. "We just need to go
out and execute. It's a rivalry and I think we have the type of competitors to
step up and play well."
The game can be heard locally on 92.5 KPQX-FM and tips off at