Bulldogs snap Skylights' winning streak in Dillon
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
Streaks, as the cliche goes, are made to be broken. And it just so happens the
Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team's six-game winning
came to an end in its Frontier Conference season-opener against UM-Western on
Friday night in Dillon.
The Skylights didn't let go of their winning ways without a fight. They came
from way behind against the Bulldogs, only to fall short, 59-56.
The game was part of a weekend split, as the Skylights defeated Montana Tech on
Saturday night, 98-54.
Northern fell behind 17-0 to start Friday
night's game, as the much bigger Western front line assumed command. By the
time the first 20 minutes of the contest were in the books, the Skylights were
trailing 36-18.
That deficit turned out to be too much for them, MSU-N first-year head coach
Chris Mouat said.
“We came out very flat to start the game and nothing was going right for us,”
Mouat said. “We played much better in the second half, and I was happy with our
effort and our ability to come back and make a game out of it.
“But we just fell too far behind in the first half,” he added. “And it was
something we just couldn't completely overcome.”
Something else the Skylights struggled with was Western's size. The Bulldogs'
interior play dominated the game, as forward Katherine Sunwall racked up a huge
double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing a game-high 20 rebounds. Although
she was in foul trouble throughout the night, 6-1
“We played much better in the second half and we found some things we could do
against them that worked well,” Mouat said. “But their size and physicality was
something we have not seen this year Š.
“Still, we made a good run at them down the stretch,” he added. “But in the end
we didn't have enough left to come all the way back.”
Like Sunwall, MSU-N forward DeLayne Johnston posted a monster double-double.
The junior scored 15 points and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds. Point
guard Camille Gardner scored a game-high 21 points, including three of
Northern's five 3-pointers.
It only took the Skylights 24 hours to show why, despite the loss in Dillon,
they are going to be one of the upper-tier teams in the Frontier Conference in
2006. The Skylights went into
“I couldn't be more pleased with how things went against Montana Tech,” Mouat
said. “We went in and got off to a great start, played great defense throughout
the game, and the whole team played really well.”
As the Bulldogs did on Friday night, the Skylights came roaring out of the
gates against Tech and never looked back. By halftime Northern led 47-24, and
the team didn't slow down in the second half.
Five Skylights reached double figures, including freshman reserve Mandee
Carroll, who came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points.
“That was one of the nice things to come out of how well we played against
Tech,” Mouat said. “A lot of players got a lot of minutes, and Mandee Carroll
had a really nice game for us.”
“We're happy to come away with a split this weekend,” Mouat said. “We would
like to think that if we could have got off to a better start in Dillon, things
might have been different.
“But it didn't work out that way,” he added. “We know that every game in our
conference is going to be difficult and very important, so to get a split this
weekend was big for us.”
The Skylights (11-3, 1-1) will be back at home Friday night when they host
Bulldogs 59, Skylights 56
MSU-N - DeLayne Johnston 5-11 5-5 15, Michele VanDyke 1-8 3-6 5, Camille
Gardner 9-17 0-0 21, Jaci Heny 4-11 3-4 13, Neesha Bravard 1-1 0-0 2. Totals:
20-51 11-15 56.
UMW - Becky O'Neil 7-10 0-4 14, Katherine Sunwall 9-13 0-2 18, Megan Schmitz
5-14 0-0 12, Billi Suhr 2-7 3-4 7, Lindsey Scott 1-2 0-0 3, Laura Shea 2-6 0-0
4, Collette Behrent 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 26-59 4-12 59.
3-point goals - MSU-N 5-11 (Gardner 3, Heny 2), UMW 3-18 (Schmitz 2, Scott 1),
Rebounds - MSU-N 34, UMW 35; Total fouls - MSU-N 15, UMW 12; Fouled out -
O'Neil.
Skylights 98, Orediggers 54
MSU-N (1-1, 11-3) - DeLayne Johnston 11-17 3-4 25,
MT (0-2, 4-12) - Kate Strietz 5-12 1-2 11, Kyle Cook 2-8 0-0 4, Tami Infante
2-6 2-2 6, Marcie Alzheimer 5-11 2-2 12, Jordan Kambich 2-6 1-2 6, Shelli
Vicars 0-0 0-0 0, Jonna Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Stephanie Baertsch 0-4 2-2 2, Jacqui
Millam 0-4 0-0 0, Kelsey Devries 1-2 0-0 3, Johanna Fryer 4-9 2-2 10. Totals
21-64 10-12 54.
3-point goals - Northern 7-11 (Heggem 1-3, Gardner 1-1, Heny 3-4, Bravard 0-1,
Carroll 2-2), Tech 2-20 (Cook 0-2, Infante 0-1, Alzheimer 0-2, Kambich 1-4,
Davis 0-1, Baertsch 0-3, Millam 0-4, Devries 1-2, Fryer 0-1). Rebounds -
Northern 40 , Tech 29; Fouls - Northern 13, Tech 21. Fouled out - Fryer.