Skylights down Bears in Billings to finish road schedule

Skylights down Bears in Billings to finish road schedule

George Ferguson

Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights were riding high after their upset of UM-Western two weeks ago in Havre. But, on Thursday night in Helena, the Skylights were brought back down to earth, just a little.

Northern traveled to Carroll College on Thursday night and the Saints ran the Skylights out of town by a score of 94-72.

The story of the game was Carroll's 12-for-28 night from behind the 3-point line. The Saints bombed in treys all night long, and while Northern's offense played well, the Skylights couldn't overcome that kind of shooting performance.

Just as she did in Havre last month, former Havre High School standout Jolene Fuzesy put another 3-point assault on the Skylights. Fuzesy poured in 20 points, including a 5-for-7 performance from the 3-point line. The Saints also got a game-high 22 points from Andrea Hall and an added 15 points from Emili Woody.

Northern shot better than 48 percent from the field en route to scoring 74 points. The Skylights got another double-double from DeLayne Johnston, who scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. It was Johnston's third straight double-double. Jaci Heny also scored 16 points, and Michele VanDyke and Camille Gardner chipped in with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Despite the disappointing loss to Carroll, the Skylights managed to keep pace in the conference standings with a 79-63 win at Rocky Mountain College in Billings on Saturday night.

Northern's offense kicked things into high gear in the first half, as the Skylights raced out to a 47-33 halftime advantage. Despite playing valiantly in the second half, the Bears couldn't overcome the large deficit. The win over RMC gave Skylight head coach Chris Mouat a season sweep over Rocky, where he had been an assistant.

The Skylights' post presence played a big role in the victory over RMC. VanDyke poured in a game-high 23 points and Johnston racked up her fourth straight double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Heny added 16 points and Jena Heggem hit two threes on her way to eight points.

The weekend split with Carroll and RMC leaves the Skylights alone in fourth place in the Frontier Conference standings at 5-6. Northern is 15-8 overall.

MSU-N will be back home Friday night to host Lewis-Clark State. The Skylights will play host to Westminster College on Saturday night.

Saints 94, Skylights 72

MSU-N - DeLayne Johnston 7-16 2-4 16, Jena Heggem 3-5 1-1 7, Michele VanDyke 3-10 9-10 15, Camille Gardner 3-7 4-4 10, Jaci Heny 4-11 6-6 16, Neesha Bravard 0-1 0-0 0, Mandee Carroll 0-2 2-2 2, Ashley Trulock 3-5 2-2 8. Totals: 23-57 26-29 74.

CC - Emili Woody 6-10 1-1 15, Amy Brooks 3-6 0-0 6, Carly Syverson 2-8 1-2 7, Jolene Fuzesy 6-8 5-7 20, Andrea Hall 7-15 5-6 22, Danielle Maloney 1-3 1-2 3, Tiffany Rochelle 0-0 0-0 0, Missy Obert 0-0 2-2 2, Megan Kane 0-0 2-2 2, Sophi Forney 2-5 7-8 11, Katie Rodgers 3-7 0-0 6. Totals: 30-62 22-27 94.

3-point goals - MSU-N 2-8 (Heny 2-5), CC 12-28 (Fuzesy 5-7, Hall 3-8, Syverson 2-6, Woody 2-4). Rebounds - MSU-N - 26 (Johnston 11), CC 36 (Brooks 7).

Skylights 79, Bears 63

MSU-N - DeLayne Johnston 5-10 10-12 18, Jena Heggem 2-6 2-2 8, Michele VanDyke 8-11 7-8 23, Camille Gardner 0-3 6-6 6, Jaci Heny 6-10 2-3 16, Neesha Bravard 1-3 2-2 4, Ashley Trulock 2-4 0-1 4. Totals: 23-48 29-34 79.

RMC - Alyssa Root 4-12 0-0 10, Gretchen Wall 2-5 3-4 7, Jeri Matter 1-7 0-0 2, Stephanie Neubauer 3-7 2-2 9, Erin Ramsay 0-4 2-2 2, Josie Evans 5-8 4-7 14, Alysa Brown 8-15 3-5 15. Totals: 23-68 14-20 63.

Halftime: MSU-N 47-33. 3-pointers: MSU-N 4-14 (Heggem 2-5, Heny 2-5), RMC 3-20 (Root 2-8, Neubauer 1-4). Rebounds: MSU-N 33 (Johnston 10), RMC 42 (Wall 13). Fouls: MSU-N 18, RMC 21. Fouled out: Brown.