Skylights earn weekend split with Lethbridge
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News Sports Editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team had nearly two
weeks of rest since its season-opening win over
In that time, the Skylights lost starting forward Jayla
McPherson to a season-ending knee injury. On Saturday night, it also appeared
that MSU-N lost its ability to play sound defense. The Skylights succumbed to a
3-point onslaught from visiting
The Pronghorns came into Havre and lit the Skylights up for 15 3-pointers. Not
only did they make 15 treys, but they only attempted 28, which gave them an
astonishing percentage from behind the arc.
The two teams were tied at 33-33 at halftime,
but MSU-N had no answer for the Pronghorns' 3-point shooters. That was
ultimately the difference in the Skylights' first loss of the season.
“We played very poor defense on Saturday night,” said MSU-N head coach
“And
Jessica Lynch paced the Pronghorns with a game-high 22 points, including five
threes. Giana Gregorio also torched the Skylights for
17 points, including three treys.
Northern got 19 points from senior guard Jaci Heny as well as 12 points from Michele VanDyke.
Camille Gardner and Ashley Trulock chipped in with 11
points apiece.
As bad as Northern's defense was and as good as the
Pronghorns shot the ball on Saturday night, things certainly changed on Sunday
afternoon when the two teams hooked up again.
The Skylights came out determined to shut the Pronghorn bombers down as well as
execute offensively. That is exactly what happened. MSU-N grabbed an early lead
and never let go of it on its way to a 73-65 win that wasn't even as close as
the scoreboard indicated.
“Our defensive effort was night and day from Saturday to today,” Mouat said.
“We made a simple little adjustment, but the credit has to go to our kids. They
take pride in playing good defense, and they came out today and really put
forth a tremendous effort defensively.
“I am very proud of these kids for responding and coming out and playing as
hard as they did today,” he added.
The Skylights started the game off by establishing their inside presence, going
inside often to DeLayne Johnston and Michele VanDyke,
and later to reserve forward Ashley Trulock. The
strategy worked as Northern worked its way to a solid 44-33 halftime lead.
“We wanted to get off to a good start and we wanted to establish DeLayne inside
early,” Mouat said. “That worked really well for us. It opened up things for us
on the perimeter, and our shooters were able to get things going.”
Indeed, senior point guard Camille Gardner shot the ball extremely well in the
second half, and Heny was able to take advantage of
her speed and get to the free-throw line.
Northern continued to up its lead via a 15-4 run midway through the second
half, leading by as many as 17 points with less than four minutes to play. It
wasn't until the game's final two minutes that the Pronghorn's 3-point shooters
got going, cutting the Skylight lead to under 10
points by game's end.
As well as the Skylights played defensively, Mouat was just as pleased with his
team's offensive output. The Skylights were solid from the field and got a
balanced effort from the entire team.
“I also thought our offensive execution was night and day from Saturday,” Mouat
said. “I like the shots that we took, and we did a really good job on the fast
break. It was just a very solid team effort.”
The Pronghorns got a game-high 26 points from Lynch. But on this night she was
the only player to reach double figures for
“She is a very good player and we had no answer for her,” Mouat said. “But in
all, I am just really proud of our kids for the effort they gave tonight.”
The split with
Saturday
Pronghorns 80, Skylights 73
MSU-N - Michele VanDyke 6-13 0-3 12, Ashley Trulock 4-8 3-5 11, Camille Gardner 5-8 0-4 11, Chelsie Searle 4-5 0-0 9, DeLayne Johnston 2-6 2-2 6,
Sunday
Skylights 73, Pronghorns 65
Lethbridge - Giana Gregorio 3-8 3-7 9, Jessica Lynch
11-19 2-4 26, Kim Bridge 0-1 2-2 2, Megan Campbell 4-5 0-0 8, Jordana Miltimore 4-11 0-0 9,
Joan Wheat 4-4 1-4 9, Candace Thompson 0-2 2-2 2. Totals: 26-53 9-12 65
MSU-N - DeLayne Johnston 5-8 2-2 12, Michele VanDyke
4-8 0-0 8, Camille Gardner 7-10 0-0 16, Chelsie Searle
3-8 0-0 7, Jaci Heny 3-14
6-6 13, Ashlie Griffin 1-4 0-0 2,