Skylights leave L-C in the dark;
Heny goes off for 40 in Northern's
95-81 upset of sixth-ranked Warriors
Copyright The Trib
HAVRE,
Mont. -- The Lewis-Clark State
women's basketball team came out
flat Friday night against Montana
State-Northern. Then the Warriors
simply got flattened, losing 95-81
to the Skylights in a Frontier
Conference contest.
Jaci Heny, a
5-foot-6 guard, set a team record
with 40 points for MSUN, canning 11
of 13 field-goal attempts and 15 of
19 free throws.
"We weren't ready for the
competition level tonight," said
LCSC coach Brian Orr, who shouldered
some of the blame by saying he had
failed to get his team "mentally
ready to play."
Orr described the contest as
physical, with his players
struggling to find ways to defend
against the Skylights. He pointed to
the discrepancy at the free-throw
line, where MSUN got 49 freebies,
compared to 18 for the Warriors.
"I've never had (an opponent)
shoot 49 free throws," he said. "The
problem is, we attacked the basket
all night long. We went inside all
night long, and we were getting
smashed. They went inside and they
got the whistles.
"You hate to say we got screwed,
but it was one of those games where
it was really frustrating to play
and really frustrating to coach."
Despite struggling early on, the
sixth-ranked Warriors managed to
forge a four-point lead late in the
first half before slipping back into
a 40-all tie at intermission. After
that, things quickly got out of
hand, Orr said.
"In the second half, we just had
a hard time defending anybody," he
said. "We could not keep anybody on
the floor. We had three players foul
out (Jade Fulbright, Ashley Baker
and Katya Yancheva) and three more
who ended up with four fouls."
The Warriors had four players
score in double figures, led by post
Aundra Morrison with 20. Baker added
17, Yancheva 15, and Janeen Nelson
10.
Besides Heny's career night, MSUN
also benefited from 24 points from
her backcourt mate, Camille Gardner,
and 16 from forward Michele VanDyke.
For the game the Skylights shot 58
percent from the field (12-of-21)
and 74 percent from the line
(36-of-49).
Conversely, L-C shot 39 percent
from the floor (31-of-81), just 31
percent in the second half
(15-of-49).
"We've got to put it behind us,"
Orr said. "Montana-Western won
tonight (beating Carroll at home
71-66), so our (FC) records are tied
(9-2). Now we have to win out to
have a chance to win the league, and
that starts (tonight) against Great
Falls."
After tonight's game in Great
Falls, the Warriors close out the
regular season with home games
against Montana Tech and
Montana-Western.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (21-4, 9-2)
Hart 3-7 0-0 6, Fulbright 2-8 2-3
6, Kalbfleisch 1-2 0-0 3, Baker
7-15, 3-7 17, Morrison 7-15, 6-6 20,
Wittmer 1-4 0-0 2, Preston 0-1 0-0
0, Yancheva 6-15 0-0 15, Nelson 3-10
1-2 10, West 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 31-81
12-18 81.
MSU-NORTHERN (16-8, 6-6)
Johnston 3-5 1-2 7, Heggem 0-4
3-4 3, VanDyke 6-11 4-6 16, Gardner
5-9 10-12 24, Heny 11-13 15-19 40,
Bravard 0-1 0-0 0, Carroll 0-0 0-0
0, Trulock 1-2 3-6 5. Totals 26-45
36-49 95.
Halftime score -- LCSC 40 MSU-Northern
40. Three-point field goals -- LCSC
7-20 (Hart 0-1, Fulbright 0-1,
Kalbfleisch 1-2, Yancheva 3-7,
Nelson 3-8); MSU-Northern 7-14 (Heggem
0-4, Gardner 4-6, Heny 3-4).
Rebounds -- LCSC 36 (Baker 11); MSU-Northern
41 (Trulock 9). Assists -- LCSC 19 (Yancheva
7); MSU-Northern 17 (Heggem,
Gardner, Heny 5). Total fouls --
LCSC 33, MSU-Northern 15. Technical
fouls -- Kalbfleisch. Fouled out --
Fulbright, Baker, Yancheva. |
