GREAT FALLS — Rocky Mountain College and Montana Western’s women's basketball seasons survived another day after each team picked up wins Thursday night in the Frontier Conference tournament.
The Battlin’ Bears slightly edged MSU-Northern and Western had a big second half to lift the Bulldogs over Montana Tech. Rocky will move on to face top-seeded Carroll College at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by the matchup between Western and second-seeded Providence.
Rocky Mountain 86, MSU-Northern 81
The Skylights held onto a narrow 39-36 lead at the half after getting 19 points from Ryley Kehr and another 11 from Taya Trottier. Rocky trailed by six early in the third but went on a run that put the Battlin' Bears ahead 57-52. Heading into the fourth the Battlin’ Bears were clinging to a one-point lead.
In the first three minutes of the fourth, Brenna Linse gave Rocky a nine-point lead. The Bears held strong with that lead and even extended it to 11 after a pair of free throws from Gracee Lekvold with less than three minutes on the clock. The Skylights made one last push to keep themselves in the game.
Taya Trottier drilled a wing 3-pointer to bring the score to 78-70, and head coach Chris Mouat called a timeout to set up his defense. It proved to be effective as Northern got a steal on the inbounds pass and Jalen Callendar scored a layup, cutting the deficit to six. However it was all too late for the Skylights as Rocky made late-game free throws to secure the win.
Rocky had five players score in double figures, led by a team-high from Morgan Baird with 26 points. Kehr led all scorers with a game-high 32 for the Skylights.
Montana Western 69, Montana Tech 47
It took nearly four minutes for either team to score, but the Orediggers drew first blood and proceeded to go ahead 8-0. Ally Cleverly gave Tech an 18-6 lead after putting in a corner 3 to end the first quarter. Western found its offense in the second quarter but still trailed 26-21 going into the halftime break.
The Bulldogs evened the score for the first time since tipoff after an and-one by Joelnell Momberg. Shainy Mack made a 3-pointer shortly after, adding to Western’s 13-3 run to start the quarter that put the Bulldogs ahead 34-29. By the end of the third, Western was leading 45-36. It was a lead that only continued to grow as the Bulldogs cruised to victory in the fourth.
The Bulldogs got a game-high 21 points out of Jordan Sweeney and another 18 from Momberg. Brooklynn Hankwitz scored a team-high 14 points for Tech.
