HAVRE -- The Montana Tech and Montana State-Northern men's and women's basketball teams split weekend doubleheaders at Armory Gymnasium. The Tech women got a 62-58 win on Saturday, but the MSUN women bounced back with a 67-53 win on Sunday. On the men's side, MSUN started with a 65-61 win on Saturday, and Tech finished with a 71-69 overtime win on Sunday.
Montana Tech women 62, Montana State-Northern 58 (Saturday)
Celestina Faletoi led a balanced Montana Tech scoring attack with 18 points to help the Orediggers to a 62-58 Frontier Conference women's basketball win at Montana State-Northern on Saturday.
Dani Urick added 12 points and Brooke Heggie and Mesa Williams each chipped in 10 for Montana Tech, which made 14 of 19 free throw attempts in the game. Urick and Faletoi were each 6 for 6 from the foul line. The Orediggers committed only seven turnovers, while forcing MSU-Northern into 12 giveaways.
The Skylights got 13 points each from Tiara Gilham and Peyton Kehr.
Montana State-Northern women 67, Montana Tech 53 (Sunday)
Montana State-Northern dominated the second and third quarters en route to a 67-53 Frontier Conference women's basketball win over Montana Tech on Sunday. It's the Skylights' first conference win of the 2020-21 season.
Tech built a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, but MSU-Northern led 29-25 at halftime and 47-36 after three. The Skylights led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter.
Tiara Gilham scored a team-high 21 points for MSUN, which also received double-digit scoring efforts from Sydney Hovde (14 points), Mckenzie Gunter (13) and Peyton Kehr (12). Hovde added a game-high 13 rebounds, while Kehr had a game-high five assists.
Dani Urick paced Montana Tech with 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and an 8-for-8 mark from the free throw line.
MSUN (2-8 overall, 1-5 Frontier Conference) will next host Providence on Jan. 20 before welcoming Rocky Mountain College to Havre on Jan. 23 and 24. Montana Tech (4-6, 4-6) is next at Carroll College on Jan. 23 and 24.
Montana State-Northern men 65, Montana Tech 61 (Saturday)
Mascio McCadney had 20 points and Jomel Boyd added 15 as Montana State-Northern edged past Montana Tech for a 65-61 win in Frontier Conference men's basketball action on Saturday.
The game was close throughout with neither team leading by more than eight points. It was tied at 28 at halftime, before MSU-Northern pulled out the win with a 37-point second half.
Sindou Diallo had a game-high 27 points to lead Montana Tech, which also got 11 points from Nate Ward and a game-high nine rebounds from Cody Baumstarck.
Montana Tech men 71, Montana State-Northern 69, OT (Sunday)
Cody Baumstarck sank two free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining in overtime to help Montana Tech to a 71-69 Frontier Conference men's basketball win over Montana State-Northern at Armory Gymnasium on Sunday.
Baumstarck stepped to the free throw line with the Orediggers trailing 69-68 and made both attempts to give Tech a 70-69 lead. MSU-Northern turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play and fouled Sindou Diallo with 0.5 seconds on the clock. Diallo made one free throw to push the lead to the final 71-69 margin.
Diallo finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Baumstarck had eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Markieth Brown Jr. led the Orediggers with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
MSUN received a game-high 21 points from Jomel Boyd, who also had nine rebounds. David Harris had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Lights, who fell behind by 13 points in the first half thanks to a 7-of-27 shooting performance over the first 20 minutes. They were better in the second half (16 of 39) to force overtime but finished the game shooting just 34.8%.
It was Tech's first win in Armory Gymnasium since 2014.
The Orediggers (6-5 overall, 6-3 Frontier Conference) stay on the road this week to play Carroll College in Helena on Jan. 23 and 24. The Lights (3-4, 2-4), meanwhile, are scheduled to host Providence on Jan. 20 and Rocky Mountain College on Jan. 23 and 24.
