BILLINGS – The Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears entered conference play on Thursday night with a 6-1 record. That record improved to 7-1 after Rocky ran over MSU-Northern 65-52 in Frontier Conference women’s basketball action at the Fortin Center in Billings.
Rocky jumped out to a 33-20 lead and never looked back as it built its lead up to 23 points in the second half.
Marissa Van Atta led the way with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but she had plenty of help. Alecia Chamberlin poured in 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Markaela Francis added 12.
Peyton Kehr led the Skylights with 22 points in the loss.
The men took the floor right after and the result was the same, with Rocky taking home a hard-fought 78-74 victory.
The Lights began the contest on fire as they outscored Rocky 38-28 in the first half. It was more of the same halfway through the second half as Northern built a 12-point advantage with less than 10 minutes to play.
It was all Rocky the rest of the night. The Battlin’ Bears poured in 50 second-half points as they survived a scare in the conference opener. Point guard Satchel McDonald hit a layup and got fouled with less than two minutes left in the game, and that play gave Rocky the lead for good.
Jared Samuelson led the Battlin’ Bears with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Danny Betcher added 13 and McDonald finished with 12.
Northern’s Adam Huse led all scorers with 25 points.
Rocky next plays Providence on Saturday.
