Providence basketball ended up sweeping the season series with MSU-Northern as both the men and women suffered losses in Havre on Thursday night. The Skylights fell, (67-62), while the Lights were outpaced, (73-60).
The Skylights (12-15, 3-11) once again had a close encounter with the No. 25 team in the country. Trailing by just one after the break, Northern went on a tear and scored the first 10 points of the second half. Providence answered with a run of their own to get back on level terms and the third quarter canceled each other out. The Lady Argos made shots down the stretch when it mattered most and sunk Northern for the 16th straight time in the season series. Keanna Salave’a continued to wreck havoc, putting in another double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. She was joined in double-figures by Ashlee Maldonado with 18 and 10 each from Taliah Lee and Elianna Ramirez. Northern finished with two players who broke 10 points as Shyan Krass had 15 points and Canzas HisBadHorse finished with 10.
For Northern’s men (8-19, 2-12), the offense continued to sputter after a good first half. The difference was in 3-point shooting and while Providence wasn’t much better at 3-of-13, the Lights shot 14.8% from downtown, making just four of 27 attempts down behind the arc. The Argo offense put up 40 points in the last 20 minutes and were able to get away with playing a zone defense that led to misses from Northern on the perimeter. Mike Wright Jr. turned in another good offense performance, finishing with 18 overall points, including 14 in the second half. Antoine Boyd Jr. was a 14-point player on the night and Nikolajs Atanasovs had 13. Jamil Bowles was the final Argo to reach 10 points. Leon Sayers IV had 12 points in the first 20 minutes and finished with 17 for the game. Cinque Maxwell was the other Light in double-figures with 12.
Northern closes out the regular season with a home doubleheader with Carroll. Skylights are scheduled for a 2pm start and the Lights are up at 4pm with those times pending due to senior day activities in between games.
