Frontier Notebook: Faupel's star just keeps rising

When you look at the list of Montana State University-Northern's all-time leading scorers, it's a who's who of the greatest to ever suit up for the Skylights. And, thanks to two stellar performances in the Armory Gymnasium last weekend, MSU-N junior Natalee Faupel is already a part of that list.

With 30 points last Friday night against Montana Tech, and 18 more Saturday night against Lewis-Clark State, Faupel earned Frontier Conference Player of the Week honors, and something even a little more prestigious — she jumped into Northern's prestigious 1,000 points club.

Faupel, who's averaging 15.5 points per game this season, and was a First-Team All-Conference performer a year ago, has already tallied 1,004 points in what has already been a stellar career.

Faupel is now 11th on Northern's all-time scoring list, but, she'll quickly move past several players before the end of this season, including her teammate the previous two seasons, A'Jha Edwards, who, in just two years at Northern, totaled 1,011 points.

The remarkable Edwards is 10th in MSU-N history in scoring. First is Sheila Green (1988-92) with 1,566 points, followed by Jodi Kruta (1992-96), Samm Schermele (2007-11), Andrea Anderson (1983-86), Charleen Noreen (1995-1999), Kristen Lawrence (1992-95), Stacy Barnes (1993-97), Jordan Bruursema (2008-13) and Jaci Heny (2004-06).

Faupel, will likely pass not only Edwards, but also Heny and Bruursema this season, and she has her entire senior year to keep working her way up the list. Of course, the individual accolades aren't what drives Faupel, and team success has been just as good as her scoring average during her already brilliant MSU-N career. Northern has finished in the top half of the Frontier in both of her first two seasons, has went to the NAIA national tournament in the same two seasons, and the Skylights have been nationally ranked for much of her career.

First Rematches

The Frontier hasn't yet reached the halfway point in the season, but in essence, it might as well have because teams will start playing each other for a second time this weekend. In Havre, that means some intriguing rematches.

For the Northern women, the big rematch comes Friday night against Rocky Mountain College. The Battlin' Bears handed the Skylights their first loss of the 2015-16 campaign back on Dec. 4 in Billings, and it wasn't pretty as RMC beat the Skylights 76-58 while literally leading wire-to-wire. So, there's no doubt Northern would like to turn that around this weekend, but both teams will be a little different than they were last month in Billings.

MSU-N will likely still be without senior guard Rachelle Bennett, who suffered a knee injury at the very end of a game against Carroll College two weeks ago. RMC is also dealing with an injury to transfer points guard Destiny Amezquita, who was injured early in a close loss to Carroll last weekend. Amezquita scored 17 points and nailed five 3-pointers in the first meeting between the Bears and Skylights, so her presence will surely be missed if she can't go Friday night in Havre.

Meanwhile, the MSU-N men have big turnaround games as well, and of course, Saturday night, the long-standing rivalry with UM-Western will be revived. And the Lights are hoping to reverse their fortunes in Havre.

Western blitzed Northern 72-57 back on Dec. 6 in Dillon as the Bulldogs shot a whopping 58 percent from the field, and got a game-high 21 points from Demetrius Balark. Northern's defense has recovered since, and is leading the Frontier, allowing just 62 points per night.

But, when the Lights and Bulldogs hook up, statistics usually go out the window. It's become perhaps the most heated rivalry in all of the Frontier, and it's been nearly a decade since either team swept the season series.

LC on Fire

When the Lewis-Clark State men's and women's basketball teams pulled out of Havre victorious last Saturday night, they took with them some impressive winning streaks, and possession of first place in the Frontier standings.

The LCSC men have now won nine straight games and have put together an impressive 18-1 overall record. The Warriors, the defending Frontier champions, last lost back on Dec. 4, to Carroll College in their Frontier opener. Interestingly, LC's only game this week is Saturday night when the Fighting Saints go to Lewiston, Idaho, in what will surely be the NAIA Game of the Week.

LC's women have been almost as impressive. The Warriors have ripped off six straight wins and have risen to No. 14 in the NAIA, while ascending to the top of the Frontier standings. Like the men, the LC women host Carroll this Saturday night in what will also be the NAIA Game of the Week. The women already hold a win over the highly-ranked Fighting Saints, and another one Saturday night would give the Warriors a big leg up on the race for the Frontier's regular season title, as well as home court advantage through the league playoffs.