Frontier Notebook: One weekend, a lot at stake in the Frontier

They say a lot can happen in a week. Well, that's the case for the Montana State University-Northern men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the rest of the Frontier Conference as the regular season comes down to one last weekend.

In the case of the Skylights, there's plenty at stake when Northern hosts Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech this weekend. While LC State already clinched the Frontier regular season title, and home court advantage through the playoffs, Northern currently sits in a second place tie with UGF, and both the Skylights and Argos have a one-game lead on Carroll College.

So for Northern, the way to clinch the No. 2 seed and a home semifinal game next weekend is simple - win two games and it's done. Even if the Skylights ended up staying tied with the Argos, Northern has the 2-1 edge over UGF. If the Skylights end up tied with Carroll in the final standings, Carroll would get the No. 2 seed and host the semifinals instead, while the Skylights would be the No. 3 seed and host a quarterfinal game next week.

The rest of the Frontier is also somewhat unsettled. Rocky Mountain College is sitting good in fifth place, but, with two losses this weekend, the Bears could fall to sixth. Montana Tech has a one-game lead over UM-Western, and the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs for the final spot in the playoffs, so Tech would have to lose both this weekend, and Western win both of its remaining games for the last spot in the playoffs to change.

On the men's side, LC State has also clinched a share of the regular season title, and one more win this weekend would give the Warriors the league crown outright. Carroll and Western play each other this weekend so only one of the two has a chance to catch LC in the final standings, should the Warriors lose both of their remaining game. Meanwhile, the winner of the Carroll/Western game will more than likely clinch the No. 2 seed and a bye into the semifinals.

Rocky Mountain is sitting in fourth place and they can't fall to fifth. That's where MSU-Northern sits, and the Lights are in a good spot, as they could only fall to sixth if they lose both games and UGF wins twice this weekend. Northern has the tiebreaker over the Argos. UGF is also in a battle with Montana Tech for the last playoff spot, and the Argos can sew that up Friday night with a win over Tech in Great Falls. If Tech were to sweep UGF and Northern this weekend, and the Argos also lose to LCSC Saturday night, Tech would move into the last playoff spot, and the Argos would be out.

Player of the Year Guesses

We're only one week away from the announcement of the Frontier's postseason awards, and, the highly-anticipated announcement of Frontier MVP honors.

On the women's side, the race might be close, but Northern could have its second straight MVP, as junior Natalee Faupel has put together a conference season to remember. At 17 points and six rebounds per game Faupel has been incredible this season, and looks to be the front runner. LCSC's Caelyn Orlandi and UGF's Nneka Nnadi and Erin Legel are all candidates for the award as well.

On the men's side, no one has been more consistent than RMC's Rob Nyby. Averaging 20 points per game, the senior from Plentywood should win the award. However, Preseason Frontier MVP Dexter Williams Jr., has really come on strong the second half of the season, while LCSC's Jake Wiley and Montana Tech's Jalen Coates also have to be in the discussion.

The Frontier men's and women's awards will be announced during each Frontier championship game.

Leaders

Heading into the final weekend of the season, scoring and rebounding titles are up for grabs.

Faupel leads the Frontier women in scoring at 17 points per night, while Legel is right behind her at 16 ppg. RMC's Tenika Capouch is the top rebounder at nine per outing, while Tech's Hattie Thatcher leads the league in assists, at 7 per game, as well as steals, at 2.3 per outing. UGF's Whitney George leads the conference with a whopping three blocked shots per night.

On the men's side, Nyby is averaging 20 ppg, while Coates averages 19 per night. Northern's top scorer is Warren Edmondson at 13 ppg, which is 13th in the league. UM-W's Williams Jr., is the top rebounder at eight per game. Coates also leads the Frontier at 2.4 steals per game, while LCSC's Rich Tesmer is tops in assists at 4.7 per outing. Carroll's Ryan Imhoff is the leading shot blocker in the Frontier at 1.27 per game.

Honors

Coates was also named the Frontier Men's Player of the Week last week. Montana Tech split a weekend home series. The Orediggers downed Rocky Mountain College 87-77 and lost to Western 56-64.

Coates averaged 29.5 points, five rebounds, two assists and 2.5 steals per game. He was 25-of-48 from the field (52 percent), 4-of-16 3-point field goals and 5-of-10 from the free-throw-line. His 30 points against Rocky was a career high.

Tech also won the Women's Player of the Week honor as Martha Dembek was tabbed. Dembek averaged 24 points, six rebounds, 2.5 assists and one block per game. She was 14-of-26 from the field (54 percent), 7-of-15 in 3-point field goals (47 percent) and 13-of-14 from the free-throw-line (93 percent). Her 29 points against Montana Western was a career high.