Frontier Notebook: Frontier postseason should be exciting

The regular season is over, but the fun is just beginning for the Frontier Conference men's and women's basketball teams. That's because, it's postseason time.

Tonight, the men play their quarterfinal games, while the women get started on Tuesday. The men's bracket includes Northern hosting Rocky Mountain College in the 4-5 matchup, while No. 2 UM-Western (23-6) takes on No. 7 Montana Tech (11-17) in Dillon and No. 3 Lewis-Clark State (25-5) hosts No. 6 Providence (11-17) in Lewiston, Idaho. Top-seeded Carroll College (25-5) has a bye in the first round and will host the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals on Friday night. The other semifinal will be played at the sight of the highest remaining seed, while the championship game is slated for Monday night.

The men's playoff will be interesting because, the top three teams in the Frontier are likely locked into the NAIA national tournament. Yes, Carroll, Western and LCSC are going to nationals no matter what happens to them in the playoffs. But, for the rest of the Frontier, the only way any of them are going to nationals at this point is to win the league title. Northern is by far the closest team to being in at-large bid contention, and a trip to the title game might get the Lights there, but the more likely way for them to reach Kansas City is to cut down the nets next Monday night.

The women's postseason is very similar to the men. Carroll earned the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, which starts Wednesday. The Saints, UM-Western and Rocky Mountain College have all locked up bids to the national tournament, while fourth-seeded Providence sits on the at-large bubble right now. The Argos are close to being in, but a win or two in the playoffs wouldn't hurt. The rest of the field, including 2017 NAIA runner-up LC State is on the outside looking in, and will only go to Billings if they win the Frontier championship.

The women's tourney will feature No. 7 Northern traveling to No. 2 Western, No. 6 Montana Tech visiting No. 3 RMC and No. 5 LCSC visiting No. 4 Providence. Carroll has a bye and will host the lowest remaining seed in the semifinal on Saturday night, while the two highest remaining seeds will play in the other semifinal Saturday. The women's championship game is set for Tuesday night.

Final Stars

With the regular season over, the final stats are in. Carroll's Ryan Imhoff won the Frontier scoring title by averaging 20 points per game. That put him 14th in the NAIA. Northern's Ryan Reeves led the Frontier in rebounds per game at 8.5 and blocked shots per game at 3.4 and 104 total. Reeves also led the NAIA in both blocks categories, and was 13th in the nation in rebounds per game. Imhoff also led the Frontier in steals, while Dom Robinson led the league in assists at 5.24, and he passed MSU-N's Adam Huse in the final night of the season for 3-pointers made with 74. Huse finished with 72. Robinson was fifth in the nation in assists per game. Huse was eighth in the NAIA 3-point field goal percentage at 47 percent, which was tops in the Frontier.

Western star Brianna King won the women's scoring title at 18 ppg, which ranked her 13th in the NAIA. Providence's Parker Esary led the league in rebounds at 7.97 per game, while LCSC freshman Peyton Souvenir led the way in assists at 4.62, which was ninth in the nation. Mikayla Jones led the league in steals at 2.5 per game, while Hannah Dean of Carroll was tops in blocks at 2 per night. Northern's Peyton Filius and Carroll's Bailey Pasta tied, each making a league-high 69 three's this season, which was good for 17th in the NAIA. Filius also led the league in 3-point fg percentage at 41 percent for the season.

Frontier Honors

Ryan Imhoff of Carroll is the last Frontier Men's Player of the Wee. Imhoff is a 6-6 senior guard from Napa, Calif. Sixth-ranked Carroll went 2-0 for the final weekend of regular season play. At home, the Saints edged No. 19 Lewis-Clark State 69-64 and beat No. 10 Montana Western 82-62. The win over Western clinched a tie for the regular season title and gave Carroll the No.1 seed in the conference playoffs.

Imhoff averaged 17.5 points, nine rebounds, 2.5 assists and three steals per game. He was 14 of 23 from the field (61 percent) and was 7 of 10 from the free throw line.

Parker Esary of the University of Providence was named the Frontier Conference's Women's Basketball Player of the Week.

Esary is a 6-1 freshman forward from Kalama, Wash. This past weekend, the Argos closed the regular season with two road wins. Providence downed MSU- Northern 57-51 and Montana Tech 73-71. She averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 assists and two steals per game. Esary was 14 of 24 from the field (58 percent) and 4 of 8 from the free throw line.

MSU-Northern's Ryan Reeves and Kealani Sagapolu were also nominated.