Frontier Notebook: Former Havre, Hi-Line stars coming home this weekend

The halfway point in the Frontier Conference basketball season came and went this past week. But, if fans were expecting the races to the regular season titles in the Frontier to clear up this deep into the season, they may have gotten it.

On the women's side, the Montana Western Bulldogs have done what it looked like they were supposed to do, and that's start to creep away from the Frontier field. With two more wins this past weekend, the Bulldogs are now on a six-game winning streak, and are two games in front of Carroll College atop the league standings.

Of course, with five teams in the NAIA Top 25 on the women's side, things are far from over in the Frontier. Western has a tough schedule ahead, and Carroll, Rocky and Lewis-Clark State are not out of the title chase yet.

The Frontier is so tough on the women's side, in fact, that Providence is just 3-7 in league play, yet has been ranked in the Top 25 all season long. And MSU-Northern and Montana Tech, which are both 2-8, have a margin of loss of just five points each in league play this month. That's how good the league truly is.

On the men's side, Carroll is doing what it's supposed to do, too. The Fighting Saints are 9-1 in the Frontier, three games ahead of second-place RMC. LC State, Northern and Providence are all at 5-5 and Tech is just one game under .500 at 4-6. So, while it appears the Saints may pull away from the rest of the field in the final three weeks of the regular season, there's still plenty of play for for everybody that's trailing them.

Schedule Woes

Northern fans will get their first and only live look at Carroll and Rocky when they come to the Armory Gymnasium this weekend. That will be exciting for Havre Blue Pony fans who will come out to see former Blue Ponies Dane Warp and Dani Wagner, who are both excelling this season at Carroll. Box Elder fans will also be in for a treat because they'll get to see former star guard Brandon The Boy, who is having a breakout freshman season at Rocky.

However, the fact that Rocky and Carroll are playing in Havre on Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 is an example of how weird and difficult the Frontier schedule is this season.

Northern opened league play all the way back in November at Rocky and Carroll. So, almost two full months have gone by since the schools last saw each other. And, the Lights and Skylights will have to turn around and go to Billings and Helena for a second time, less than two weeks after playing the Saints and Bears here in Havre.

Meanwhile, since Northern opened its league slate against Rocky and Carroll, the Lights and Skylights have already played Western, LC Sate, Providence and Montana Tech twice each just this month, and they had to travel to Great Falls to play the Argos twice in a three-week stretch, while the Argos' only trip to Havre doesn't come until next week.

Of course, everybody in the league is having to deal with the strange Frontier schedule, and Providence head women's coach Bill Himmelberg voiced his displeasure with the situation last week after his Argos played an overtime game at home against Northern last Thursday, then had to turn around and travel to feisty Montana Tech less than 24 hours. In my view, Himmelberg certainly has a legitimate gripe.

Yes, the Frontier schedule has been a little weird for the last three seasons, but, this season, the quirks in the schedule are even more bizzare, and the Northern, Rocky, Carroll tryst is a perfect example of that. Here's hoping the league gets that ironed out next year.

Local Stars

As mentioned, a host of former Hi-Line standouts will be playing against Northern this weekend in the Armory. Warp, a former four-time All-Stater for the Blue Ponies, is averaging 18.86 ppg for the Saints, which is third in the Frontier. He's also canned 49 3-pointers on the season.

Wagner is another former Havre High star who has blossomed into a key figure on the Carroll's women's squad. Coming into her only visit to Havre this season, Wagner is averaging 9 ppg, as well as five rebounds, and she's hit 29 triples.

In his first season at Rocky, The Boy worked his way into the starting point guard role mid-season, and he's now shining, averaging nine points and 5.7 assists per outing for the Bears. The Boy has also knocked in 35 trey's.

Frontier Honors

Rocky's Jared Samuelson was named the Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Week. Samuelson is a 6-foot-7 junior forward from Billings. Rocky won two conference games over the weekend. The Battlin' Bears edged No. 16 Lewis-Clark State 84-81 in overtime and downed Montana Western 95-76.

For the weekend, Samuelson averaged 23 points, 10.5 rebounds, one assist, one block and 1.5 steals. He was 14 of 29 from the field (3 of 9 3-point field goals) and 15 of 17 from free throw line. In the win over LCSC, he scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Once again, Western's Brianna King was named the Frontier Women's Player of the Week. King is a 5-foot-5 senior guard from Spokane, Wash. No. 3 Montana Western went 2-0 on the road. The Bulldogs beat No. 17 Rocky Mountain College 61-51 and No. 8 Carroll College 60-46.

King averaged 25 points, 3.5 rebounds, one assist and two steals per game. She was 18 of 37 (49 percent) and 10 of 12 from the free throw line.

Northern's Kavon Bey and Hailey Nicholson were nominated for the awards this week.