Frontier Notebook: Frontier races not done

In the final week of the Frontier Conference' regular season, a lot of seniors will be honored.

That certainly holds true for the Montana State University-Northern men and women, who will honor seniors Gokce Aslan, Jessica Curl, Lilly Hilderbrand, Justin Dunsmore and Caulin Bakalarski Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium.

On that same night, however, Northern fans will get to watch a visiting senior one more time. And while Montana Western's Brianna King has been a holy terror for the Skylights over the last two years, it's important to note that, local fans should also appreciate what they're seeing when King takes the floor.

And what they're seeing is most likely the single best women's basketball player in the NAIA this season, and easily the top player in the Frontier Conference over the last two years. Yes, it's true, King is that good, and in the Frontier, those players don't come around that often. In fact, the last time the Frontier saw a player of King's caliber, she was also playing in the Armory nightly - Northern two-time First-Team All-American Natalee Faupel.

Yes, fans who got to watch Faupel nightly certainly appreciate great talent and, therefore, they can certainly appreciate King. She's a true scoring point guard who literally does everything for the Bulldogs, and that's why Western is considered a true threat to win the national title next month in Billings.

King comes to Havre Saturday night averaging 22 points, four assists and two steals a game, while also shooting 47 percent from the field, and 43 percent from the 3-point-line.

So, while there's a lot of really good players in the Frontier again this season, as there is every year, there isn't anyone quite like King. And when she shows up in Havre Saturday night, what Northern fans are seeing is a truly great basketball player.

Down to the Wire

The last week of the Frontier season figures to be highly entertaining. And that's because neither the men's nor women's regular season titles are locked up.

A month ago, it looked like Western's women and Carroll's men would run away with the league championships, but both teams come into the final weekend of Frontier play needing wins to clinch the top seeds in next week's league playoffs.

The Bulldogs have a one-game lead on Carroll College in the women's standings, and they visit Providence, before coming to Havre Saturday night. Carroll travels to Montana Tech Thursday night, before closing with Rocky Mountain College Saturday at home. Only Western or Carroll can win the league title, as Lewis-Clark State and Rocky, which are tied for third, can't catch either squad.

The men's title is a two-team race as well. Carroll has a one-game lead on LC State heading into the final weekend, with the Warriors having to travel to Providence and Northern this weekend. LCSC would need to win twice and Carroll lose once to tie for the league title, or sweep and Carroll lose to both Tech and Rocky in order to overtake the Saints. The third, fourth and fifth seeds in the upcoming playoffs are also very much up for grabs, and the Lights are a big part of that equation.

Rocky currently sits in third at 9-7, while Northern and Providence are 8-8. The Lights, with a sweep of LCSC and Western, and two Rocky losses, could jump all the way to third, while they also hold the tiebreaker over Providence. Rocky has all tiebreakers over Northern, but make no mistake, the Lights are certainly playing for a home playoff game this weekend.

Frontier Honors

Hannah Dean of Carroll College was selected the Frontier Conference's Women's Basketball Player of the Week.

Dean is a 6-foot-1 senior forward from Gardiner. No. 8 Carroll College won two conference games at home. The Saints beat No. 23 University of Providence 77-47 and MSU-Northern 58-45.

Dean averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game. She was 12 of 21 from field and 11 of 14 from the free throw line. Dean led Carroll to their best defensive effort of the season as they held both opponents to under 50 points.

Jovan Sljivancanin of Carroll College was selected the Frontier Conference's Men's Basketball Player of the Week.

Sljivancanin is a 6-foot-5 freshman forward from Belgrade, Serbia. No. 7 Carroll won two home conference games over the weekend. The Saints beat No. 22 University of Providence 72-67 and MSU-Northern 75-45.

For the weekend, Sljivancanin averaged 13 points, 13.5 rebounds and three assists. He was 11 of 20 (55 percent) from the field including 4 of 9 3-point field goals. In the win over Providence, he grabbed 18 rebounds, the most by a Saints player since the 2009-10 season.

MSU-Northern's Sydney Hovde and Caulin Bakalarski were also nominated for this week's award.