Frontier Notebook: Warriors aiming to leave the league with titles

The last month of the Frontier Conference season is now in full swing, and on the men's side anyway, it looks like no one is going to stop the Lewis-Clark State Warriors.

Winners of 14 straight, including a 78-51 trouncing of Carroll College Friday night, the Warriors seem destined to leave the Frontier with a league title, and perhaps even an NAIA national championship.

Yes, for many who still haven't heard, LC State is leaving the Frontier Conference after this school year. The Warriors will rejoin their original conference, the Cascade next year, so, unlike when Westminster College left Frontier to move to NCAA Division II, the Warriors are staying in the NAIA.

The reason LC State is leaving is because the NAIA is doing away with Division I and Division II for gym sports. So starting next year, there will only be a Division I in NAIA. Why did that ever matter to LC State? Because they have baseball, and not just baseball, but they have one of the elite programs in the country, and they are currently the longtime host of the NAIA World Series. And since baseball in the NAIA has one division, LC State's other sports needed to be part of Division I athletics in the NAIA - hence the Frontier Conference, which the Warriors joined a almost a decade ago.

Now, however, LC State can rejoin the Cascade, as it, and all NAIA conference will be Division I next year. Geographically, the Cascade has always made much more sense for LC, and, travel-wise, the remaining schools in the Frontier will certainly get a break for basketball and volleyball.

However, moving forward, the Frontier is now down to just six Montana schools for all of its sports but football. That will certainly create some scheduling issues going forward, and has also likely reignited discussions about Frontier expansion, or perhaps a merger with another conference.

For now, however, the league is in its final basketball day with LC State as a member. For years, the Warriors have been one of the top-notch men's and women's programs in the Frontier, and this year is no exception.

Saturday, the Montana State University-Northern Skylights and Lights will play their final regular season games against LC State in Lewiston, Idaho. The Northern women have lost a pair of gut-wrenching decisions to the Warriors, while the Lights, winner's of three straight games, will take their last shot at dethroning the LC men, who, as of late, appear to be one of the favorites to capture an NAIA championship next month in Kansas City.

One last time in Butte for Huses

Northern's road trip this week starts with games at Montana Tech Thursday night. For Northern head coach Shawn Huse, and Lights' senior Adam Huse, it will be the last regular season game where it will be huge family affair for the Huse clan.

Thursday night will likely be the last time Adam faces off against younger brother Drew, who is a junior starter for Tech, averaging just over seven points per game. Of course, Butte is also a special place for the Huses. Shawn was a former Frontier Conference Player of the Year at Tech, while Brad, the father of Adam and Drew, was an All-American player himself, and a former assistant coach at Tech.

So, while Northern and Tech could very well meet again in the Frontier Conference playoffs next month, Thursday night's game in the HPER will certainly be an emotional one for the entire Huse family.

Frontier Honors

University of Providence junior Zach Darko-Kelly was named the Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Week. He averaged 26 points and 12 rebounds over UP's two wins last week. MSU-N's Adam Huse was also nominated.

UP's Parker Esary was named Frontier Women's Player of the Week. The junior avered 20 points and nine boards in the Argo's Frontier Conference split last week.