Frontier Notebook: Everything comes down to two more nights in the Frontier

This is it. It's the last week of the Frontier Conference regular season, and, all that's at stake are mere regular season championships, as well as seeding in next week's Frontier playoffs.

That's all.

The women's standings have three teams that can still win the league title on the last weekend of the season. Carroll College and Montana Western are tied atop the standings at 11-5, with Carroll hosting Montana State University-Northern and Providence this week. Western is also home to finish this weekend, hosting Montana Tech, and Lewis-Clark State. The Warriors are a game out of first place, and need help to win the league title, as they visit Rocky Thursday and Western to finish Saturday night.

The battle for the No. 4 seed and a home playoff game is also in play on the women's side, as Providence and Rocky are tied at 8-8. So that's left to figure out, as well, while it also looks the Frontier will be sending five teams to Billings next for the national tourney.

Even with a loss to Carroll last Saturday at home, LC State's men have a two-game lead in the Frontier heading into the final weekend of the season. The Warriors will need to win at least one game on the road this weekend to lock up the league title and home court advantage.

Meanwhile, because Carroll and Providence play each other Thursday night, they both can't catch LC State, but the winner of that game still could provided they sweep the weekend and LC loses both of their games. More importantly, though, the winner of Thursday night's game in Helena will lock up the No. 2 seed and home court through the semifinals.

Like on the women's side, the 4-5 matchup in the men's playoffs will be determined this weekend. Northern and Tech are tied for fourth in the standing at both 8-8. The Lights go to Helena Friday and Great Falls Saturday, while Tech visits Rocky and Western to finish. Western and RMC will be the six and seven seeds in the upcoming Frontier playoffs, respectively.

The men's playoffs begin March 3 and run through the championship game March 9. The women's playoffs begin March 4, with the chipper scheduled for March 10.

Who Will it Be?

Scoring champions in the Frontier will be decided this weekend. Providence' Zach Darko-Kelly, who is also a likely lock to win Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Year, is running away with the scoring title at 23 points per night. Carroll's Dane Warp, another very strong Player of the Year candidate, and Tech's Sindou Diallo are both at 19 points per night, while Northern's Mascio McCadney is seventh in the Frontier at 15 points per night.

On the women's side, Rocky's Markaela Francis is the scoring leader, and also the front-runner for Player of the Year honors. Francis is averaging 17 points per game, to go along with 10 rebounds per outing. Tech's Mesa Williams, LC State's Kiara Burlage and Providence Parker Esary are also over 15 ppg, while former Havre Blue Pony Dani Wagner averages 14 for Carroll and Peyton Kehr leads Northern at 11 per night.

The women's Player of the Year award isn't as cut and dried as the men's. While Francis has had a huge season, Williams, Wagner and Providence' Emilee Maldonado should also get plenty of consideration.

Frontier Honors

For the third straight week, Providence' Zach Darko-Kelly was named Frontier Conference Men's Player of the week. Darko-Kelly 30 points and 13 rebounds in the Argo's two wins last week.

Providence' Kenedy Cartwright was named Women's Player of the Week. She averaged 18 points and three rebounds as the Argos went 2-0 last week. Northern's Adam Huse and Allix Goldhahn were also nominated.