George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
After a long season fill of success's on both the men's and women's sides, five Montana State University-Northern basketball players have been honored by the Frontier Conference. On Tuesday evening, the league announced its men's and women's allconference lists for the 2008-09 season, as well as its postseason honors. On the women's side, MSU-N senior center Stacie Barker was named the Frontier's Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. Barker averaged 12 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for the second-place Skylights this season. Joining Barker on the Frontier First Team was Skylights' guard Samm Schermele, a first-time selection. The sophomore from Great Falls averaged 13 points per game this season, but in her last nine games, she led the Frontier in scoring at almost 20 points per outing. Northern also got sophomore point guard Taylor Keller and senior shooting guard Kaylee Shaw named as second- team performers this season, giving the Skylights four players on the women's all-conference list. Shannon Evans of Westminster College was selected the league's Most Valuable Player. Janie Rayback of Rocky Mountain College was named Newcomer of the Year, Jasmine Stohr of Lewis-Clark State was selected Freshman of the Year and J.D. Gustin of Westminster College was selected Coach of the Year. On the men's side, the Lights, which are still awaiting their postseason fate, had a pair of Frontier All-Conference First Team selections. MSU-N senior guards Travis Noble and Chris Johnson were both named to the first team. Noble was a firstteam selection for the second straight season after he averaged 17 points and four assists per game, as well as shooting better than 40 percent from three and 85 percent from the free-throwline. Johnson was the league's thirdleading scorer this year, averaging just under 20 points per game. He was also better than 40 percent from the 3-point-line. Geoff Payne of Westminster College was selected both the conference Most Valuable Player and Newcomer of the Year. Chris Kaschmitter of Carroll College was selected Defensive Player of the Year, Andy Garland of Carroll College was selected Freshman of the Year and Tommy Connor of Westminster College was selected Coach of the Year.
