The Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team has had several historic moments over the course of this season. On Monday night, the Lights made some more.

 

    Northern (20-3, 6-1) moved up to No. 10 in the latest NAIA Coaches Poll, up three spots from last week. And the ranking is the first such Top 10 showing for a Northern basketball team in well over a decade. The Lights are also ranked first again in the new  Frontier Conference power rankings.

    For the second time this month, the MSU-N women’s team made an appearance in the NAIA Coaches Poll. The Skylights received one vote after a weekend split at home, which included their upset of then No. 6 Lewis-Clark State on Friday night.

    UM-Western also moved up in the most recent men’s poll. The Bulldogs moved up one spot to No. 19 this week. Despite losing to Northern on Saturday night, the Westminster Griffins continued to garner votes. The Griffins received 11 votes in this week’s poll.

    On the women’s side, LC State dropped two spots to No. 8 this weekend, while Westminster moved up a spot to No. 19. Rocky Mountain College received 10 votes in this week’s women’s poll.

    Western’s Kyle Erickson earned the Frontier Conference Men’s Player of the Week Award. Erickson is a 6-foot-4, senior forward from Broadview, Mont. Erickson averaged 13.5 points, seven rebounds, 7.5 assists, 4.5 blocks and 2.5 steals in the Bulldogs two wins this past weekend.

    Carroll College’s Bailey Snelling earned the women’s honor. Snelling is a 5-foot-6 freshman guard from Judith Gap, Mont.  For the weekend, Snelling averaged 20 points, three rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals. She hit 65 percent of her field goals (11 of 17), 64 percent of her 3-point field goals (9 of 14) and 9 of 11 free throws (82 percent).

 

NAIA Men’s Coaches Poll

 

    Rec.     Pts.     Prv.

1. Shorter (Ga.)     21-0     312     1

2. Robert Morris     21-1     310     2

3. Southern Poly (Ga.)     17-3     287     5

4. Oklahoma Baptist     18-3     282     3

5. Our Lady of Lakes     17-3     277     7

6. Rogers State (Okla.)     16-4     249     6

7. Azusa Pacific     18-4     247     16

8. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)     15-6     235     8

9. Martin Methodist     16-5     228     9

10. MSU-Northern     20-3     214     13

11. Mountain State (W. Va.)     16-6     211     15

12. Georgetown (Ky.)     17-5     205     5

13. The Master’s (Calif.)     15-6     202     10

14. Texas Wesleyan     15-4     185     11

15. Southern Naz,. (Okla.)     17-5     178     14

16. Concordia (Calif.)     17-4     156     18

17. Lee (Tenn.)     14-5     136     17

18. Columbia (Mo.)     18-5     125     21

19. UM-Western     18-5     120     22

20. Pikeville (Ky.)     14-7     119     23

21. Tougaloo (Miss.)     15-5     110     24

22. Westmont (Calif.)     15-4     100     12

23. John Brown (Ark.)     17-5     97     RV

24. MidAmerica Naz. (Kan.)     16-7     91     22

25. Xavier (La.)     15-6     67     19

 

Others receiving votes: LSU Shreveport (La.) 53; Union (Tenn.) 46; Saint Xavier (Ill.) 37; Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 22; St. Catharine (Ky.) 20; Oklahoma Christian 12; Westminster (Utah) 11; Voorhees (S.C.) 9; Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) 8; Campbellsville (Ky.) 4; Cal State San Marcos 3; Evangel (Mo.) 1; Science & Arts (Okla.) 1; Avila (Mo.) 1; Baker (Kan.) 1.

 

NAIA Women’s Coaches Poll

    Rec.     Pts.     Prv.

1. Oklahoma City     19-1     312     2

2. Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)     19-3     3-2     2

3. Union (Tenn.)     20-2     292     3

4. Westmont (Calif.)     20-1     282     4

5. Lee (Tenn.)     21-1     272     5

6. Cumberlands (Ky.)     20-1     260     6

7. Lubbock Christian     16-3     249     9

8. Lewis-Clark State     19-3     235     6

9. Vanguard (Calif.)     15-3     234     10

10. Langston (Okla.)     19-2    220     8

11. Shawnee State     18-4     219     11

12. Azusa Pacific     15-5     200     12

13. Olivet Naz. (Ill.)     19-3     197     14

14. Saint Xavier (Ill.)     15-6     179     13

15. Southern Naz. (Okla.)     16-6     163    19

16. Bellhaven (Miss.)     18-5     158     18

17. Xavier (la.)     17-6     157     15

18. Georgetown (Ky.)     15-7     138     17

19. Westminster     13-7     133     20

20. MidAmerica Naz. (Kan.)     17-6     120     21

21. Loyola (La.)     17-2     105     23

22. Campbelsville (Ky.)     14-9     95     17

23. William Woods (Mo.)     15-6     87     22

24. Lyon (Ark.)     16-5     79     RV

25. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)     16-7     77     25

 

Others receiving votes: Shorter (Ga.) 74; Rogers State (Okla.) 40; LSU Shreveport (La.) 35; Columbia (Mo.) 33; Avila (Mo.) 23; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 10; Texas Wesleyan 8; San Diego Christian (Calif.) 1; St. Gregory’s (Okla.) 1; Robert Morris (Ill.) 1; Montana State-Northern 1; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 1; St. Catharine (Ky.) 1.

    Northern’s Joe Simpson and Jordan Bruursema were nominated for player of the week honors.

    The Lights and Skylights travel to Great Falls Saturday for games against the UGF Argos. For the complete NAIA men’s and women’s polls, see Page A7.