Last Saturday night was a rough one for the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball. And though the loss to Lewis-Clark State was disappointing, the Lights are still garnering plenty of national respect.
In the new NAIA Coaches Poll, the Lights (17-4) dropped only one spot this week, from No. 12 to No. 13. Two weeks ago, Northern rose to No. 10 in the NAIA. LCSC, which beat Northern Saturday, but lost to Great Falls last Friday, dropped from No. 3 to No. 5, while Westminster College remained in the Top 25 as well, but dropped to No. 22 this week. The hottest team in the Frontier, the UGF Argos garnered 44 votes in this week’s poll, which has them just outside the Top 25.
On the women’s side, Westminster remained at No. 5 this week, while no other Frontier team is ranked. Carroll, which lost to the Griffins Saturday night, received 38 votes in the latest poll.
Meanwhile, Great Falls’ James Holmes was named Frontier Conference Men’s Player of the Week. Holmes, a 6-6 senior averaged 15 points and four rebounds in the Argos’ wins over LCSC and Montana Tech. Ornela Bacchini, a 6-2 senior for LCSC was named the women’s player of the week. She averaged 23 points and seven rebounds in the Warriors’ sweep of UGF and Northern, and she scored a career-high 28 points in Saturday night’s double-overtime win over the Skylights.
NAIA Men's Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 1 Columbia (Mo.) (11) 20-0 281
2 6 Lee (Tenn.) 17-1 264
3 2 Pikeville (Ky.) 18-2 260
T4 10 John Brown (Ark.) 17-3 247
T4 3 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 19-2 247
6 7 Westmont (Calif.) 16-3 243
7 T8 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 18-2 229
8 4 William Carey (Miss.) 16-3 212
9 T8 Cal State San Marcos 16-4 210
10 5 Oklahoma Baptist 16-4 209
11 13 Xavier (La.) 17-3 184
12 15 Bethel (Tenn.) 18-2 176
13 12 Montana State-Northern 17-4 168
14 18 Emmanuel (Ga.) 18-2 159
15 16 Hope International (Calif.) 18-2 158
16 17 SAGU (Texas) 15-3 156
17 25 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 15-6 126
18 20 Rogers State (Okla.) 15-5 125
19 11 Evangel (Mo.) 14-5 118
20 21 Faulkner (Ala.) 17-3 115
21 23 Science & Arts (Okla.) 10-4 85
22 19 Westminster (Utah) 16-4 84
23 22 Philander Smith (Ark.) 13-5 80
24 RV Shawnee State (Ohio) 11-7 76
25 14 Cumberlands (Ky.) 15-5 60
Others receiving votes: LSU Shreveport (La.) 54; Great Falls (Mont.) 44; Arizona Christian 34; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 24; Georgetown (Ky.) 19; Culver-Stockton (Mo.) 19; Mid-Continent (Ky.) 8; St. Thomas (Texas) 7.
NAIA Women's Poll
Rnk. Prv. Rec. Pts.
1 2 Lubbock Christian (Texas) (5) 18-1 275
2 3 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) (4) 18-1 270
3 1 Vanguard (Calif.) 12-1 264
4 4 Oklahoma City (2) 14-2 261
5 5 Westminster (Utah) 18-2 245
6 6 Lee (Tenn.) 16-1 236
7 7 Cumberland (Tenn.) 18-1 225
8 8 The Master’s (Calif.) 17-0 220
9 11 Westmont (Calif.) 13-3 205
T10 10 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 18-2 198
T10 9 Campbellsville (Ky.) 15-4 198
12 13 Bethel (Tenn.) 15-4 181
13 16 Georgetown (Ky.) 12-6 166
14 12 Xavier (La.) 13-4 164
15 13 Rogers State (Okla.) 15-5 151
16 17 Benedictine (Kan.) 18-3 138
17 18 Wiley (Texas) 17-1 133
18 16 Lyon (Ark.) 16-3 130
19 20 Shawnee State (Ohio) 15-5 120
20 19 William Woods (Mo.) 15-2 115
21 23 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 18-1 103
22 24 Faulkner (Ala.) 17-4 95
23 22 Central Methodist (Mo.) 17-3 74
24 RV Columbia (Mo.) 14-5 72
25 21 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) 14-5 63
Others receiving votes: LSU Shreveport (La.) 54; St. Catharine (Ky.) 53; Carroll (Mont.) 38; Robert Morris (Ill.) 31; Southern-New Orleans (La.) 11; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 3; Southern Poly (Ga.) 3.
