New-look Frontier playoffs are set

The Frontier Conference regular season is over. And what a wild and wacky regular season it’s been. But now, the real fun begins as six men’s teams and six women’s teams will battle it out over the next two weeks for the Frontier Conference championship.

Just recently, the Frontier decided on a new schedule for the playoffs. The men’s quarterfinal games will be played this Friday, with the women Saturday night. The tournament will then resume with the men’s semifinals March 7 and the women’s games March 8. The championships will still be the traditional Monday-Tuesday format with the men’s game on March 10 and the women’s game the following night.

Both the Montana State University-Northern basketball teams earned No. 3 seeds in the playoffs, which will be conducted at home sites of the higher-seeded team throughout the next two weeks.

The Northern men will begin the playoffs against sixth-seeded UGF (17-12) Friday night at 7 at the Armory Gymnasium. The Lights lost to Rocky Mountain College last Friday night, then fell to the No. 3 seed after Westminster beat Montana Tech Saturday night. The Lights and Griffins finished tied for second in the final league standings, but Westminster swept MSU-N in the regular season, so the Lights fell to third.

With a win Friday night, Northern, which beat UGF twice this season, would travel to Westminster for the semifinals. A UGF win would send the Argos to top-seeded RMC for the semifinals. The other quarterfinal game pits fourth-seeded UM-Western taking on fifth-seeded Lewis-Clark State Friday night in Dillon. LCSC just beat Western Saturday night in Lewiston, Idaho, which pushed the Warriors past the Argos in the final league standings. UGF had as many wins as LCSC in conference play, but the Warriors didn’t play at Dickinson State, so they finished at 8-7 in league play, while the Argos went 8-8.

The Skylights finished alone in third place and two or more games ahead of the rest of the Frontier field. Northern will begin the playoffs against No. 6 Carroll College Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Havre. The Skylights and Saints split during the regular season. A Northern win would send MSU-N to Lewiston to face second-seeded Lewis-Clark State in the semifinals. Should Carroll win, the Saints would visit top-seeded Westminster in the semifinals. The Griffins and Warriors earned first-round byes.

The other women’s quarterfinal game will match fourth-seeded UM-Western taking on fifth-seeded Great Falls Friday night in Dillon. The Argos won their last three games, including beating Carroll to earn their highest finish in the league standings in several seasons. The winner of that game will either play at Westminster or LC State depending on the outcome of Friday night’s game in Havre. Montana Tech also tied for fifth place with UGF and Carroll, but the Orediggers lost out on the playoffs via tiebreakers.

Final Frontier Conference Women's

Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Westminster 16-0 22-2

Lewis-Clark State 12-3 25-4

MSU-Northern 10-6 20-8

UM-Western 8-8 14-12

Great Falls 7-9 17-12

Carroll College 7-9 14-13

Montana Tech 7-9 11-12

Dickinson State 4-11 14-16

Rocky Mountain 0-16 7-18

Final Frontier Conference Men's

Standings

Conf. All

W-L W-L

Rocky Mountain 12-4 21-7

MSU-Northern 11-5 23-7

Westminster 11-5 18-11

UM-Western 9-7 16-11

Lewis-Clark State 8-7 21-9

Great Falls 8-8 17-12

Montana Tech 5-11 13-15

Carroll College 4-12 9-19

Dickinson State 3-12 8-19