Lights slip to No. 13

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team fell in a stunning way last Saturday night in Great Falls. But the Lights didn't take much of a tumble in the polls.

Despite losing to the University of Great Falls on a last-second shot by UGF's Leon Sutton Saturday night in Great Falls, the Lights dropped only three spots in the new NAIA Men's Coaches Poll released Monday night.

Northern was ranked No. 10 last week and is now tied at No. 13. The Lights received the same amount of votes as Texas Wesleyan in the new poll. Northern is currently 20-4 on the season and alone atop the Frontier Conference standings at 6-2.

The MSU-Northern women's team earned an impressive and hard-fought 59-55 win over Great Falls last Saturday but the Skylights didn't budge in the women's poll. For the second week in a row, the Skylights received one vote. MSU-N is 17-5 overall and 4-4 in Frontier play.

The only Frontier team which did move in the women's poll was first-place Westminster. The Griffins moved up to No. 18 this week. Lewis-Clark State remained at No. 8, while Rocky Mountain College received nine votes.

On the men's side, UM-Western dropped from No. 19 to No. 24 this week after the Bulldogs lost games at Westminster and at LC State. The Griffins received seven votes in this week's poll.

UGF's Marcel Townes was honored as Frontier Conference Men's Player of the week after he poured in 24 points against the Lights. Townes is a 6-foot-2, sophomore guard from Phoenix, Ariz.

Westminster's Nicole Yazzie took home the women's honor this week. Yazzie is a 5-foot-7 junior guard from West Valley City, Utah. No. 19 Westminster won two games over the weekend. The Griffins beat Montana Western 78-63 and Montana Tech 62-48. For the weekend, Yazzie averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals. She made 58 percent of her field goals (15 of 26), 44 percent of her 3-point field goals (4 of 9) and was 1 for 1 from free throw line.

Northern's Shaun Tatarka and Laramie Schwenke were also nominated for the awards this week.

The Lights and Skylights travel to UM-Western this Friday night and Montana Tech on Saturday. Northern then returns home for its final regular season home games against RMC Feb. 17 and Carroll Feb. 18. For the complete NAIA Polls, see Page A7.

NAIA Men's Coaches Poll

Rec. Pts. Prv.

1 . Robert Morris (Ill.) (7) 22-1 308 2

2. Shorter (Ga.) (5) 23-1 305 1

3. Oklahoma Baptist 20-3 293 4

4 . Southern Poly (Ga.) 18-4 271 3

5. Our Lady of the Lake 18-4 269 5

6 . Rogers State (Okla.) 18-4 264 7

7. Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 18-5 241 6

8. Georgetown (Ky.) 19-5 240 9

9. Westmont (Calif.) 17-4 237 22

10. Mountain State (W.Va.) 19-6 220 11

11. Azusa Pacific (Calif.) 19-5 219 7

12. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 15-7 179 8

13. MSU-Northern 20-4 176 10

13. Texas Wesleyan 17-4 176 14

15. John Brown (Ark.) 19-5 175 23

16. Concordia (Calif.) 18-5 170 16

17. Lee (Tenn.) 16-5 159 17

18. LSU Shreveport (La.) 16-6 143 RV

19. Tougaloo (Miss.) 17-5 126 21

20. MidAmerica Naz. (Kan.) 17-7 112 24

21. Columbia (Mo.) 19-6 106 18

22. Pikeville (Ky.) 15-8 97 20

23. Southern Naz. (Okla.) 17-7 96 15

24. UM-Western 18-7 75 19

25. The Master's (Calif.) 16-7 70 13

25. Xavier (La.) 17-6 70 25

Others receiving votes: Saint Xavier (Ill.) 46; Evangel (Mo.) 28; Union (Tenn.) 23; Cal State San Marcos 22; Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) 15; Oklahoma Christian 8; Cumberlands (Ky.) 7 ; Science & Arts (Okla.) 1; St. Thomas (Texas) 1; Baker (Kan.) 1; Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) 1; Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 1; Cumberland (Tenn.) 1; Biola (Calif.) 1; Voorhees (S.C.) 1; Campbellsville (Ky.) 1; St. Catharine (Ky.)

NAIA Women's Coaches Poll

Rec. Pts. Prv.

1. Oklahoma City (12) 21-1 312 1

2. Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 21-3 302 2

3. Union (Tenn.) 22-2 292 3

4. Lee (Tenn.) 23-1 282 5

5. Cumberlands (Ky.) 21-1 269 6

6 . Westmont (Calif.) 21-2 262 4

7. Lubbock Christian 18-3 253 7

8. Lewis-Clark State 21-3 241 8

9. Langston (Okla.) 21-2 226 10

10. Shawnee State (Ohio) 21-4 224 11

11. Vanguard (Calif.) 15-5 209 9

13. Azusa Pacific (Calif.) 16-6 194 12

14. Saint Xavier (Ill.) 17-6 181 14

15. Belhaven (Miss.) 19-5 171 16

16. Georgetown (Ky.) 17-7 154

17. Southern Naz. (Okla.) 17-7 147

18. Westminster (Utah) 15-7 142 19

19. Xavier (La.) 17-7 134 17

20. Loyola (La.) 19-2 123 21

21. Campbellsville (Ky.) 16-9 116 22

22. MidAmerica Naz. (Kan.) 17-7 102 20

23. Shorter (Ga.) 18-5 76 RV

24. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 16-8 72 25

25. Lyon (Ark.) 18-6 71 24

Others receiving votes: William Woods (Mo.) 66; LSU Shreveport (La.) 48; Rogers State (Okla.) 38; Avila (Mo.) 36; Columbia (Mo.) 15; San Diego Christian (Calif.) 10; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 9; St. Gregory's (Okla.) 3; Robert Morris (Ill.) 1; Central Methodist (Mo.) 1; Rio Grande (Ohio) 1; Montana-State Northern 1; Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 1.