Frontier Notebook: Lights, Skylights must be road warriors

The first week of Frontier Conference play in 2018 taught us one thing, nothing is for sure.

On the men's side, Lewis-Clark State stunned Carroll College in Helena over the weekend, handing the Saints their first loss of the season, and ending Carroll's chance at taking over the No. 1 spot in the NAIA, at least for time being. Carroll had just beaten Western Thursday night, and LC was coming off a loss at Rocky Mountain College. Western turned around and crushed Rocky Saturday night.

Meanwhile, quietly, the MSU-Northern Lights won both their games, beating Providence last Tuesday and Montana Tech last Thursday.

The women's first week of play in 2018 was no different. LCSC lost at both Rocky and Carroll, and Western was absolutely crushed by the Saints as well. Northern lost twice, and Providence won twice.

So, after just two weeks of league play this season, what does this all mean? Well, for starters, there isn't a single team, men's or women's that doesn't already have a conference loss. So it's obvious that the league is going to beat up on each other, and in all actuality, that doesn't bode well for any Frontier team having a chance at a high seed come national tournament time.

It also means, the raters in the Frontier are going to have a tough time figuring out who goes where in the next NAIA Coaches Polls. The Carroll men have just one loss, so they deserve to be high still, but Western, Rocky, Northern and LCSC all have legitimate claims at Top 25 rankings. The women's side will be an even bigger mess. Carroll will move up, but Western and LCSC are still Top 25 teams, but what do you do with Providence, who is arguably the hottest team in the Frontier, Rocky, who could be the most talented, and Northern and Tech? In essence, the entire Frontier is good enough to be ranked on the women's side right now.

Life on the road

It's going to be a tough next couple of weeks for both MSU-Northern teams. The Lights and Skylights traveled to Montana Tech last Thursday, and they're right back at it, with a long trip to LCSC this Thursday, followed by visits to Western and Providence. Northern also has to go back to Lewiston, Idaho, and Dillon next month, and overall, the Lights and Skylights are in a stretch where nine of their next 12 Frontier games will be played away from the Armory Gymnasium.

Early Numbers

Scoring is way up on the men's side in the Frontier thus far. Individually, Ryan Imhoff leads the way at 22 points per game, while Jared Samuelson of Rocky averages 20 and Western's Dom Robinson is right behind at 19 ppg. Northern's Ryan Reeves is fourth in the Frontier at 16 ppg, while he also leads the NAIA in blocks. In all, there are 25 players currently in the Frontier averaging more than 10 points per night.

The Frontier women are much more defensive again this season, but there are plenty of players putting together impressive scoring numbers. Providence's Steph McDonagh leads the league at 19 points per game, while Western's Brianna King averages 18. Still, there are only 14 players in the Frontier averaging in double figures. Northern's Shiloh McCormick is fifth at 13 ppg, Peyton Filius is sevent at 12.67, Jacy Thompson is ninth at 12.13 and Brandy Lambourne is 10th at 11.93 per night.

Frontier Honors

For the second straight week, a Montana State University-Northern basketball player has been honored by the Frontier.

On Monday, Northern junior guard Caulin Bakalarski was named Frontier Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Bakalarski is a 6-3 junior from Ollala, Washington.

In Northern's wins over Providence and Montana Tech, Bakalarski got 16 points, five rebounds, one assist and two steals per game.

Carroll College's Hannah Dean was named the Frontier Women's Player of the Week after the Saints' swept.