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Frontier Notebook: Scoring is up in the fast-paced Frontier

Frontier Conference Notebook

One week down. For the first time since Frontier Conference play began, every game on the men's and women's basketball slates were played. For at least one week, COVID-19 wasn't the story,

Instead, the story, in Frontier basketball after a full week is, nothing much has changed. In other words, the Frontier is deep, and everybody is good.

On the men's side last week, Providence won four games, and that's without having played a single game leading up to last Monday. So it's obvious, the Argos are as advertised. But, Montana Tech is showing its no fluke either, and Montana Western won twice, as well. It, of course, won't take long for traditional Frontier powers to join the fray either, in what should be a very tight men's race.

The women's side might even be closer. But that isn't a shocker either. Picked to win the league, Carroll College suffered its first league loss of 2021 at Providence last weekend, but the Saints, and Montana Western are right atop the Frontier standings. The Argos will be very tough this season as well, and Montana Tech may be a team on the rise, having already won more games in the Frontier this early season, than the Orediggers did all of last year.

Hot Start

Scoring is up so far this season in the Frontier. On the men's side, every team in the league averages more than 70 ppg, while Providence is scoring at an 85 points per night clip. Individually, Montana Tech's Sindou Diallo is averaging 21 ppg, while MSU-Northern's David Harris and Mascio McCadney both average 18 points per night. Defending Frontier scoring champion Zach Darko-Kelly is averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds per game thus far, while 14 players in the Frontier are averaging more than 10 points per night.

On the women's side four teams average 70 or more points per game, while UP's Parker Esary is scoring 20 points per night, and 21 players across the Frontier average 10 or more points per game, including Skylights McKenzie Gunter (13 ppg) and Peyton Kehr (12 ppg).

Frontier Honors

Providence' Darko-Kelly and Esary were named the Frontier Conference Men's and Women's Players of the Week.

Darko-Kelly is a 6-6 senior guard from Great Falls.

Providence went 4-0 for the week beating Montana Tech 86-83 and 94-89, and (RV) Carroll College 84-75 and 73-64.

For the week, Darko-Kelly averaged 16.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 2.8 blocks and 1.8 steals. He was 23 of 45 from field including 5 of 13 3-point and a perfect 16 of 16 from field. He recorded double-doubles in points and rebounds in both wins over Montana Tech.

Also nominated were, Sindou Diallo of Montana Tech, Jalen Hodges of Montana Western and Jovan Sljivancanin of Carroll Colleges.

Esary is a 6-1 senior center from Kalama, Wash.

No. 25 Providence went 2-2 for the week. The Argos split a road series with Montana Tech winning 85-81 and losing 65-61. At home Providence split with No. 6 Carroll College losing 71-63 and edging the Saints 83-80 in overtime.

Esary averaged 19.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, two assists and 1.3 steals. She was 32 of 45 from the field (71 percent) and 13 of 18 from the free throw line. In the upset win over Carroll, Esary scored a career high 28-points. Against Montana Tech, she recorded double-doubles in points and rebounds in both games.

Also nominated were for the women's award were, Christine Denny of Carroll College, Brynley Fitzgerald of Montana Western and Dani Urlich of Montana Tech.

 

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