BUTTE — The No. 8 Carroll College women and No. 10 Montana Tech men each sewed up Frontier Conference titles during a Saturday doubleheader at the HPER Complex with the Saints clinching their second-straight regular-season league title and the Orediggers claiming at least a piece of the Frontier crown.
The Carroll women (21-4 overall, 12-1 Frontier) held off the Orediggers 55-44 to stay three games ahead of No. 14 Providence with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Tech men (22-4, 12-1) fended off the Saints 73-66 to complete the sweep over Carroll and built a two-game lead over the Saints. If the Orediggers win one of their two remaining games they'll have the conference title outright.
In the women's game, Jamie Pickens notched a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Saints built a 14-9 lead after one quarter and led 27-17 at halftime. Carroll led by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter. Tech (12-14, 3-10) was led by Brooklyn Hankwitz with 10 points.
The men's game saw five Tech players score in double figures as the Orediggers led from beginning to end and extended its win streak to eight games.
Asa Williams paced the Orediggers with 18 points, Ifeanyi Okeke had 12 and Caleb Bellach, Michael Ure and Camdyn LaRance had 11 apiece. Hayden Diekhans added 8 points and 8 rebounds for Tech which built multiple double digit leads throughout the game and snapped a four-game Carroll win streak.
The Saints (16-7, 10-3) had four players reach double digits: Andrew Cook poured in a game-high 22 points, James Lang had 13 and Kendall Moore and Derek Kramer each had 11.
The Oredigger men and women close out the regular season at Montana Western on Thursday and at Providence next Saturday. The Saints are at Rocky Mountain College on Thursday and host MSU-Northern on Saturday.
The Frontier Conference trournament will be held Feb. 29 through March 2 at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.
