Women's Basketball | 03/01/24 | 10:09 AM

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - The Carroll College Basketball teams will officially begin their runs in the Frontier Conference Tournament this afternoon, with both the Men and Women competing in semifinal competition. The Men will play Providence at 3 p.m. while the Women will take on Rocky immediately following at 5 p.m. with all games taking place at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

While the tournament officially kicked off yesterday, both the Carroll Men and Women were afforded the luxury of an extra day's rest, and a live scout due to their top-two respective finishes in league play.

On the Men's side, the Fighting Saints (18-10, 12-3) rattled off a highly-impressive back half of the season sweeping everyone in the league with the exception of No. 8 Montana Tech. Carroll's 12-3 run in the always difficult Frontier slate gave them the second seed in this weekend's tournament.

Escaping the quarterfinal matches was Providence and Montana Western. Carroll will play the highest seed remaining, which is the Argonauts, who finished in the No. 3 spot in the final standings.

The Saints have fared well against the Argos in the first three meetings of the season. Carroll won their conference opener at the McLaughlin Center back in January, holding off a late Providence run for a slim two-point win. The teams also met twice in Helena, with the Saints scoring 89 points each time, winning the pair by eight and 15 points, respectively.

Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / JR) enters the tournament as the Frontier Player of the Week following his 21.0 ppg average in a pair of wins to end the season last week. He and the rest of the Saints have two clear goals in mind for this weekend

Avenge the forgettable round one loss the Saints suffered on this court a year ago,
Win the tournament, and maybe more importantly, the auto-bid to the NAIA tournament that comes with it.

The Carroll Women (23-4, 14-1) were dominant through league play, falling only once to the only other ranked team in the conference (No. 14 Providence), and have an opportunity to repeat their Frontier Tournament regular season and tournament title runs from a year ago.

Now ranked No. 6 in the NAIA, the Women will look to make it back-to-back 14-1 seasons capped with a tournament crown this weekend. The Saints are on a historic run of success, having won four of the last five Frontier Titles, and five of the last seven.

Their semifinal opponent will be a Rocky Mountain College team that's season can only be described as rocky. After starting the season ranked in the NAIA top-25, the Bears saw a frustrating season filled with injuries derail their plans at competing for the league title.

Carroll has won all three games in the series this season by an average of nine points, including a 12-point road win in Billings last week. Maddie Geritz (Boise, Idaho / SR) has been outstanding against the Bears this season, twice having led the Saints in scoring against them, scoring 18 and 19 points in the first two wins of the series.

The Saints will surely not overlook their opponent this afternoon. Although their big picture goals include a deep run in the NAIA tournament later this month, they know that tournaments are won one game at a time in the month of March.

Should each team win this evening, they will play in the Frontier Conference Tournament Championship game tomorrow evening, with the Men's game scheduled for 5 p.m. and the Women at 7:30 p.m.

Fans attending in person will be able to buy tickets at the main gate of the Four Seasons Arena for $15, which grants admission for the full day.

Both of today's semifinal matchups will be streamed on the Frontier Conference YouTube page, HERE, and will be broadcast throughout the state on SWX.

As always, catch Voice of the Saints, Nick Dietzen, and Carroll Hall of Famer, Gary Turcott, call the action live on Rewind 94.9 FM or online HERE.

Live stats for the Men's game can be followed HERE, and Women HERE.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com this evening for a recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.