Saturday’s Frontier Conference tournament showdowns in Butte resulted in the Montana Tech and Carroll College men, as well as the MSU Northern and Montana Western women, advancing to Sunday’s semifinal games.
{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “VideoObject”, “name”: “Tech and Carroll men, Northern and Western women advance, Frontier semifinals set for Sunday”, “description”: “Saturday’s Frontier Conference tournament showdowns in Butte resulted in the Montana Tech and Carroll College men, as well as the MSU Northern and Montana Western women, advancing to Sunday’s semifinal games.”, “thumbnailUrl”: “https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/swxlocalsports.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/bd/cbdec551-a32c-5216-b989-a219607e29b8/69a3d1296b968.image.jpg”, “uploadDate”: “2026-02-28T21:27:17-08:00”, “contentUrl”: “https://d3lkg5ifzdcnms.cloudfront.net/x/3fc954ad6b62ede7302220bc6c632c44/TechandCarrollmenNorthernandWesternwomenadvanceFrontiersemifinalssetforSunday.mp4?acc=eyJ0eXBlIjoibXJzcyIsImZpZCI6MTkzNywiZm5hbWUiOiJTV1hfTG9jYWxfU3BvcnRzX1dlYnNpdGUiLCJmZWVkaWQiOiIxOGY4ODMzZmE5OTUwNzI5NTVmMmUzZDI3NmNiYjMzNCIsIm9pZCI6MjA2LCJvbmFtZSI6IkNvd2xlcyBDb21wYW55In0=” }
BUTTE, Mont. — The semifinal round of the 2026 Frontier Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournament in the Butte Civic Center is set for Sunday.
The Montana Tech and Carroll College men will participate following their Saturday quarterfinal victories, as will the MSU Northern and Montana Western women.
The No. 5 seed Skylights knocked off No. 4 Rocky 82-74, thanks to a hot start from Becky Melcher, who scored 14 points in the first quarter on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Northern as a whole hit 14 triples on 26 attempts, Melcher finishing with 30. The Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State in Sunday’s semifinal matchup.
No. 6 seed Montana Western, meanwhile, upset No. 3 Carroll 65-56 in a strong defensive performance, the Bulldogs holding the Fighting Saints to just 18-of-65 (28%) from the field. Bailee Sayler scored 22 in the second half, as Western notched its second straight victory over Carroll after having lost the previous 19. They’ll take on No. 2 Montana Tech in the next round.
In the men’s bracket, No. 5 seed Montana Tech and No. 4 Montana Western met for the third time after splitting the regular-season series. The Orediggers, who have won each of the past four Frontier Conference tournaments, immediately jumped out to an 11-0 lead, setting the tone for the game. Brayden Koch scored 29 and Asher Williams contributed 18 off the bench, as Tech shot 60% from the floor to upend the Bulldogs 93-65. Top-seeded Rocky awaits the Orediggers in the semifinals on Sunday.
Finally, the No. 3-seeded Carroll men came back from down 17 points in the first half to knock out No. 6 Dakota State. Frontier Freshman of the Year Drew Jones played a big role in the comeback, scoring 18 in the second half, while Conference Player of the Year Isaiah Crane posted 22 total. The Fighting Saints will next play No. 7 MSU Northern, after the Lights upset No. 2 Bellevue on Friday.
The semifinal schedule for Sunday is set:
Women’s bracket:
- No. 1 Dakota State vs. No. 5 MSU Northern (12 p.m.)
- No. 2 Montana Tech vs. No. 6 Montana Western (2:30 p.m.)
Men’s bracket:
- No. 1 Rocky vs. No. 5 Montana Tech (5 p.m.)
- No. 3 Carroll vs. No. 7 MSU Northern (7:30 p.m.)
