HELENA — Two weeks ago, Wes Keller's Rocky Mountain College squad was in the Frontier Conference regular-season championship driver's seat.

Now? It's Carroll College in control of its own destiny seeking regular-season title trophy No. 6 in the last eight seasons. Nine games remain until the Frontier Tournament.

BILLINGS — Keanna Salave’a notched her second Frontier double-double of the season, the full-strength Argos finally held onto a fourth-quarter advantage and pulled within two games of second place in the conference standings.

Kolby Pimperton played 31 minutes after missing three straight games, scoring five points, grabbing a couple offensive rebounds, and dishing out two assists.

Sophomore Taliah Lee scored her most single-game points (19) since Dec. 17, and Ashlee Maldonado paired 18 points with six rebounds and seven assists.

Monique Carter added nine points and three rebounds, Ainsley Thurber chipped in seven points off the bench.

A 21-9 second quarter, in which Lee and Salave’a combined for 14 points, erased an early eight-point deficit. An 11-0 Argos run, sparked by a Maldonado jumper, reclaimed Providence’s advantage late in the third quarter and handed Bill Himmelberg’s squad a lead it wouldn’t give up.

Rocky (12-7, 4-2 Frontier) chipped within eight points in the fourth, freshman Paige Wasson adding the finishing touches on her career-high 26, but Maldonado responded with a triple.

Providence outrebounded Rocky 35-23 on Thursday, including 9-6 on the offensive glass.

The Battlin’ Bears doubled Providence’s eight points off turnovers, but the Argos finished plus-10 in the paint and shot 49.1% (28-for-57).

Wasson connected on six of eight 3-pointers during her banner night.

She grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists, and blocked three shots.

Fresno State transfer Sydney Dethman scored 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while freshman Isabelle Heggem added 11 and Iliana Moran contributed 10 points.

Providence (12-6, 2-4 Frontier), after beginning conference play 0-3, has won two of its last three overall. Rocky, once alone atop Frontier standings, has dropped its last two matchups with nationally-ranked competition.

Thursday was the first time Providence scored 70-plus in league play this season. All six of the Argos’ conference games have been decided by eight or fewer points.

: RV Montana Tech; Saturday; Butte

: No. 22 Carroll College; Saturday; Great Falls

HELENA — Might be hard to believe the Saints’ 17th-straight victory against Western was a three-point contest entering the fourth quarter.

That’s because Carroll shot 25% (8-for-32) in the opening 20 minutes, only gaining separation when Kyndall Keller and Isabelle Erickson combined for 11 points in a 7-for-13 team effort to begin the second half.

The basket's lid, one that followed Carroll from the Hi-Line, finally popped off in the fourth, allowing a 24-point stanza on sterling 10-for-10 shooting. Of Carroll’s 32 attempted first-half field goals, 15 were 3-pointers. In the fourth, the Saints hoisted nine high-percentage shots to improve to 9-0 when scoring 60 or more points this season.

"We really talked about, in the second half, getting to the rim a little more," Saints head coach Rachelle Sayers said. "I think things kinda opened up for us...

"We've got some experienced players. When you have that, and they've been in a lot of these close games, they know how to win."

Tied at 45-45 with under 6:30 to play, it was Meagan Karstetter’s bucket that ignited an 18-0 game-sealing Saints run.

Karstetter, displaying flashes of a left-handed Jamie Pickens, scored seven of her 13 points during that stretch, including a fist pump inducing and-one layup that, paired with a free throw, extended Carroll’s advantage to seven.

"With a team like [Western], they're scrappy," Karstetter said. "They pressure hard. You kinda get ups and downs. Getting [that layup], bringing the energy back, and letting your team know, 'we've got this, the energy is on our side, let's finish this out strong.'"

Karstetter, a first-year starter as a 6-foot-2 junior, has now scored double figures in five of Carroll’s six Frontier games this season.

"I've started playing in my role," Karstetter said. "I know what I need to do to help the team win, get players open shots."

"[Meagan] was huge," Sayers said. "She's continuing to grow as a player and understand what she can do for us. We're much better when we have that post presence."

Keller paced the Saints with 18 points (12 in the second half), pulling within 16 of 1,000 in her three-year Carroll career. Addi Ekstrom and Erickson each scored 10 points. For Erickson, it was her first double-figure scoring game and double-double (10 rebounds) of the season.

Trinidie Nichols scored 13 points off the bench for Western. She knocked down three of the Bulldogs’ four made 3-pointers on Thursday.

Isabella Lund chipped in nine points, while Payton Hagy and Keke Davis each scored eight and combined for seven rebounds and six assists.

"[Carroll] couldn't miss a shot [in the fourth]," Western head coach Britt Cooper said. "They were shooting really good. We were missing easy shots. It's tough to win when you can't make a basket."

Western (7-11, 2-4 Frontier) is now 0-3 in Frontier road games. Sayers earned career victory No. 294 on Thursday as the Saints (13-6, 5-1 Frontier) currently stand alone atop the Frontier standings.

"Just means we've gotta keep going hard," Karstetter said. "Do things right the first time, execute everything. Anything can happen."

: No. 23 Providence; Saturday; Great Falls

: MSU-Northern; Saturday; Dillon

BUTTE — A 21-9 second quarter carried the Orediggers in a 13th victory the program hasn’t experienced since 2022, at the same time achieving Tech’s best conference record in four seasons.

Hadley Humphreys paced Tech (13-6, 4-2 Frontier) with 16 points, her fourth Frontier contest scoring double figures. Liv Wangerin (12) and Macy Mayer (10) joined Humphreys, combining for eight rebounds and five assists.

Aubrie Rademacher and Avery Carlson each scored six points on Thursday.

It was Mayer who paced the Orediggers in a second quarter that erased Northern’s one-point first stanza advantage, building an 11-point halftime edge that withstood the charge of Taya Trottier and company in the third.

A three-point contest with under 90 seconds to play, Tech’s Carlson knocked down the first of a couple free throw pairs sandwiched around a Northern turnover. Tech ended Thursday’s game on a 7-2 run, earning the Orediggers’ fourth victory in five tries.

Becky Melcher and Canzas HisBadHorse paced the Skylights (10-9, 1-5 Frontier) with 13 points.

HisBadHorse added seven rebounds, two steals, a steal, and three blocked shots.

Trottier totaled eight points on 3-for-9 shooting, and Savannah Toms – who pulled Northern within a possession late – finished with nine points, a rebound, and blocked shot.

Northern held a plus-three advantage in points off turnovers Thursday and a plus-four edge in the paint, but couldn’t overcome a 3-for-15 second-quarter dry spell.

Northern, after opening conference play with a victory, has lost five straight. Tech is 4-0 in conference play when holding its opponent under 60 points.

: No. 20 Rocky Mountain College; Saturday; Butte

: Montana Western; Saturday; Dillon

BUTTE — Four of the Orediggers’ five consecutive league victories resulted in 20-plus point blowouts. Since its conference-opening defeat, Tech is beating opponents, on average, by 20.6 points per game. For the first time this season, Tech is alone in the Frontier penthouse.

Michael Ure, preseason league player of the year, scored 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

Brayden Koch and Ifeanyi Okeke each netted a dozen, with Okeke grabbing four rebounds and dishing out four assists. Keeley Bake chipped in nine and three assists, while Hayden Diekhans and Levi Torgerson each supplied six points.

Tech (17-2, 5-1 Frontier) led Northern by four at halftime. Up five mid-way through the second half, the Orediggers reeled off a 10-0 run, sparked by a Koch bucket, building a double-digit advantage that would grow to as many as 23 points.

For the fifth-straight game, Tech shot better than 44% from the field, knocking down at least six 3-pointers for the seventh consecutive outing.

Cinque Maxwell led Northern (6-13, 0-6 Frontier) with 12 points.

Jack Reardon and Leon Sayers IV each added eight, and Leo Sewell contributed seven points off the bench. Northern turned the basketball over 14 times Thursday, leading to 16 Tech points.

The Orediggers outpaced Northern 40-26 in the paint.

Northern remains the only Frontier team (men’s or women’s) without a league victory this season. Tech improved to 11-0 at home.

: No. 19 Rocky Mountain College; Saturday; Butte

: Montana Western; Saturday; Dillon

BILLINGS — Antoine Boyd Jr. poured in a season-best 28 points, Jamil Bowles followed with his Frontier-best 25, and the Argos pulled even with Rocky for second place in the Frontier lineup.

A 55-point Battlin’ Bears second half wasn’t enough to overcome a 6-for-26 shooting effort the first 20 minutes, a period in which Providence outscored the home team by 16.

Rocky (15-4, 4-2 Frontier) closed within six points numerous times down the stretch, riding 13 second-half points from Omari Nesbit and a 54.5% (18-for-33) performance. Providence received a combined 31 second-half points from Boyd Jr. and Bowles, just enough to hand Rocky its second loss in three games.

Nikolajs Atanasovs supplied 11 points and five rebounds for the Argos. Bowles secured his fifth double-double of the season with 15 rebounds, and Boyd Jr. dished out four assists.

Jaylon Lee paced Rocky with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jesse Owens added 14 points and three assists, Nesbit scored all of his baker’s dozen in the second half, and Colton Spencer supplied 13 and three rebounds off the bench.

Rocky is now 1-2 when trailing at halftime in conference play. On Jan. 9, the Battlin’ Bears outscored Providence 47-27 to storm back from a 16-point intermission deficit. More recently, Rocky trailed Carroll by 17 in Helena before suffering its first league defeat.

Providence (10-9, 4-2 Frontier) won its first contest against a top-25-ranked opponent this season, moving within three conference victories of last season’s total (7).

: No. 11 Montana Tech; Saturday; Butte

: Carroll College; Saturday; Great Falls

HELENA — The Frontier’s highest-scoring offense entering play eclipsed 80 points for the third consecutive contest, pulling the Saints back to even in league play.

"I think we're just getting better," Saints head coach Dan Pearson said. "We have the makings for growth throughout the year. Everything should point toward us getting better every single week...

"Guys are learning from mistakes and putting those in their back-pocket."

Kellen Harrison knocked down the second-half free throws that achieved free Arby’s Frostys for those in attendance, part of a Carroll promotion that rewards fans when their Saints score 83 or more points, two of the 19 made freebies by Pearson’s team Thursday.

Isaiah Crane, the Frontier’s leading scorer, totaled 11 of his 19 points at the charity stripe, using his 10-for-14 effort from 15 feet away to drop a dozen in the second half alone.

Derek Kramer narrowly missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Isaiah Moore notched all 10 of his points in the first half, but added three rebounds and three assists. James Lang chipped in nine points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

Leading 66-60 with under six minutes to play, Carroll pieced together a 10-0 victory-sealing run.

First-year Saint Lorence Dela Cruz either scored or assisted on eight of those points, tying a season-high with four rebounds and churning out four assists for the second time in three games.

"Lorence was great tonight," Pearson said. "Huge energy plays, big plays at big moments, too."

Dela Cruz finished with 12 points in 21 minutes off the bench, a conference scoring high watermark for the 6-foot Central Wyoming transfer.

"That's what I try to provide the team," Dela Cruz said. "Energy. Getting with the crowd just feels great."

In his last three games – all Carroll victories – Dela Cruz is averaging eight points, 3.3 rebounds and three assists per game, often, like he did Thursday, flipping at least one running layup over the head of a taller flailing defender.

"I know for a fact I'm the fastest one here," Dela Cruz said. "So, if I see a taller guy, I'm just going at him."

Harrison, Frosty heroics aside, scored six points to accompany two assists. Murat Guzelocak chipped in six points, on 3-for-5 shooting, in 12 game minutes.

"He's just a winner," Pearson said of Harrison. "He was Gatorade Player of the Year in football, a college basketball player - those kids, they just understand the dynamic of sport...

"He competes his butt off in everything. He's got a knack for being in competitive moments and having a calm mind."

Kyle Gruhler led Western (10-9, 2-4 Frontier) with 24 points not quite a month removed from his season-best 32-point outburst against the Saints.

Gruhler hit five of Western’s nine triples Thursday.

Abi Adedo scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Western’s leading scorer Jalyn Stepney was held without a first-half bucket and fouled out after totaling six points on 2-for-11 shooting. Alan Kane contributed nine points and six rebounds, while Kolter Merritt and Jacksen Burckley each chipped in six points off the bench.

Western has now lost four straight following a 2-0 beginning to conference play.

Carroll (8-11, 3-3 Frontier) is averaging 87.3 points, while allowing only 72 per game, during this current win streak.

"It starts with our practices," Dela Cruz said. "We've been going hard, getting our confidence, and just playing hard."

: Providence; Saturday; Great Falls

: MSU-Northern; Saturday; Dillon