The Frontier Conference’s two remaining basketball teams competed in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament on Saturday in Sioux City, IA.
First up was the No. 2 seeded Providence Lady Argos, who were taking on the best team in the NAIA this season in Marian (Indiana). UP ended up knocking out a one-loss team by the final score of (78-68). The first half was especially telling as the Lady Argos maintained a (42-28) edge with their three best players already having posted double-figure scoring and having as many points in the paint as their opponent had in the entire half. They were able to keep Marian at bay because of the stellar play of Keanna Salave’a (17 points and 10 rebounds), Ashlee Maldonado (team-high 28 points), and Maddy Dixon (17 points). As a result of this win, Providence also won the overall Naismith quadrant of the NAIA tournament bracket.
Carroll’s road continued as a No. 2 seed, beating No. 4 Dakota State, (71-56). The Saints led the game wire-to-wire and dominated the glass, out-rebounding (44-29) and playing good defense with a 32 percent field goal percentage for Dakota State. Few opponents have ever matched up well with Jamie Pickens since she transferred from the University of Montana as she showed out with another monster stat line of 24 points and 18 rebounds. Madie Geritz was the only other Carroll player in double-figures, putting up 13 points. The Cramer quadrant champs steamrolled their competition to get to this point.
This sets up a showdown between the two Frontier Conference teams as Providence and Carroll will play for a spot in the NAIA Tournament Final, which will be on Monday with tip-off scheduled for 5pm MDT. The teams split the season series, (2-2) with the Lady Argos getting the best of the Lady Saints in the last matchup, which just so happened to be the Frontier Conference Tournament championship game.
