GREAT FALL, Mont. – Home court advantage for the first round of the Frontier Conference playoffs could be at stake for the University of Providence women's basketball team during a weekend of games against two ranked teams. The Lady Argos currently sit fourth in the Frontier Conference standings but face tough games in the second to last weekend of the regular season.
 
Playoff seeding has changed in the Frontier Conference for the 2017-18 season, with all seven teams making the postseason now. The 1-seed will receive a first round bye, while the 2, 3, & 4-seeds will host opening round games.
 
With a current conference record of 7-7, it would take a tremendous effort and a bit of luck for the Lady Argos get any higher than fourth with the next teams in the standings tied at 10-4. It wouldn't take much, however, for the team to drop to fifth, with Lewis-Clark State College lurking close behind at 6-8.
 
The path to a home playoff game will start with UP's first home game since January 27, and the hopes of ending a 4-game losing streak, all of which has come on the road. The opponent will be (12) Rocky Mountain College on February 16.
 
UP and the Battlin' Bears have split their two games earlier this year, with the Lady Argos take the first at home 60-52, while Rocky won in Billings, Montana 71-54. As has been the difference between wins and losses for the most of the Lady Argo's season, turnovers and defense were the differences between the two games.
 
In both meetings, the Lady Argos outrebounded RMC and got big performances from senior guard Stephanie McDonagh and freshman post Parker Esary. The team's turnovers went from 11 in the win to 18 in the loss and Rocky went from shooting 26.8 percent in the first game to 45 percent in the second.
 
The game will pit two of the best defensive players in the conference against each other. Rocky's senior guard Mikayla Jones leads the conference in steals per game (2.58 spg), while her counterpart on the UP roster, senior Stephanie McDonagh, is second with 2.44 spg. Both are also their teams' respective leading scorers, though McDonagh has the advantage there with a conference second best 17.84 points per game, while Jones averages 12.04 ppg.
 
Thanks in part to Jones, will enter the game with a 20-4 (10-4) record and currently ranks 2nd in NAIA Division I in Score Defense per Game at 49.83 ppg.
 
Once that game is over, things won't get any easier for the Lady Argos with (11) Carroll College, the only team in the conference UP has yet to beat in 2017-18. The Fighting Saints also sit atop the conference standings and feature another top ranked defense, plus the game will be full of emotion with it being UP's Senior Night.
 
While at 53.44 ppg, Carroll's scoring defense isn't quite as daunting as Rocky's, its close ranking 4th in the nation and the Fighting Saints held the Lady Argos to just 47 points the last time the two teams played. That game, a 59-47 Carroll win was played down in Helena, but when the team's played in Great Falls earlier in the year, UP's offense wasn't the problem, scoring 65 points.
 
What has been the problem for the Lady Argos has been stopping Carroll's offense which is shooting over 50 percent from the floor and from three against UP.
 
The matchup to watch will be Esary against senior forward Hannah Dean for Carroll. Dean and Esary are first and second in the conference in rebounds per game (7.8 for Dean and 7.72 for Esary). Ranking 3rd in the conference in with 14.56 ppg and 6th in the country with a 56.9 shooting percentage, Esary has the advantage offensively, but Dean ranks 10th in the NAIA in Blocks per Game with 1.88 bpg.
 
That game will be played on Saturday, February 17 at 5:30 p.m. with the Senior Night ceremony for McDonagh, Molly Herron, and Kallee Wilson taking place between the women's and men's games.