CARROLL COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION PRESS RELEASE
HELENA – The 13th-ranked Carroll College women’s basketball team went on a 9-0 run early in the first quarter and never trailed after that point en route to the 66-50 win over Montana Tech to earn the season sweep over the Diggers Wednesday night at the PE Center.
The Saints struck first, but Tech answered with a three-point play. The two team were tied at four with just over seven minutes left in the first quarter, but a three-pointer from Jaidyn Lyman spurred a 9-0 run to put Carroll up 13-4 with 5:38 left in the first quarter.
The Saints led 21-9, but a Tech Three-pointer cut the lead to 21-12 at the quarter.
Montana Tech cut the lead to 23-19 with 6:18 left in the second quarter, before Carroll 16-4 run to close out the half and take a 39-23 lead into the break.
The Diggers but the lead to 51-39 after the third quarter, but the Saints outscored Tech 15-11 in the final frame to close out the 66-50 win.
Carroll is now 18-6 on the year, and 10-3 in Frontier Conference play, a half-game ahead of Rocky Mountain who the Saints meet Saturday in Billings.
Carroll picked up 17 points off of turnovers to just 10 for the Diggers and held an 18-12 advantage in points in the paint.
Hannah Dean scored 19 points, her highest point total since the Jan. fourth game against Montana Western. She also had a game-high nine rebounds.
Bailey Pasta notched 16 points., Brittney Johnson had 10, and Christine Denny notched 10 points.
Carroll was 26-54 (48.1 percent) from the field and 5-15 (33.3 percent) from the three-point line. Carroll was 9-9 from the free throw line.
“I thought Bailey Pasta and Hannah Dean took the team on their shoulders tonight,” head coach Rachelle Sayers said. “Hannah was unreal on both ends of the court, and BP just did a great job of hitting shots and create offense when we needed it. I thought we did a better job on the boards and to hold Tech to 50 points is huge, considering they lead the conference in scoring during league games. Hitting our free throws and taking care of the basketball was also huge. We weren’t able to create as many turnovers as we would have liked, but we had 30 deflections in the game, which leads to a lot of disruption. This team just continues to focus on getting better every day, and it’s paying off.”
The Saints hit the road for the next three games, starting with Rocky Saturday at the Fortin Center in Billings.
