(RMC Athletics release)
BILLINGS – The No. 18 Rocky Mountain College women’s basketball team will face No. 11 Carroll College in the Frontier Conference Tournament championship game on Tuesday night in Helena, Mont. The game will begin at 7 p.m. in the Carroll PE Center as Rocky looks to win its first Frontier title since 1988.
SWX will broadcast the championship game live. SWX is available on Charter 503, over-the-air on 8.2 and on the Watch SWX app. Live video and stats will also be available online. Complete game coverage, including links to live video and live stats, is available on the Postseason Central page at GoBattlinBears.com/wbbpostseason.
Rocky made its way to the final with wins over Montana Tech (62-55) and at No. 15 Montana Western (59-54) in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Rocky trailed Montana Western by 12 with 5:20 to play in the third quarter before a 22-5 run to take the lead and advance to the finals.
Two of the three regular season meetings between Rocky and Carroll went to overtime, with Carroll winning both. The third game was a Rocky win, 58-50, on January 27 in Helena. The teams have played in the conference tournament six times since 2004 with Carroll winning five of those meetings. They haven’t played in the tournament since 2012.
The Battlin’ Bears will enter the championship game with a 23-7 overall record. They are the no. 3-seed in the tournament after recording an 11-7 record in conference play. The third-place finish is the highest by a Rocky team since they tied for third during the 2011-12 season. This season, Rocky is 12-4 in road games and they have won four of their last five away from home.
Rocky is averaging 66.33 points per game and they are second in the Frontier by shooting 42.4 percent from the field. They lead the conference and rank 18th in the NAIA by hitting on 34.0 percent from 3-point territory. The team ranks 10th in the country with a 1.05 assist-to-turnover ratio and 12th with a 4.30 turnover margin.
At the defensive end, Rocky is third in the NAIA by allowing 51.47 points per game. They hold the opposition to 35.4 percent from the floor to rank 15th in the country. The Battlin’ Bears place eighth in the nation in limiting opponents to 25.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Mikayla Jones leads the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game while scoring in double figures 21 times. She scored a career-high 30 points in the win over Montana Tech on February 10. Jones leads the Frontier at 2.47 steals per game – 17th nationally – and her 74 total steals place her 14th in the NAIA.
Brooke Jones has scored in double figures 19 times and is second on the team in scoring at 10.9 points per game. She shoots 50.4 percent from the field and has 182 rebounds.
Hailee Farstveet is scoring 9.2 points per game after scoring in double figures in 14 of the past 16 games. She leads the team with 113 assists – 23rd in the country – and her 3.77 assists per game rank 29th in the NAIA. Farstveet has scored 846 points in her Rocky career and she has 1,172 career points in the NAIA when you add the 326 she scored for Dickinson State as a freshman.
Rocky already knows it will play in the NAIA National Championship as the tournament host later this month at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark. The bracket for the 32-team field will be released by the NAIA on Wednesday at 4 p.m. MT. Be sure the like the PlayNAIA Facebook page to be able to watch the bracket reveal video: https://www.facebook.com/PlayNAIA
