The Montana Tech Ole Diggers women’s basketball team returned to Frontier Conference play Thursday night at the Hyper Center as the Carroll College Fighting Saints No. 11 on Kelvin Sampson Court.
Carroll patiently crammed an early nine-point deficit into the margin to take an early lead in the second half to a 60–48 win over Oredigars.
Tech jumped out to an 11-2 lead with 3:18 in the first. His 3-pointer on Soda Rice started the run and Tabi Rooney added the layup. Following Carroll’s Kindall Keller layup, Rooney and Allie cleverly added a basket.
The Fighting Saints responded 6-0 with points scored by Keller, Adi Ekstrom and Genesis Wilkinson in the middle of the quarter.
Carroll’s Kindall Keller drives into the whoops while Tech’s Aubrey Rademacher defends Jan. 5 at Butte.
Tech (4-9, 0-3 Frontier) extended their lead to 7 points as Rooney and Charice Westwater tucked a basket around Jamie Pickens’ layup.
A fast-paced first quarter was wrapped up in a 6-3 Carroll sprint to pull within three points of 20-17.
Both defenses locked the basket early in the second quarter as neither team scored in the first 4:37. Pickens sank two of his free throws to pull Carroll (12-5, 3-0 Frontier) inside the point.
With 4:27 left in the first half, Rooney hit a 14-foot jumper to give Tech their first points of the quarter. Rademacher unleashed her two free throws shortly afterward and McKayla Kloker converted her play by three points to help the Orediggers regain her seven-point advantage 26-19. I was.
Two Tech turnovers facilitated an 8-2 Carroll run in the final three minutes of the half as Keller and Maddie Geritz were combined on the run.
Carroll’s Maddie Geritz looks to the basket as Tech’s Aubrey Rademacher defends Jan. 5 in Butte.
Rooney’s 30-foot buzzer attempt was off line as Tech led by one at the 28-27 half.
The Fighting Saints scored 11/35 from the field in the first half.
Oredigers scored 7/19 from the field 20 minutes into the game. This included his 3/7 from the three-point line.
Tech went 11-12 from the first-half free-throw line and Carroll scored 4-5.
In the third quarter, Carroll’s 10-2 run with 4:08 in the first gave the Fighting Saints a 37-30 lead.
Carroll extended his lead to nine points as Tech went scoreless with 3:43 final in the quarter. The Fighting Saints went 44-35 into the 4th quarter.
A Rademacher field goal got the Orediggers to start the fourth quarter, then two Pickens field goals gave Carroll an 11-point lead with 7:51.
Tech responded with a 6-0 run to make the score 48-43 and forced a timeout on Carroll with 4:44 left in the fourth quarter.
Tech’s Tavia Rooney headed into the hoop guarded by Carroll’s Jamie Pickens in the first half of the Oredigars’ home game against the Saints.
Sienna Swannuk’s three-pointer with 2:18 extended Carroll’s lead to eight. Swannak finally scored his four key free throws and Pickens scored a steal with 18 seconds remaining to give the Saints his 12-point victory.
Carroll went 16-13 from the free-throw line, shooting 38.6% from the field and 18.8% from across the arc.
Pickens led all scorers with 19 points. Keller added his 16 points and Swannuk his 12.
Tech shot 34.9% from the field, 25% over the arc, and 14 of 16 from Charity Stripes.
Tech’s Aubrie Rademacher stole the ball from Carroll’s Camden Hilbourne, while Tech’s Ally deftly defended on 5 January at Butte.
Rademacher scored 14 points and had 9 rebounds, Rooney added 8 points and got 8 boards, and Kloker had 8 points.
Orediggers will continue their Frontier Conference activities Saturday afternoon as they host Providence University at the HPER Center at 2pm.
The Fighting Saints will travel to Billings to play Rocky Mountain College at the Fortin Education Center at 2pm.