SALT LAKE CITY – The 24th ranked Carroll College Fighting Saints survived a late surge and defeated No. 4 Westminster 55-50 in the Frontier Conference opener Thursday evening.
It was the first win for the Saints on the Griffin's home court in head coach Rachelle Sayers' tenure as head coach. It was also the first loss for the Griffins at Behnken Field House since the 2010-11 season, a streak of 29 consecutive wins. It was also the first Conference loss in 17 games, the last also came at the hand of the Saints on Feb. 21, 2013.< strong="">
"I am so proud of this team," Sayers said. "We have amazing leaders in Kalee (Junkermeier), Bailey (Snelling) and Katie (Estey) and our young posts are playing with such confidence.
The Saints jumped out to an early 15-8 lead before the Griffins battled back to tie the game at 18-18 with 3:40 remaining in the first half. The Saints then closed the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 30-20 advantage into halftime. Estey led the way at the break with 12 points which came on 4-of-5 shooting from the three-point line.
After the break the Saints held on to the advantage but Wesminster cut the lead to 49-45 with 1:23 remaining. The Saints were solid at the free throw line to close out the win 55-50.
Estey led the Saints with 12 points but the inside game was huge for Carroll. Cassidy Hashley tallied 10 points and nine rebounds. Baylee Watson also scored 10 points for Carroll.
"I could coach this team for 30 years. They are great teammates, work extremely hard, play for each other and for Carroll College," Sayers said. "I couldn't ask more from them. I had a great feeling this morning something special was going to happen and it did. These kids deserved this!"
The Saints were 20-of-48 (41.7%) from the field and outrebounded Westminster 36-24.
Carroll is now 10-4 on the season while Westminster falls to 10-2.The win was the fourth-straight for Carroll and second in four games against a top-five team.
The Saints close out the road trip at the University of Montana-Western Saturday evening. TheBulldogs fell to Rocky Mountain 76-51 in their Frontier opener.
