HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College women's basketball team travels to Las Vegas for three games at the annual Frontier Conference Las Vegas Shootout at Durango High School.
The 3-0 Saints face Arizona Christian Friday, Xavier University of Louisiana Saturday and Northwest Christian Sunday.
Carroll is using its superior height to great effect so far this season. The Saints are No. 1 in NAIA DI in blocks per game, and in the top-10 in defensive rebounding, rebound margin, and field goal percentage.
Cassidy Hashley leads the Saints with 16.67 points and 9.00 rebounds per game.
Brittney Johnson averages 12.7 points per game and
Hannah Dean scores 12.3 points per game.
"We are really excited to get back on the floor and compete," head coach
Rachelle Sayers said. "We play three very quality opponents in three-straight nights. It will be a great opportunity to see how well we respond on such a short turnaround."
The Saints' toughest test of the season to date is Arizona Christian. The Firestorm are 3-1 on the season and are led by Courtney Christmas. Three other ACU players score in double figures.
"We will have our hands full with Arizona Christian and Courtney Christmas who is a 6-foot-1 guard averaging 20 points per game," Sayers said.
Xavier opened the season 3-0 and earned a marquee win already with a 71-67 victory over Our Lady of the Lake (Texas). The Gold Nuggets lost their last two games but Sayers knows that they are dangerous.
"We turn around and play Xavier of Louisiana," Sayers said. "They just beat the No. 3 team in the country so they have shown very early that they are a team that we have to be ready for."
XULA is led by Ireyon Keith who averages 9.4 points per game. The Gold Nuggets don't have a single scorer that averages double figures, all 15 players on the roster have played in at least four of the five games and 12 players average over 3.0 points per game.
The third game of the weekend is Cascade Conference team Northwest Christian. NCU has one game under their belt, a 71-69 win over Simpson (Calif.).
The Beacons scored nine 3-pointers in their win. Ashley Land had a team-high 13 points in the win, two other NCU players scored in double figures.
"On the third night we play a very good Northwest Christian team that is led by some very talented Division I, NAIA and JUCO transfers," Sayers said. "I definitely think our size and experience will be huge for us."
Live Stats will be available via
Dakstats. Friday's game is schedule for 6 p.m., Saturday's game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the weekend finale is slated for 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
