LAS VEGAS – A night after putting up the worst shooting performance of the season in an overtime win over Xavier of Louisiana, the 25th-ranked Carroll College women proved that the poor shooting was an aberration and put up their best shooting performance of the year in a 81-64 win over Northwest Christian Sunday in the final game of the Las Vegas Shootout.
The Saints were 28-51 (54.9 percent) from the field and 9-18 (50 percent) from the 3-point line in the 17-point win.
The Beacons controlled the game early and held a 25-21 lead after the first quarter but for the rest of the game, Carroll set the pace.
The Saints used a 15-0 run that took much of the second quarter to build a 10-point lead. Carroll led 40-33 at the half.
The third quarter was much of the same, the Saints built the lead to 61-46 before Beacon layup cut the lead to 61-48 to enter the fourth quarter.
The Saints opened the final frame with a 9-0 run to build a 70-48 lead and put the game out of reach. NWC was able to cut the deficit to 17 points in the final seconds but that is as close as they would come.
"I'm really happy for our squad. We battled every night of this tournament," head coach
Rachelle Sayers said. "We have some areas to clean up for sure. We had way too many turnovers, but I'm happy about our effort and everything starts and finishes there. We played without
Baylee Watson, our sole senior and team captain for two games and we had a lot of people step up and contribute. Each game we learn more and more about this team, and I'm excited about where we can go from here."
Bailey Pasta scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Saints,
Hannah Dean notched 16,
Brittney Johnson had 13 and
Cassidy Hashley had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Niki Duncan scored 24 points to lead the Beacons and Monique Thompson added 14 rebounds.
The Saints outrebounded NCU 37-21 and had 18 assists on 28 made field goals.
Carroll next travels to the Rotary Classic in Johnson City, Tenn. The tournament is a matchup of some of the nation's top teams. The Saints face No. 20 Columbia (Mo.) Friday and No. 23 Cumberland (Tenn.) Saturday.
