HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College women's basketball team dominated inside, outscoring Montana Tech 32-10 in the paint en route to a 68-53 win over the Diggers at the PE Center Thursday night.
 
The win gives the Saints a three-game regular-season sweep over the Diggers, a year after Tech beat Carroll twice in three meetings.
 
Carroll held a 12-10 lead in the waning seconds of the first quarter before Kimi Heng buried a half-court shot at the buzzer to give the Diggers a 13-12 lead after the first frame.
 
Heng hit a three-pointer to open the scoring in the second half and extend the lead to 16-12. Carroll then went on an 8-0, leading to a 17-8 advantage in the second quarter and give Carroll a 29-21 lead at the half.
 
The Saints came alive in the second half, shooting 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) from the field after the break. The Saints were also 12 of 16 from the free throw line in the second half.
 
Brittney Johnson hit a layup to start the scoring in the second half and give Carroll a 31-21 lead with 9:45 in the third but Montana Tech went on a 17-7 run to tie the game at 38 with 4:12 left in the quarter.
 
Tech was unable to gain an advantage and Carroll closed the half on a 9-2 run to take 49-42 lead into the final frame.
 
After a pair of Tech free throws to start the quarter, the Saints rattled of nine-straight points to build a 58-44 lead with 6:42 to play. The two teams traded buckets the rest of the way and Carroll rolled to the 15-point victory to move to 9-4 in Frontier play and 19-4.
 
The Saints were without senior point guard and captain Katie Estey and Carroll leaned on the inside play. Post players scored 39 of the Saints 68 points.
 
"Without Katie we are a little bit different team," head coach Rachelle Sayers said. "Our strength is our post players, especially against a smaller team like Tech so that was really an emphasis. We worked all week on pounding the ball in and working hard on the high-low and I thought the kids did a great job executing tonight.
 
Johnson, Cassidy Hashley and Baylee Watson led the Saints with 13 points each. Johnson also tallied a game-high eight points.
 
Martha Dembek led Montana Tech with 14 points.
 
The Saints turn around and face No. 12 Lewis-Clark State Friday at the PE Center. The Warriors lead the Frontier with a 10-2 conference record.
 
The game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the PE Center. It is cancer awareness night.