HELENA, Mont. – The 25th-ranked Carroll College women's basketball team is on the road for a pair of Frontier Conference away games starting with Montana Tech Thursday in Butte before traveling to face No. 2 Lewis-Clark State Saturday in Lewiston, Idaho.
 
"We are looking forward to getting back on the court," head coach Rachelle Sayers said. "We had some really good stretches of basketball this weekend as well as some areas that we need to continue to improve on. Every game we play in conference is like a championship game. This conference is the best it's ever been."
 
The Saints look to rebound against the Diggers who are 8-8 on the year and 2-3 in Frontier Conference play.
 
Carroll fell to No. 11 MSU-Northern 58-56 last Saturday at the PE Center. The loss broke up a five-game win streak. The Saints fell to 12-4 and 2-2 in Frontier Conference play.
 
Cassidy Hashley put together an outstanding weekend, with 31 points and 13 rebounds in a 64-60 OT win over No. 13 University of Great Falls and 11 points and 11 rebounds in the game against Northern.
 
Hashley leads the team with 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Bailey Pasta is second on the team, averaging 10.6 points per game.
 
The toughest task Thursday is a pair of guards in Martha Dembek and Hattie Thatcher. Dembek leads the Diggers with 17.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Thatcher is scoring 11.8 points and 5.6 assists per game, good enough for eight in NAIA DI.
 
Saturday, the Saints meet No. 2 and 17-0 Lewis-Clark State. The Warriors are 5-0 in Frontier Conference play and are outscoring conference opponents 80.0-63.6 on average.
 
Caelyn Orlandi leads NAIA DI with 6.9 assists per game and scored a team-high 14.4 points. Three other Warrior players average double-digit scoring.
 
"We have to be locked in on every possession because every one is important," Sayers said.  "Tech and LC both play extremely fast and shoot the ball really well. Tech gave Western their first loss of the season and LC is yet to lose a game this year, so we know that we have to be ready to battle."
 
The Saints and Diggers take the court at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Thursday's game will be broadcast live on 94.9 ESPN Montana Radio and online at ESPNMontana.com. The game will be live streamed via Montana Tech's youtube channel and live stats will be available via Dakstats.