HELENA, Mont. – The No. 25 Carroll College women's basketball team fell to No. 11 MSU-Northern 58-56 Saturday in Frontier Conference action at the PE Center.
 
The Skylights built a 13-8 lead with 2:20 remaining in the first quarter but the Saints closed the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 18-15 lead into the second.
 
MSUN rattled off nine-straight points to begin the second and build a 24-18 lead with 7:04 left in the half. Carroll battled back and took a 27-24 lead on a bucket from Michaela Dowdy with 3:30 remaining. The Skylights closed the half on a 7-1 run to take a 31-28 lead into the break.
 
MSU-Northern started the second half with a 6-0 run to build a 37-28 lead with 6:52 left in the third before the Saints battled to cut it to 44-42 at the quarter break.
 
The Saints took a 49-48 lead on a three-pointer from Cassidy Hashley with 5:48 to play but Northern battled back to take a 55-51 lead with 1:43 remaining. A bucket from Hannah Dean and a baseline 3-pointer from Brittney Johnson gave the Saints a 56-55 lead in the final minute but on the Skylights' next possession Sierra Richards hit a bunny to regain the lead.
 
A Carroll miss, followed by a free throw by MSUN's Jacy Thompson gave the Skylights a 56-58 lead with three seconds on the clock. The Saints had one more attempt but a desperation shot attempt by Dean was blocked at the buzzer and MSU-Northern prevailed.
 
The Saints shot well from the field hitting on 22-49(44.9 percent) including 9-14 (64.3 percent) from the three-point line.
 
The difference in the game game from the free-throw line. Carroll didn't attempt a free throw in the second half and were 3-6 (50 percent) in the first half. MSUN was 12-15 (80 percent) from the line on the game, including 7-7 in the first half.
 
The Skylights were 22-53 (41.5 percent) from the field in the game but just 2-8 (25 percent) from the three-point line.
 
Bailey Pasta was 4-4 from the three-point line and 8-13 from the field to lead the Saints with 20 points. Hashley recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Richards and Natalee Faupel tallied 16 points each to lead MSUN and Thompson tallied 15.
 
The Saints fall to 12-4 on the year and 2-2 in Frontier play. MSU-Northern is now 13-2 on the year and 3-1 in Frontier play.
 
Carroll hits the road for three-straight conference games beginning with Montana Tech on Thursday, Jan. 12, in Butte.