GAME NOTES l LIVE AUDIO l LIVE VIDEO MSUN l LIVE VIDEO UP l LIVE STATS
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
The Saints open Frontier Conference play with games against MSU-Northern Friday and Providence Saturday. Carroll opens conference play with a 4-1 record. MSU-Northern is 5-4 overall with three straight losses, including a 69-54 loss to Rocky Mountain in the conference opener. Providence is 9-1 with the lone loss to third-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.).
Carroll earned a true road win over No. 7 Westmont and an exhibition win over Mountain West defending champion Boise State. The Saints dropped a true road game against No. 18 The Master's.
ABOUT CARROLL
Hannah Dean leads the Saints in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. She has stepped into the absence of senior All-American Cassidy Hashley and leads the team with 13.8 points per game. Senior point guard Bailey Pasta is second on the team with 9.8 points per game.
Carroll is the No. 2 scoring defense in NAIA DI at 46.2 points per game, third in total rebound defense and ninth in blocks per game.
The Saints have outscored opponents 292-231.
ABOUT MSU-NORTHERN
Northern lost Frontier Player of the Year Natalee Faupel, but Jacy Thompson has stepped into the role. She leads the way with 13.3 points per game. Three other Skylights average double figures. The Skylights are ninth in the NAIA in Assist/Turnover ratio.
ABOUT PROVIDENCE
Stephanie McDonagh leads a high-powered Providence offense with18.7 points per game. Three others average double figures. Kallee Wilson leads the Argos with 7.0 rebounds per game. UP is fourth in rebound margin, rebound defense, and 10th in scoring defense and total assists.
DIVISION I UPSET
The Saints toppled Mountain West Conference defending champion Boise State 62-61 in an exhibition game on Nov. 5 at Taco Bell Arena in Boise. Hannah Dean hit a fadeaway jumper with 18 seconds remaining, and the Carroll defense shut down a three-point attempt at the buzzer to close out the win. The Saints were .414 from the field and .545 from the three-point line. Bailey Pasta led the Saints with 13 points, Brittney Johnson had 11 and Hannah Dean tallied nine points and 12 rebounds.
DEAN DOMINATING.
Hannah Dean has been dominant on the court with double figures in every game except the season opener at College of Idaho. She scored a career-high 23 points at The Master's. she is 34 in NAIA DI in offensive rebounds, 37th in total rebounds, 37th in free throw percentage and 46th in blocks per game.
PASTA SHOOTING IMPROVEMENT
After going 0-7 from the field in the first game of the year, Bailey Pasta had been 33.3 percent or better from the three-point line in each of the last four games, including a 5-7 (71.4 percent) performance against The Master's.
BLOCK PARTY
Michaela Dowdy (13th) and Hannah Dean (46) both rank in the top 50 in blocks per game. The Saints are ninth as a team.
FRESHMAN BOOST
True freshmen Jaidyn Lyman and Christine Denney and redshirt freshman Dani Wagner have all shown early big play ability for Carroll and have ramped up the competition in practice.
SITTING OUT
Senior All-American Cassidy Hashley and junior guard Sara Chalich are both out for the season and will take medical redshirt seasons.
THE FIERCE FRONTIER
Four Teams from the Frontier made the NAIA Championship last season. Rocky Mountain earned an automatic bid as the host. Lewis-Clark, Montana Western and MSU-Northern all made the trek to Billings. Every team in the conference except Montana Tech has played in the NAIA tournament at least once in the last two seasons.
