HELENA, Mont. – Twenty-three W's listed one on top of the other. That is what you saw when you looked at Lewis-Clark State's women's basketball results. One of two undefeated teams in the NAIA before the second-ranked Warriors came into the PE Center to face Carroll College Friday.
 
Forty-minutes of exciting basketball later, the Saints would give LCSC the first L on the schedule.
 
The Saints rode a big second half and three Carroll players scored in double figures en route to the 64-57 win.
 
The Saints led early, building a 13-8 lead with 4:00 minutes left in the first half before the Warriors found their feet and began to attack. LCSC closed the quarter on a 9-4 run to tie the game at 17 after one.
 
The second quarter would belong to the Warriors. Carroll built a 22-19 lead before Lewis-Clark went on a 12-1 run to take and eight-point, 31-23 advantage. The Saints closed the half with a pair of baskets to cut the deficit to 33-28.
 
The two teams traded baskets for the bulk of the third. The Saints took a short-lived lead with 3:15 left on a three-pointer from Sara Chalich. Trailing 44-43 with 1:44 left, Chalich would score five points to give the Saints a 48-44 lead at the end of three.
 
Chalich hit another basket to start the scoring in the fourth and Carroll would build the lead to 56-46 with 5:42 left to play. The Warriors would not go away.
 
Lewis-Clark went on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to 57-53 with 2:47 to play before Carroll answered with a 6-0 run to lock up the win. The game would close with both teams trading baskets before coming to the 64-57 conclusion.

 "I'm very proud of the will of these girls on a back-to-back night to be able to accomplish what they did tonight," head coach Rachelle Sayers said. "LC is such a talented team and can hurt you in so many ways but I thought our patience and grit is what led us tonight. We didn't a panic, we took care of the ball and I think we got to most every loose ball and we did an awesome job on the boards." 

A night after giving up a season-low 11 turnovers, the Saints put up an even more impressing number, turning the ball over just seven times.

Except for the stretch in the second quarter, the Saints controlled the tempo of the game, limiting the high-powered to 24 points under their season average. The Warriors have been limited to fewer than 60 points twice on the season, both times by the Fighting Saints. 

"Defensivley, they are so hard to guard but I thought we did a great job of chasing them off the three-point line and by limiting our turnovers, we were able to control tempo a little better than we did in Lewiston. It  is just a tremendous win for us, we have been is so many close ones that ended in heartbreak this year, but tonight was our night!"

Hannah Dean led the Saints with 15 points on 7-10 shooting, Bailey Pasta tallied 12 and Chalich had a career-high 14 points, her second double digit game in a row.
 
Carroll was 25-57 (43.9 percent) from the field. The Warriors had similar numbers, they were 24-54 (44.4 percent). The Saints outrebounded LCSC 35-30.
 
Carroll moves to 6-6 in conference and 16-6 overall. The Saints sit a game back in the win column of Montana Western and MSU-Northern wo are currently tied for second, both teams own the season tiebreaker over the Saints.
 
The Saints now own the longest win-streak in the Frontier Conference at three and have won four of the last five games.
 
Carroll begins the third leg of the Frontier Conference round robin Tuesday with Montana Western at the PE Center. The Bulldogs won the first two match ups of the season by a combined three points.
 
Every other team in the Frontier Conference outside of Carroll will play Saturday.