HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll College women struggled in the first half and allowed Montana Western to build a 32-11 first half lead that the Saints could not overcome en route to the 61-43 Western win Tuesday night at the PE Center.
 
Carroll began the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the Western lead to 32-17 with 8:28 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs slowed the run and the two teams traded shots for the remainder of the third quarter.
 
The Saints cut the deficit to to 60-38 with 5:28 to play in the game but a 7-0 run by the Bulldogs put the game out of reach and UMW rolled to the 18-point win.
 
Carroll improved the shooting in the second half, hitting 13-40 (32.5 percent) for an overall total of 16-65 (24.6 percent).
 
Bailey Pasta tallied 13 points for the Saints and Cassidy Hashley had 11 points and 16 rebounds. Hannah Dean had 10 rebounds for the Saints.
 
Montana Western was 19-49 (38.8 percent) from the field and 6-12 (50 percent) from the three-point line.
 
Aniese Palmore scored a game-high 19 points for Western and Kaye Bignell tallied 16.
 
The loss drops Carroll to 16-9 on the year and 6-7 in Frontier Conference play, the Saints remain in fourth place.
 
Carroll is back in action Thursday in Billings against Rocky Mountain.  The game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Fortin Center.