HELENA, Mont. – The 24th-ranked Carroll Women's basketball team dominated both sides of the ball and picked up a signature win in impressive fashion Thursday night at the PE Center, beating No. 10 Montana Western 82-45.
The Saints (10-4, 2-1 FC) dominated from the tip, with Hannah Dean doing significant damage from the high-post en route to a game-high 20 points. Michaela Dowdy scored 15 points, and Oona Harrington added 11.
"I'm really proud of our team's effort tonight," head coach Rachelle Sayer said. "I thought we got great contributions from a lot of different players. Hannah Dean got going for us and was unbelievable. She was making shots, getting to the rim, and making plays for her teammates. She just was unstoppable. I thought defensively, the kids were locked in and it really got our offense going."
The defense set the tone, and the offense followed suit. Carroll outscored the Bulldogs 18-8 in the first and 17-6 in the second to build a commanding 35-14 lead at the break.
The Saints kept on the pressure in the third, outscoring the Dogs 23-11 to build a 58-25 advantage. Carroll cruised in the fourth quarter and closed out the 37-point win.
Carroll held Western to 16-59 (27.1 percent) from the field and 4-19 (21.1 percent) from the three-point line. The Bulldogs missed their first nine threes and were held to their season low in points, well under their average of 77 PPG.
The Saints were 30-58 (51.7 percent) from the field matching the best performance of the season, and 10-19 (52.6 percent) from the three-point line.
The one anomaly for today's game was the rebounds situation. Carroll, one of the top rebounding teams in the country, gave up 20 offensive rebounds, but the total rebounds were even at 38.
"I wasn't pleased with giving up 20 offensive rebounds, but that is something that we can fix," Sayers said. "It was a great win, but we have a lot of basketball left to play, and we play in the best league in the NAIA, so we need to stay focused and stay committed to getting better every day."
Carroll plays their second top-10 team in two games Saturday at the PE Center in seventh-ranked Lewis-Clark State. The game is slated for 5:30 p.m.
