HELENA, Mont. – The 24th-ranked Carroll College women's basketball team completed a weekend sweep of top-10 teams with a come from behind, 73-67 win over seventh-ranked Lewis-Clark State Saturday at the PE Center in Helena.
 
The Saints (11-4, 3-1 FC) led early, but Lewis-Clark (11-4, 2-2 FC) went on a 14-0 run spanning the first and second quarter to build a 24-15 lead with 9:07 to play in the second quarter. They extended the lead to 29-18 with 6:23 to play in the half before the Saints began chipping away.
 
Brittney Johnson hit three consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 32-29, the Warriors held a 38-35 advantage at the half.
 
The first half of long runs gave way to a back and forth battle in the second half. The Saints built a 43-38 advantage before LCSC responded to take a 48-46 lead. The teams would trade leads again, but Lewis-Clark half a 58-55 lead going into the final quarter.
 
The Saints took a 65-63 lead on a bucket from Oona Harrington and would never trail again. The Warriors cut the lead to 69-67 with 42 seconds to play, but Christine Denny scored a jumper in the key and a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give the Saints the 73-67 win.
 
"That game was a huge gut check for us," head coach Rachelle Sayers said.  "I am so pumped and proud of our team tonight. LC-State was playing great, shooting 60% the first half, we had to fight and dig deep and we did. I challenged them to rebound and keep fighting and they did that and more.  Playing the teams we did early definitely helped us tonight. When we got down, the kids didn't panic, they didn't press, they just did what they knew to do. I couldn't be prouder of them for that. Christine Denny made some huge plays down the stretch. She played three different positions for us tonight. Brittney Johnson was huge and what can you say about Hannah Dean?  She is doing it all night after night. "
 
Four Saints scored in double figures led by Hannah Dean with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Johnson added 15 points off of the bench, Denny scored 13, and Danielle Wagner added 10.
 
The Saints were 29-63 (41.3 percent) from the field and 11-35 (31.4 percent) from the three-point line. Carroll was also 10-13 (76.9 percent) from the charity stripe. Carroll had 19 assists on 26 made buckets and tallied only 10 turnovers.
 
Lewis-Clark was 25-55 (45.5 percent) from the field, and 5-17 (29.4 percent) from the three-point line.
 
Carroll outrebounded the Warriors 38-34.
 
The win capped a great weekend for the Saints which also included a dominating, 82-25 win over No. 10 Montana Western on Thursday.
 
The Saints now look ahead to Rocky Mountain in a rare Tuesday game at the PE Center. The Battlin' Bears completed the same sweep of LCSC and Montana Western this weekend. The game is slated for 5:30 p.m.