HELENA, Mont. – The 24th-ranked Carroll College women outscored Rocky Mountain (RV) 6-4 in overtime to earn a 58-56 win over Rocky Mountain Tuesday at the PE Center and move to 4-1 and take sole possession of first place in the Frontier Conference.
Michaela Dowdy led the Saints with 21 points and nine rebounds on 6-10 shooting from the field and 9-10 from the free throw line.
The game looked like a blowout early, Carroll built a 17-4 lead with a minute left to play in the first quarter before the Battlin' Bears closed the frame on a 4-0 run which continued in the second quarter.
Rocky scored the first seven points of the second quarter to cut the lead to 17-15, but Carroll responded and extended the lead to 28-20 at the break.
The Bears came out on fire in the third and tied the game at 28 before the Saints went on a 7-0 run. Carroll extended the lead to 40-30 before Brooke Jones hit a three-pointer to cut the Saints' lead to 40-33 after three.
Rocky chipped away at the lead and cut the score to 52-49 with just seconds remaining. They forced a turnover setting up a pair of free throws for Hailee Farstveet. She missed both, but the ball was knocked out of bounds off of a Carroll player to give Rocky the ball with eight seconds remaining.
Markaela Francis hit a contested three-pointer with less than a second remaining to tie the game at 52 and force overtime.
Carroll opened the scoring in the extra frame with a pair of free throws by Dowdy.
Hannah Dean blocked a layup attempt on the next Rocky possession and added a pair of free throws to put Carroll up 52-51. The Bears scored to cut it to 56-54, but Dowdy again answered the bell and hit a layup to give Carroll a 58-54 advantage with just over a minute on the clock.
The Bears added a pair of free throws, and had an opportunity late, but couldn't convert. Carroll forced a turnover and controlled the ball for the final seconds to seal the victory.
The win is the fifth straight for the Saints and the seventh in eight games. The win also moves Carroll to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in Frontier play to move into sole possession of first place. It ended a Rocky win streak at seven games.
The Saints were 18-48 (37.4 percent) from the field and 5-13 (38.5 percent) from the three-point line. Carroll was incredible from the free throw line, going 17-18 (94.4 percent). Joining Dowdy in double figures was
Bailey Pasta and
Hannah Dean with 10 each.
Former Carroll player Brooke Jones led Rocky with 18 points, Mikayla Jones added 12. The Bears were 18-50 (36 percent) from the field and 6-19 (31.6 percent) from the three-point line. Rocky was 14-22 (63.6 percent) from the free throw line.
The Saints close out the first of three legs of the Frontier Conference season Thursday at Montana Tech in Butte. The Diggers are 11-5 on the year, and 1-3 in Frontier play.
