GAME NOTES

THE GAME
The No. 9 Carroll College women's basketball team meets No. 7 Vanguard the second round of the NAIA Women's Division I Basketball Championship at the Rim Rock Arena in Billings, Montana, at 9:45 p.m. MDT. 

The Saints are coming off a first-round win over William Penn 55-49 and meet the Lions in the round of 16. Vanguard defeated 76-57 in their first-round game. 

The two teams haven't played since the Saints upset the Lions at the Las Vegas Challenge in Dec. 2014.  Carroll played three Golden State Athletic Conference Opponents this season, defeating Westmont 39-34 and Menlo 75-65 but falling on the road to The Master's 74-64. Vanguard split the regular-season matchups with each of those schools, but fell to Westmont in the GSAC Tournament. 

ABOUT CARROLL
Carroll advance to the round of 16  after a come from behind win to William Penn. The Saints outscored the Statesmen 18-10 in the final quarter to pull out the 55-49 wint.  The Saints return to the NAIA National Championship after a one-year hiatus this is the ninth trip overall with a 6-8 record and lost to Freed-Hardeman in the first round in 2016. The Saints enter Friday winning nine of their last 10 games including wins over last year's national runner-up Lewis-Clark State in the conference semifinal and a win over No. 17 Rocky Mountain in the Frontier Championship. 

Hannah Dean leads the Saints in every major statistical category and scores a game-high 12.3 points. Bailey Pasta is second on the team with 10.0 points. 

Carroll is the second-ranked team in NAIA DI in rebound defense and is No. 4 in scoring defense at 52.1 PPG. 

This is head coach Rachelle Sayers' fourth trip to the tournament in six seasons at the helm. She has a 2-3 record and has made the round of 16 once previously in 2013. 

ABOUT VANGUARD
The Lions are making their 17th straight appearance in the Big Dance and have a 31-17 overall record in 19 trips to the NAIA National Tournament spread across the last 20 seasons. Vanguard is guided by head coach Russ Davis who was elected into the NAIA Hall of Fame at last year's banquet in Billings. Owners of the 2008 NAIA National Title – the first in school history – the Blue and Gold have reached the Round of Sixteen 14 times, the Quarterfinals 12 times, and the Semifinals five times including most recently in 2017. This season, they received an at-large bid after finishing second in the GSAC regular season standings

Vanguard enters with a roster seven seniors including All-GSAC player Amber Alexander as well as All-Conference point guard Victoria Chea. They posted a 10-4 record in the GSAC season including going 15-1 at home. Bethel is highlighted by three First Team All-SSAC selections including Morgan Martin, Shamon Pearson and SSAC Newcomer of the Year Laurhen Pickett.

DIVISION I UPSET
The Saints toppled Mountain West Conference defending champion Boise State 62-61 in an exhibition game on Nov. 5 at Taco Bell Arena in Boise. Hannah Dean hit a fadeaway jumper with 18 seconds remaining, and the Carroll defense shut down a three-point attempt at the buzzer to close out the win. The Saints were .414 from the field and .545 from the three-point line. Bailey Pasta led the Saints with 13 points, Brittney Johnson had 11 and Hannah Dean tallied nine points and 12 rebounds. 

DEAN DOMINATING
 Hannah Dean is the Saints leading scorer with 12.1 PPG and scored a career-high 23 points at The Master's. She is 11th in NAIA DI in Blocks per game, 25th in total rebounds and 46th in free throw percentage. 

BLOCK PARTY
Hannah Dean (12) and Michaela Dowdy (33) both rank in the top 50 in blocks per game. The Saints are 10th as a team.

FRESHMAN BOOST
True freshmen Jaidyn Lyman and Christine Denney and redshirt freshman Dani Wagner have all started multiple games for the Saints.   Lyman scored a career-high 19 points including five three-pointers to lead the Saints in to the first round win. 

SITTING OUT
Senior All-American Cassidy Hashley and junior guard Sara Chalich are both out for the season and will take medical redshirt seasons. 

THE FIERCE FRONTIER 
Four Teams from the Frontier made the NAIA Championship. Rocky Mountain earned an automatic bid as the host, but finished the year in the top-25. Carroll, Montana Western and Providence all made the trek to Billings. Every team in the conference except Montana Tech has played in the NAIA tournament at least once in the last two seasons. Every team in the Frontier has at least received votes in the poll this season and every team except Montana Tech has entered the poll. 

Rocky Mountain dropped their opening round game, but Western defeated Dillard (La.) 66-54, Providence upset returning champions 81-76 and the Saints topped William Penn 55-49.

MIX UP THE LINE UP
Of the 11 Carroll players that have suited up for the Saints this season, only two haven't started at least one game for Carroll and seven players have double digit starts under their belt.