HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College women's basketball team started the season with two huge losses in senior All-American Cassidy Hashley and junior guard Sara Chalich. They added another huge loss, though it remains to be seen for how long, in the Frontier semifinals when starting senior point guard Bailey Pasta went down with an injury. 

Carroll was picked fourth in the Frontier preseason poll, but despite the adversity, the Saints are the champions, unrivaled and undisputed. 

Carroll won the regular season outright and Tuesday night came from behind to beat Rocky Mountain 46-42 to earn the Frontier Tournament Championship. It is the first tournament title since 2006-07, and the first time the Saints won both the regular-season title and the tournament championship since the 2004-05 season.

"Unbelievable," head coach Rachelle Sayers said. "I cannot express how much I love this team and how much these kids have completely believed in the process and believed in each other and believed in us as coaches and an unbelievable staff."

The Saints found a way to win a game against a ball-hawking Rocky team without Pasta, but it would take some time to adjust to the new lineup.

The Carroll offense seemed sluggish, and a little lost without Pasta. The Saints didn't take a single three-pointer in the first quarter and went 0-2 in the second. They also turned the ball over 14 times in the first half. The Saints scored only 14 points in the first half, but the defense kept them in it.

The Saints held Rocky to just 19 points and 4-24 (16.67 percent) from the field, including 1-4 from the three-point line. 

Carroll entered the locker room down by five, but still in the mix with one half to play. They would come alive in the third quarter. 

"We got back to running our offense," Sayers said. "I thought Rocky did a great job the first half of getting us out of our offense. They really stalled us. It was more about the kids being more aggressive and being willing to take some risks and see what they could do."

The Saints hit back-to-back shots to start the second half and tied the game on a three-pointer from Brittney Johnson with 5:05 to play in the third. After a Rocky Turnover, Jaidyn Lyman got into the action with a three-pointer of her own to give Carroll a 26-23 advantage. 

The Saints got another big three-pointer by Taylor Salonen in the waning seconds to give Carroll the 32-28 lead at the quarter. 

The Battlin' Bears wouldn't go away quietly. Rocky chipped away and took a 40-38 lead with 4:49 left in the game, but Carroll went on a 7-0 run capped by another Johnson three-pointer to take a 45-40 lead with 2:01 to play.

Rocky went 1-6 from the field in the final two minutes of the game, and the Saints closed out the win with a free-throw from Denny to put the Saints up 46-42. 

Cue the celebration.

"What team can be picked fourth and lose three potential starters and turn around and do this," Sayers asked rhetorically afterward. "You cannot measure these kids' heart. I don't even know how to explain how proud I am of them."

The title is the first tournament title for the Saints since 2007, and it is only the second time in school history that Carroll won both the regular-season and tournament titles, the first coming in 2005. 

Carroll has officially punched its ticket to Billings for the NAIA DI Women's National Championship. Now the Saints wait to find out their opponent and when the game will take place. The selection show is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. MST with the men's selection show following at 5 p.m. The Saints will host a watch party at the PE Center in the team meeting and event space. Fans are welcome to watch with the teams.