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HELENA, Mont. -- It's another week and another gauntlet of Top 25 tests for the No. 8 Carroll College women's basketball team.
The Fighting Saints (12-3, 4-0 Frontier Conference) head to Lewiston, Idaho, to face No. 16 Lewis-Clark State and then travel to Dillon, Montana, for a Top 10 matchup against No. 4 Montana Western.
Carroll jumped out to a 4-0 start in conference this season, capping off the flawless start with an impressive road win over No. 22 Rocky Mountain College on Saturday, 58-50.
Behind one of the best defenses and top rebounding efforts in the NAIA, the Saints have established themselves at the top of the Frontier once again. Carroll is led by senior
Hannah Dean, who leads the team in scoring (14.3 points per game), rebounding (6.8 rpg), assists (3 apg) and steals (2.2 spg).
And the production extends beyond Dean's team-leading ways. Three Saints average over eight points per game. Recently, Dani Wagner's giving the Saints a reliable scoring punch from all over the court while establishing herself as a solid rebounder from the guard and forward slot.
Christine Denny (8.9), Wagner (8.8) and
Brittney Johnson (8.3) all have shown they share the load for the Saints on any given night. Carroll also plays a deep bench, with nine players averaging over 13 minutes per game.
On Thursday, the Saints will be tasked with slowing the third highest scoring offense in the Frontier when they meet with the Warriors. LC averages 74 points per game.
The Warriors reach a high output thanks to their willingness to share the ball. LC averages 17.9 assists per game, the No. 7 mark in the NAIA D-I.
"I think our league has phenomenal coaches," Saints coach
Rachelle Sayers said. "I think you see the scoring came down tremendously the last few games. This is a league that has great defensive teams."
Leading that scoring punch is Jossilyn Blackman's 14.5 points, Hailey Turner's 10.1 and Abbie Johnson's 9.9.
LC (13-2, 3-1) has only dropped one Frontier Conference game to No. 4 Western, 60-47. The Warriors' most recent outing ended in victory, a 51-49 win over Montana State-Northern in Havre.
"They're bigger than us at every position," Sayers said. "And in fact their guards are bigger than our centers. We're going to have our hands full. We're going to have to be very aggressive on the boards. We're going to have to play with a lot of energy and fly around. We have to make them uncomfortable."
Stakes raise on Saturday, as the Saints get No. 4 Western in Dillon. The Bulldogs pack the most made three pointers per game, the stingiest defense (45 points allowed), best assist/turnover ratio, highest scoring margin (33.8) and best three-point defense (22 percent) in the nation.
Though some of those numbers could be inflated due early season scheduling, make no mistake about it, the Bulldogs are good.
All-American senior guard Bri King leads the Bulldogs with 21.3 point, 3.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
"Western goes as King goes," Sayers said. "She's an amazing player. The thing about her that makes her so unique is it's hard to make a determination on how to guard her because if you focus all your attention on her, she's such a good passer, she sets her teammates up."
While Western's offense stands out, it's the Bulldogs' defense that the Saints will also need to solve.
"Western is actually a really good defensive team," Sayers said. "I'd say one of the best in the league. We have to be able to score against them."
UMW dropped its first game of the season last weekend, falling 61-50 to No. 13 Providence in Great Falls.
Carroll's contest against Lewis-Clark State tips off at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
