BILLINGS, Mont. – The Carroll College Saints once again advanced to the Second Round of the NAIA National Tournament.

No. 2 Carroll (26-7) defeated No. 7-seed Pikeville (20-12) 58-45 on Thursday in Rimrock Auto Arena in the First Round of the national tournament. It's the second consecutive season the Saints have made the Second Round of the national tournament.

Carroll started slowly, trailing Pikeville by as many as eight points in the first quarter before the Saints' signature stingy defense allowed them to get back in the contest.

Wagner scored five points in the first quarter, hitting a big three with 15 seconds left in the quarter to help the Saints break out of their funk.

"Dani came out aggressive," Saints coach Rachelle Sayers said. "I think she felt like she could take it to the hole. This year she's been one of our best shooters but they weren't going to give her that, so she had to take it to the rim."

The Saints clawed back in the second quarter, as Hannah Dean started the Saints on a run. Then it was Emma Madsen, who came off the bench early on and gave the Saints a spark. Madsen drove the lane for a layup and then spotted up for a three, giving the Saints a solid five points during her shift.

A pair of Dean free throws capped off an 11-5 run for the Saints to finally take their first lead of the game with five minutes remaining in the second quarter.

The two sides swapped buckets but two Britt Johnson free throws followed by a Wagner free throw gave the Saints a narrow edge.

Then, Carroll got a stop and then Jaidyn Lyman raced the length of the court to beat the buzzer with a speedy layup.

"I thought Jaidyn came out really aggressive offensively," Sayers said. "She had a great tournament last year."

Carroll led 29-26 at halftime.

Lyman kept the momentum rolling in the third quarter, snapping the net on a three-pointer to push the Saints lead to six. Wagner scored a pair of buckets to extend the Saints' lead to double-digits for the first time in the game.

 "We hit shots when we needed to," said Wagner, who scored a game-high 16 points and added six rebounds. "Coach motivates us like she always does. She's pretty good at the inspirational speeches. We came together and knew we had to get it done because we've worked hard for this."

Carroll exerted full control in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 17 points by the period's final buzzer.

Carroll eased off the gas a bit in the fourth quarter, slouching momentarily before assuming command to close it out. The Bears began the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to give the Saints one final scare.

Johnson alleviated any doubt.

Wagner drove the lane and kicked it out to Johnson, who knocked down a three-pointer to give the Saints' their first bucket of the fourth quarter with five minutes remaining.

After piling up 21 points in the third quarter, the Saints squeezed out eight in the final period to hold off Pikeville.

Carroll held the Bears to 33 percent from the field and 22 percent from beyond the arc. It's the 16th time this season the Saints have held an opponent to 50 points or fewer.

Carroll will play the winner of Arizona Christian-Oklahoma City on Friday at 9:45 p.m.

"At this point it's more about us than them," Sayers said. "We have to do what we do and do it well. We have to lock into some of their streaks. We have to come out and make some shots in the first quarter."