Women's Basketball | 10/27/22 | 8:37 AM

HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Women's basketball team will begin their 2022-2023 season tonight on the road as they take on Southern Oregon in Ashland, Ore. a 5 p.m. (MDT)

The Carroll Women will look a little different than many Saints fans are accustomed to when they begin their 2022-23 campaign tonight in Ashland. Carroll enters the year coming off of a 21-7 (11-4) 2021-22 season which saw the Saints advance to the round of 16 in the NAIA National tournament, where they would eventually fall to Morningside, 71-67. The 2021-22 Saints were among the most highly-decorated group of upperclassmen in the nation. All five starters from the team were honored as either All-Frontier Conference, or Frontier Conference All-Defensive team selections. In addition, Dani Wagner was named a Second Team All-American, and both Christine Denny and Jamie Pickens were tabbed as Honorable Mention All-Americans.

Carroll loses a group of seniors who will go down in the annals with some of the most impressive accumulations of wins, points, and rebounds in Saints Women's Basketball history. Head Coach Rachelle Sayers will have to find a way to replace All-Americans Dani Wagner and Christine Denny, as well as highly-productive role-players Emma Madsen, and Jaidyn Lyman. Lyman, while gone from the floor, is not gone from the court altogether. She has joined Sayers' staff as an assistant, and will continue to provide leadership to this year's team.

While replacing players of Wagner and Denny's stature is very difficult, the Saints a a whole are as deep a team as you will find across the NAIA. Carroll begins the season with 19 players on the roster, including eight Freshman and one Junior transfer.

Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / JR) joins her former AAU coach, Sayers, and the Saints after transferring from the University of Montana. Keller, the granddaughter of the late Carroll Women's Coach Jim Gross, will provide an instant impact to a Saints starting five that returns two terrific guards. Keller will join fellow NCAA Division I transfer Kamden Hilborn (Clancy, Mont. / SR) who averaged 4.7 assists per game last year, and Preseason All-Frontier Conference selection Sienna Swannack (Nine Mile Falls, Wash. / GR), who averaged 9.5 points per game ad 4.0 rebounds last season, to complete a back court that can compete with any in the NAIA.

Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / SR), who was named the Co-Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year last week, and averaged 12.3 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game in 2021-22, will anchor the front court alongside Maddie Geritz (Boise, Idaho / R-SR). The pair, both 6-2, who will be on the court simultaneously at times this season, will prove to be a difficult match-up for plenty of teams. Meagan Karstetter (Moses Lake, Wash. / FR) will also likely be a physical presence for the Saints in the paint in 2022-23. 

After finishing last season ranked No. 11 in the Final NAIA Poll, Carroll begins the season ranked No. 4 in the NAIA Preseason Coaches' Poll, their highest-such ranking in program history.

Carroll begins their 2022-23 quest tonight in Ashland, Ore. squaring off with a Southern Oregon team that won the CCC Tournament and advanced to the round of 32 in last year's NAIA National Tournament. The No. 4 Saints and the Raiders will tip-off the season at 5 p.m. (MDT) and the game will be streamed live HERE. Live stats for tonight's match can be found HERE.

Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com tonight for a full recap of the action, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.