Women's Basketball | 11/04/22 | 10:24 PM

Box Score HELENA, Mont. - The No. 4 Carroll College Women's Basketball fell to the No. 1 and defending NAIA Champion Thomas More 62-54 on Friday evening at the Carroll College PE Center in Helena.

No. 4 Carroll (1-2) came into tonight's game looking for a revenge win against No. 1 Thomas More (2-0) after a one-point overtime loss last season in Kentucky, but were ultimately unsuccessful in the rematch.

Carroll started the game on fire. The Fighting Saints started the game on a 12-2 run with the majority of their points coming from their two bigs, Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / SR) and Maddie Geritz (Boise, Idaho R-SR). Carroll would take an 18-9 lead into the second quarter.

The No. 1 ranked Saints of Thomas More would flex their muscle in the second quarter, outscoring Carroll 19-9 to take a one-point lead into the halftime break, 28-27.

Carroll shot 46.75 percent from the field in the first half, but a feisty Thomas More squad scraped together 28 points on just 30.85 percent from the field .

Thomas More would again outscore Carroll in the third quarter, 19-16, extending their lead to four heading into the final quarter of play.

The fourth quarter would again fall the way of Thomas More. The Fighting Saints would make a late game push, with Sienna Swannack (Nine Mile Falls, Wash. / GR) hitting a big three to cut into the Thomas More lead, but they could not quite finish the rally, falling 63-54.

Jamie Pickens posted her first double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) had a terrific showing, finishing with 13 points on6-9 shooting from the field.

Thomas More was led by Courtney Hurst's game-high 20 points, 15 of which were from beyond the arc.

Carroll will regroup and prepare for a Mid West road trip, playing Grace College in Indiana next Wednesday.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that game and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.