HELENA, Mont. - The No. 9 Carroll College Women's Basketball team earned a hard fought victory over No. 21 Montana Western, pulling away for a 72-61 on Thursday night at the PE Center in Helena.

The Fighting Saints (5-3) picked up a big win in front of their home crowd to open up Frontier Conference play, defeating the Bulldogs (5-2), 72-61.

The game got off to a hot start, with the teams combining for 35 points in the opening quarter. Kamden Hilborn (Clancy, Mont. / SR) was on fire in the period, pouring in 15 points on 6-7 shooting from the field. Hilborn's 15 points tied that of Western's team total, and the Saints would carry a 20-15 lead into the second quarter.

Montana Western's Jordan Sweeney would do the heavy-lifting for her squad in the second, scoring eight of the Bulldog's 11 points in the quarter. Carroll had a much more balanced attack, getting points from both the front and back court to extend their lead to 43-36 at the halftime break.

Carroll outscored Western 25-15 in the third quarter, with Hilborn, Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / JR) and Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / SR) combining for 18 points in the frame. The Saints would stretch the lead to 17 points heading into the final quarter of play.

The Bulldogs would go on a tear to begin the fourth quarter, narrowing the Carroll lead to just 1 point with 3:44 left in the game. The Saints would, however, go on an 11-0 run to end the game, closing out the Bulldogs, 72-61.

Kamden Hilborn led all scorers on her career-best night, finishing the game with 25 points, three rebounds, and six assists. 

Kyndall Keller had one of her best performances as a Saint, finishing her night with 12 points and four rebounds.

The Carroll bigs did their job tonight, with Jamie Pickens and Maddie Geritz (Boise, Idaho / R-SR) each dropping in 11 points of their own. Pickens finished with eight rebounds, and Geritz grabbed seven boards as well.

As a team, Carroll shot 44.6 percent from the field.

Western was led by 15 points from Shainy Mack, and Brynley Fitzgerald finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Carroll will now head to Havre, Mont. on Saturday for a 2 p.m. showdown with the Skylights of MSU-Northern.

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