HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Women's Basketball team battled their way to a 62-50 win over (RV) Stephens College in front of a capacity crowd of Helena's loudest fans on Thursday afternoon at the PE Center.

The Fighting Saints (3-2) used the energy from nearly 3,000 local elementary and middle school students to pick up a quality win over the Stars (4-1).

With ear-piercing noise levels to start the game, both teams took a minute to settle in. Carroll jumped out to an 8-1 lead, but two fouls from Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / SR) would send her to the bench for the remainder of the opening half, and the Stars would claw their way back into it.

Carroll carried a one point advantage after the first quarter, and stretched the lead to six heading into halftime, 29-23, even with Stehpens' leading scorer "Chu" Crockett scoring eight of her team-high 11 points in the second quarter.

After a recognition of each attending school's Champions of Character, the teams would take the court for the second half, and Pickens would re-enter the fray.

Each team would score 16 points in the third, with Pickens doing the majority of the heavy lifting for the Saints (eight points), and Carroll would head into the final frame with a 45-39 lead.

Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / JR), Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / JR) and Pickens would combine for 15 fourth quarter points, and Carroll would hold the Stars to just 21.4 percent from the field to close out the 62-50 win, and get above .500 for the first time on the young season.

The Saints played the game at their pace, and held the Stars to 32 fewer points than their season average heading into the game (82.5 ppg).

Pickens led all scorers with 12 points in just 23 minutes of work, pulling down five rebounds as well.

Erica Nessan (Spokane, Wash. / GR) played a great game, finishing with 10 points, going 2-3 from deep, and Addi Ekstrom provided a spark off of the bench with nine points and a pair of steals.

"Chu" Crockett led Stephens College with 11 points as the lone Star to finish with double-digits in points.

Carroll will hit the road early tomorrow, making a trip to Caldwell, Idaho for a clash with the College of Idaho at 5 p.m. on Saturday, before returning home for their own tournament next weekend.

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