HELENA, Mont. - The No. 8-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team picked up their first win of the young 2024-25 season on Saturday, cruising past Whitworth (Wash.), 82-47 at the PE Center.
The Fighting Saints (1-1) evened their record, collecting win No. 1 in a lopsided win over the NCAA Division III Pirates on Saturday, controlling every aspect of the game.
Looking to bounce back from a let-down in the second half of their season opener last week, the Saints wasted little time building a lead on Saturday.
Preseason All-Frontier selection
Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) was the best player on the court all day, scoring seven of her game-high 22 points and pulling down three rebounds in the first frame.
Alex Bullock (Helena, Mont. / R-FR) matched Albrecht's seven points, while eight different Saints scored in the opener to help build a 29-14 lead heading into the second.
Albrecht added eight more points in the second, while
Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / SR) scored seven to help extend the Carroll lead. The Saints were suffocating on defense, holding the Pirates to just 11 second quarter points on 29 percent shooting, and Carroll would head into the half with a comfortable 53-25 lead.
As good as the Carroll defense was in the second, it was doubled in the third quarter. The Saints didn't allow Whitworth any chance of sneaking back into the fray, holding the Pirates to just six total points in the frame, four of which came at the free throw line.
Isabelle Erickson (Broadview, Mont. / R-JR) outscored the Pirates on her own in the third, scoring seven points as Carroll brought a 68-31 lead into the final frame.
Albrecht added seven more points to lead the Saints in the final quarter, while
Laynee Elness (Winifred, Mont. / FR) and
Gracie Millimen (Manhattan, Mont. / FR) scored their first collegiate points as Carroll closed out the dominant 82-47 win.
Albrecht finished with a final line of 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block.
Ekstrom finished with 17 points, while
Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / R-SR) had a quiet five point, 10 rebound performance.
Whitworth's Ashlynn Peterson led the Pirates with 17 points in the loss.
The Saints will head to Lewiston, Idaho next weekend to take on a pair of CCC teams in Lewis-Clark State and Eastern Oregon.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of those games, and to stay up to date on everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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