HELENA, Mont. - The No. 8-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team knocked off RV Rocky Mountain College, 70-61 in front of a rabid crowd in Helena on Saturday.

The Fighting Saints (17-4, 8-1) earned their second win of the season over the Battlin' Bears (14-7, 3-6) to send the large crowd on hand at the PE Center home happy.

Both teams shot an identical 50 percent from the floor in the opening quarter, but matching seven-point frames from Maddie Geritz (Boise, Idaho /  GR) and WIlla Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) would help give Carroll a 22-15 lead after one.

The pace slowed in the second quarter, but a suffocating defensive effort from Carroll would end the frame with just nine points from the Bears. Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / SR), Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / GR) and Isabelle Erickson (Broadview, Mont. / R-SO) each scored four points, and Carroll would carry a 35-24 lead into the break.

Both the third and fourth quarters would fall in favor of the Bears, but Rocky would only outscore the Saints by a combined two points in the second half, with Carroll never allowing the game to fully tighten. 

Erickson came up clutch for the Saints in the third, scoring seven and stopping several Rocky runs to keep her team in control.

Eleven second half points from Geritz would help put the game on ice, and the Saints would lock up the nine-point victory to pick up win No. 17 on the year.

Geritz led all scorers, finishing her night with 19 points to go along with seven rebounds.

Jamie Pickens was "quiet", but posted her 15th double-double of the season with a 12 point, 14 rebound performance.

Addi Ekstrom didn't score, but tallied seven assists and shut down Rocky's Gracee Lekvold, who had been playing well of late.

The Bears were led by Morgan Baird's 17-point night in the loss.

The lone trip to the hi-line in 2024 is in store next for the Saints, as Carroll heads to MSU-Northern for a Thursday night scrap in Havre.

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