GREAT FALLS, Mont. - The Carroll Women's Basketball team beat Rocky Mountain College 65-50 this evening at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls to advance to the Frontier Conference Championship game yet again.

The Fighting Saints (24-4, 14-1) are back in familiar territory, competing for another Frontier Tournament crown on the same floor they accomplished the feat just one year ago.

The nation's No. 6-ranked team showed resiliency in the first half, fending off a valiant Battlin' Bear effort before pulling away in the second.

The first quarter was a tightly-contested feeling-out frame for each side. Carroll out-shot the Bears (CC - 38.5 FG%, RMC - 30.8%) in the opener, but Rocky managed to keep things close and the Saints would carry a slim one-point lead into quarter number two.

Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / JR) began to take control in the second. Keller scored seven points and pulled down three rebounds, salvaging an otherwise forgettable period for the Saints, who as a team shot just 21 percent from the floor. Carroll was stout defensively, however, and would lead at the break 24-22.

Likely Frontier MVP, Jamie Pickens (Helena, Mont. / JR) took over in the third quarter. After a relatively quiet first half, Pickens scored 12 points in the third. Her 12, paired with another nine points from Keller would help break the game open, and Carroll took a 49-39 lead into the final frame.

Pickens added another 12 points in the fourth. Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) got her hands on the ball on seemingly every Rocky possession, playing smothering defense as the Saints would roll to the 15-point victory and a shot at the tournament title tomorrow night.

Double-double machine Jamie Pickens finished with a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds. Keller added 20 points and seven boards, while Albrecht kicked in 11 points and seven rebounds in the win for the Saints.

Rocky's Gracee Lekvold scored 15 points to lead the Bears in the loss.

Next up, the Saints will square off with the only Frontier team to have beaten them this season, Providence, tomorrow night in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Arena.

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