BUTTE, Mont. - The No. 21-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team dropped their first Frontier Conference game of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 64-55 to (RV) Montana Tech at the HPER Complex.
The Fighting Saints (10-6, 2-1) struggled to hit shots with consistency, as they saw their 23-game win-streak over the Orediggers (11-5, 2-1) come to a close.
A physical first quarter saw neither team able to create much separation.
Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) scored five first quarter points, but the Orediggers would lead 13-11 after one thanks to a seven-point effort from Brooklyn Hankwitz.
Albrecht andÂ
Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / SR) combined for 14 points in the second quarter, scoring seven each. As a team, Carroll had its best shooting frame of the contest, going 7-12 from the floor (58 percent). However, a pair of free throws with less than a second on the clock would put Tech on top at the break, 29-27.
The third quarter was not kind to the Saints offensively.
Meagan Karstetter (Moses Lake, Wash. / JR) knocked down the only three field goals of the frame, scoring six. Nothing seemed to fall as Carroll went just 3-17 from the floor and 0-9 from three point range.
Carroll scored 20 in the fourth, led by a nine-point effort from
Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / R-SR), but couldn't string together stops on the defensive end of the court. Tech's Hadley Humphreys scored 10 of her game-high 20 points, and the Orediggers would go on to win 64-55.
The Saints, among the nation's better free throw shooting teams, struggled mightily at the line. Carroll went just 10-17 (58 percent), well below their 78 percent season average.
Albrecht led the Saints with 15 points and six rebounds on the afternoon, with Keller (14 points) and Ekstrom (13 points) right behind her in the scoring column.
Carroll will shift focus towards regaining position at the top of the league as they host Rocky Mountain College, undefeated in conference play, on Thursday evening at the PE Center.
Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that game, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.
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