DILLON, Mont. - The No. 21-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team didn't have their best offensive effort of the season, managed to gut out a hard-fought 56-54 win on the road at Montana Western on Thursday evening.

The Fighting Saints (10-5, 2-0) relied on a sound defensive effort to come away with a win over the Bulldogs (5-9, 0-2) in their first Frontier Conference road win of the season.

Both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes of the game, with each side having multiple possessions before the first points were scored. Isabelle Erickson (Broadview, Mont. / R-JR) pulled down an impressive five rebounds in the first frame, and both Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) and Kyndall Keller (Havre, Mont. / R-SR) scored four to help Carroll jump out to a 14-10 lead after one.

Keller would add five more points in the second quarter, but the Saints would shoot a combined 1-7 from beyond the three point line in the frame to help open the door for the Bulldogs to battle back. Keke Davis and Payton Hagy combined for 15 points in Western's best offensive quarter, and the Carroll lead would be trimmed to one, 28-27 heading into the half.

As was the case for the majority of the night, shots just didn't seem to fall for the Saints in the third quarter (4-15 FG, 26 percent), but a strong effort at the free throw line would help Carroll maintain their lead. The Saints knocked down six of their seven attempts at the line to head into the fourth with a 43-41 advantage.

Wirh 6:41 remaining in the game, Western found themselves with their largest lead of the game at 52-48. An experienced Carroll roster didn't fret, and methodically worked their way back in front. A Meagan Karstetter (Moses Lake, Wash. / JR) layup with two minutes remaining would tie the game, and Carroll would rely on solid defense, rebounding, and free throws to close out the tight win.

While the Saints had one of their worst shooting nights of the season, they made up for it with an absolutely dominant effort on the glass. The Saints more than doubled-up the Bulldogs in rebounds, finishing with 54 to Western's 25. The 54 rebound effort included 19 offensive boards, the highest mark of the season.

Frontier Offensive Player of the Week Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / SR) led the Saints in scoring, shooting 50 percent for 16 points, while both Keller and Karstetter added in 11 points each.

Isabelle Erickson had a career night, pulling down a highly-impressive 18 rebounds.

Western's Keke Davis posted a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double in the loss.

Carroll will now turn its attention to a road contest on Saturday afternoon against Montana Tech at 2 p.m.

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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