HELENA, Mont. - The dawn of a new season is upon us, and the Carroll College Women's Basketball team will begin their quest for a fifth Frontier championship in the last seven years - beginning with a season opening road contest at NCAA Division II opponent MSU Billings tonight at 7 p.m.

The Fighting Saints ('24-25: 19-12) begin the season in familiar territory, sitting at No. 16 in the Preseason NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll. The No. 16-ranking marks the sixth straight season since the Division I & II merger that Carroll has appeared inside the Top-25 on the Preseason Poll.

Head Coach Rachelle Sayers begins her 15th season at the helm, entering the year with 300 wins. She's the first Women's Basketball coach in Carroll history to achieve the mark, and is the second winningest coach in the Frontier behind only Chris Mouat at MSU-Northern.

While the staff remained steady throughout the offseason, the 2025-26 roster will look much different than the 2024-25 squad that was ultimately bounced in the opening round of the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship.

The roster saw the graduations of All-American guard and Frontier Conference Player of the Year, Kyndall Keller, as well as four-year starter Addi Ekstrom, and a number of players move on from the program. 

All said and done, eight players from last year's team are back for the '25-26 campaign, joined by seven newcomers who will look to continue Carroll's run of success in recent years.

Among the new faces are four transfers, each bringing experience and explosivity. Maddy Moy (Kalispell, Mont. / JR) transferred in from Montana Western, but will be forced to sit out for the season due to inter-conference transfer rules. Helena native Avery Kraft (Helena, Mont. / R-FR) returns to the capital city after one season at NCAA Division I Portland State. Kenzie Allen (Grantsville, Utah / JR) was a standout scorer at Utah State - Eastern, and will bolster the Carroll backcourt, while Kennedi Niemann (Cody, Wyo. / R-SO) joins the Saints after an impressive performance at the NJCAA Tournament last spring.

The Saints are well equipped to replace the graduated Frontier Player of the Year, as Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-SR) had nearly as good of a case for the award as any last season. 

The All-Conference guard does a little bit of everything for the Saints, leading the team in both points per game (14.9) and rebounds per game (7.1). Her length and athleticism are a difficult matchup across the board, and the former Billings West Golden Bear was named Carroll's player to watch by the Frontier Conference.

"We're excited about this year's team," said Sayers. "We have improved our depth and firepower which was a weakness for us at times last year. We have a lot of competitive kids who know how to win, and I'm looking forward to their growth throughout the year."

The roster isn't the only thing that's seen turnover, as the Frontier Conference saw a shake-up with the addition of six new schools this summer. The league now features 12 teams, and a new 22-game conference slate with home-and-home contests between each school. The seven additional conference games throw a wrench in the non-conference scheduling of years past, but Carroll will play yet another difficult non-conference slate as they gear up for a return to the NAIA Championship next spring.

"We're going to be challenged with the schedule we have this year - having three NCAA teams, as well as four non-conference games against NAIA teams that are either ranked or receiving votes, but those games will be critical learning experiences for us as we jump right into conference play in mid-November."

Tonight's season-opener is set to tip at 7 p.m. from the Alterowitz Gymnasium in Billings.

A live stream can be found online HERE, and live stats can be followed HERE.