BUTTE, Mont. - The No. 16-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team made a valiant comeback effort on Saturday night, but a poor second quarter led to a 69-62 loss at No. 25 Montana Tech.

Three quarters of competitive basketball simply weren't enough to get the job done for the Fighting Saints (5-4, 3-2), as a six-point second quarter loomed large in the road loss.

A high-scoring back-and-forth first quarter would see the Orediggers go ahead 21-19, while both teams were efficient from the floor. Kennedi Niemann (Cody, Wyo. / R-SO) was outstanding in the opener, going 3-5 for eight points to help Carroll keep pace with a 50 percent shooting effort from Tech.

Things spiraled out of control in a hurry for the Saints in the second quarter, as they went just 2-12 from the floor and saw Tech go on a 17-0 run behind another 50 percent shooting frame.

After trailing at the half by 17, Carroll came out of the break with much more fluidity. Ava Oakland (Boise, Idaho / SR) provided a lift off of the bench, scoring eight points in the frame while Meagan Karstetter (Moses Lake, Wash. / SR) and Jillian Kanduch (Miles City, Mont. / FR) each added four. The Saints won the rebounding battle in the frame for the first time all night, and pulled within 12 heading into the fourth.

By the three-minute mark, the Saints had clawed their way all the way back within two scores at 64-60, but they couldn't find a way to get shots to fall down the stretch, never closing the gap any further.

Four Saints scored 10 or more points, led by 14 point efforts from Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-SR) and Kennedi Niemann, while Kanduch and Oakland each finished with 10.

After three straight weekends of conference road contests, the Saints will finally host their first Frontier games of the season at the PE Center next Friday and Saturday, as they wrap up their season series with Bismarck State and Dickinson State at 5 p.m. each night.