HAVRE, Mont. - The No. 19-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team closed out a season sweep of MSU-Northern with a 62-50 win at the Armory Gymnasium to wrap up the 2024-25 regular season.

The Fighting Saints (18-10, 10-5) snapped a late-season three-game skid on Saturday, earning their 19th-straight win over the Skylights.

Looking to finish the season strong, the Carroll Women came out poised and determined in the season finale. The Saints were much better offensively in the first quarter than they were in last month's visit to the hi-line. Willa Albrecht (Billings, Mont. / R-JR) and Addi Ekstrom (Bozeman, Mont. / SR) each scored five in the first frame, while Meagan Karstetter (Moses Lake, Wash. / JR) got her big afternoon started with four more points as the Saints went on to lead 16-14 after one. The 16 Carroll points in the opening frame nearly matched the 18 points scored in the first half of the last trip to the Armory.

Carroll shot 50 percent from the floor in the second quarter, with Ekstrom adding another five points to her tally and Karstetter matching with five of her own. The Saints forced the Skylights into four turnovers in the second, stretching their lead to 30-22 at the halftime break.

The third quarter has been troublesome for the Saints in recent weeks, but Carroll would have their highest-scoring frame of the game on Saturday. Albrecht went 4-4 from the stripe, pacing the Saints with nine points in the third. Isabelle Erickson (Broadview, Mont. / R-JR) knocked down her pair of three-point attempts, and Carroll began to put the game out of reach heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was the only frame in which the Skylights outscored the Saints, but Karstetter and Ekstrom would combine for 11 final frame points to close the door on a Northern comeback and Carroll would walk out with the 12-point road win.

Karstetter led all players, scoring a career best 19 points in the win on a 9-17 effort from the floor. Albrecht had another outstanding performance as well, posting a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double. Ekstrom played all 40 minutes, rounding out the double figure Carroll scorers with 15 points.

Three Skylights scored in double figures. Becky Melcher led the way with 11 points, while Canzas HisBadHorse and Katelynn Forner each added 10 in the loss.

The win in the finale locked Carroll into a tie for second place in the Frontier Conference standings with Providence. The Argos, however, will have the opening round bye in next week's Frontier Conference tournament, having won two of the three in the series this season.

The Saints will begin their postseason with an opening round tilt against Montana Western at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 2 at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com later this week for a full tournament preview, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.

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