HELENA — A water bottle shower for their head coach washed away three seasons of angst No. 5-ranked Carroll felt against a Lewis-Clark State squad that handed the Saints a pair of disappointing nationally-ranked losses, one in the national tournament. Jubilation was all players and coaches experienced Friday night once the final buzzer sounded on a 91-79 victory over the No. 10-ranked Warriors – equal parts for enacting a little revenge and for finally reaching that high-level
basketball Carroll has chased the season’s first month. “We finally clicked together as one, so that was super exciting,” forward Jamie Pickens said. “Our shooters were hitting shots, that was really exciting, and they were getting the ball in the paint and we dominated. We finally got that mojo going.” Pickens scored nine of her career-high 31 points in a fourth quarter that won Carroll Friday’s contest. A fourth-quarter 10-0 run, spurred by an Erica Nessan game-tying 3-pointer and go-ahead Maddie Geritz and-one lay-up, thrusted the Saints to their biggest lead since the second quarter. Carroll shot 68.8% (11-for-16) from the field in the game’s final 10 minutes, at one point knocking down four consecutive shot attempts, on its way to 90-plus points for the first time since Dec. 31, 2022, against Briercrest College. For the game, Carroll cleared 57% (35-for-61) from the field, the Saints’ first time
shooting better than 45% this season. “We’ve struggled shooting, but we have some great shooters on our team, and I think it was just about time we got everything put together and shoot really well,” junior guard Addi Ekstrom said. Saints head coach Rachelle Sayers credited Nessan (eight points, three rebounds, five assists) with her best of the season as she was at the forefront of an effort to exploit Carroll’s size advantage by feeding the post. LC State largely achieved its 36 paint points off dribble drives and back-door cuts, but Pickens and Geritz combined for 48 points and 15 rebounds (seven offensive). Leading by six points with under three and a half minutes to play, Ekstrom, who played a season-high 24 minutes as she works back from an injury, curled off a screen from Geritz, stopped at the free throw, and flipped a pass to Pickens behind LC State’s zone defense. Pickens was fouled and her and-one free throw extended an eight-point lead as Carroll ended the contest on a 23-8 run. “She was on a roll and I needed to get the ball to her,” Ekstrom said. “Just drew some defense, she stepped up, and just found her over the top and Jamie was able to finish like she does so well.” Ekstrom collected a season-high 11 points and dished out three of the Saints’ season-high 17 assists. For just the second time in seven games, Carroll limited its turnovers to single digits (seven). The Saints out-scored LC State 19-4 in second-chance points thanks to a plus-12 rebounding margin (plus-six offensive). All against a zone and pretty steady ball pressure. “I think we found our post presence, and when our posts play that well, you gotta get the ball to them,” Ekstrom said. “Feeding Jamie and Maddie at the end really got us going. Getting some defensive stops was super key for us. It was nice to kinda string everything together.” Pickens did not miss from the field in the second half (7-for-7), scoring 17 points in the game’s final 20 minutes. Her 10 rebounds secured a fifth double-double in seven games this season and she added two assists, a steal, and a block for good measure. “She had to work really hard, the guards had to work really hard [against the zone],” Sayers said. “Then, she just made some great plays… “She was patient on her catches, she went middle when it was there, she spun back baseline when it was there, and she just played at a super high level tonight.” Reigning second-team All-American Callie Stevens scored a team-high 26 points for LC State. Maddie Holm added 16 points and Ellie Sander scored 14. After shooting 55.8% through the first three quarters, the Warriors were limited to 5-for-15 in the fourth, something Sayers attributed to her team’s intensity, focus, and discipline down the stretch. Carroll senior Kyndall Keller knocked down four 3-pointers and totaled 12 points in the win. Willa Albrecht scored six of her eight points in the third quarter to go along with four rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block. Easily Carroll’s best all-around game of the young season, it also represented the Saints’ first NAIA top-25-ranked victory of 2023-24. A fourth consecutive triumph, Friday’s win advanced Carroll to 5-2 ahead of a home game against receiving votes Southern Oregon on Saturday at 4 p.m. “As a group, I don’t know that we could’ve scripted a better game,” Sayers said. “This had to have been a great game to watch.”