Strong second half lifts Montana State Bobcats to exhibition win over Carroll Saints

BOZEMAN The Montana State women's basketball team used a 15-0 run midway through the third quarter sparked by six consecutive points from freshman Taylee Chirrick en route to a 77-53 exhibition win over Carroll College on Friday night in Worthington Arena.

Carroll held a 30-28 advantage at halftime as Bozeman product Addi Ekstrom and former Montana forward Willa Albrecht each recorded 10 points.

MSU junior Marah Dykstra sparked the Bobcat offense, entering intermission with a game-high 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field.

"Definitely a lot of nerves, and we played 12 kids, so it was hard for us to get into the flow of the game early, said MSU head coach Tricia Binford.

One of the things I love about playing Carroll is that Coach (Rachelle) Sayers is always going to expose things for us.

Shes a great coach with a great program and when they went zone, we got a little flustered." After shooting 42.9% in the first half, including a 2-of-11 performance from 3-point range, Montana State hit at a 62.5% clip in the final 20 minutes while connecting on 5 of 12 from beyond the arc.

Once we got settled, we started competing, moving the ball, Binford said.

And once we started rebounding a little bit better, that allowed us to get out and run and get some things in transition.

MSU forced the Saints into 17 second half turnovers and converted them into a 32-3 scoring advantage.

The Bobcats outscored Carroll 28-10 in the paint, while their bench registered a 25-4 edge in scoring.

All 12 Bobcats scored.

Montana State held a 30-28 rebounding advantage.

Freshman Teagan Erickson pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Our defense really picked it up in the second half, Binford said.

But we need to get a whole lot better on the glass.

Dykstra finished with a team-best 19 points, while senior Portland State transfer Esmeralda Morales scored 10.

Chirrick, a graduate of Roberts, finished with nine points, three steals, two blocks and two assists.

Albrecht finished with a game-high 20 points.

Montana State hosts Chadron State on Monday night at 7 p.m.

in its regular season opener..

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