Orediggers fall in Billings, Carroll College is up next

The Orediggers jumped back into action Thursday night against the Battlin' Bears of Rocky Mountain College.

The Montana Tech ladies got the game started with the intensity that has been the calling card of this team, and coach Graham. The Diggs led 13-10 after 1, Tavia Rooney with 7 of those 1st quarter points. At the half the Diggs still had a 1-point advantage 29-28. In the 2nd quarter, Ally Cleverly stepped up with 7 points going 3-5 from the floor, and 1-3 from the arc.

Tech added another point to their lead after the 3rd, outscoring Rocky 16-15. This time the torch was carried by Dani Urick. Dani didn’t miss a shot in the 3rd, going 2-2 from the floor and 4-4 from the foul line.

The Orediggers were in control through the first 30 minutes of the game, the last 10 minutes though, were dominated by the Battlin’ Bears. Rocky outscored the Diggs 17-3 over the final frame to take home the win 60-48.

Tavia Rooney became the 22nd Oredigger to score over 1,000 points in her career, as she finishes with 14, she also pulled down 9 boards. Dani Urick also jumped into double digits netting 10 points on the night. All Cleverly finished with 7, and Soda Rice gets 6 points and 7 boards.

With the win, Rocky goes to 6-1 in Frontier play, and 14-5 overall. Tech falls to 2-5 in conference, and 6-11 overall.

The Diggs will be on the road once again Saturday, as they will head to Helena to battle the Saints of Carroll College.

Carroll is coming off a dominant 72-60 win over the Bulldogs in Dillon Thursday. The Saints jumped out to a 24-8 lead after 1, and never looked back. Defensively they held Brynley Fitzgerald to 12 points, and just shut down the Western starters.

Carroll’s starters on the other hand, had a day. 4 of the 5 starters finished in double digits, led by Pckens with 18, Gerritz with 14, Keller with 12, and Hillborn with 10.

Those numbers aren’t far removed from their averages for the year. Pickens leads the Saints with 15 points a game, Keller averaging 11, Gerritz at 8, and Hillborn getting 6 points a game. With the win on Thursday the Saints are 6-1 in conference and tied with Rocky for first place.

In the first meeting between the Saints and the Orediggers, the Saints got the ‘W’ with a 60-48 victory in Butte. Pickens dropped 19, Keller put up 16, and Swannack hit double digits with 12.
The Diggs were led by Aubrie Rademacher with 14 in that contest. Tech will need that intensity we talked about earlier, they will need to keep the pedal on the floor. Fouls in the block will be important, and I think free-throw shooting will be big.

The women will be on the floor of the Carroll PE center starting at 5.

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