GREAT FALLS, Mont. – For the second straight night, the University of Providence women's basketball team cruised to a dominant victory over a ranked opponent, this time defeating #23 Rocky Mountain 85-65 Saturday night.
"Weekends don't get any bigger than this one right here," head coach
Bill Himmelberg said. "Our backs were against the wall. We needed to get these two this weekend and those are tough big victories for us. We're peaking at the right time. Our girls are playing good basketball right now."
Kenedy Cartwright and
Emilee Maldonado led the way for the Argos (17-11, 8-8) with 19 points each. Maldonado added eight assists, while Cartwright contributed five rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Bailey Cartwright scored 14 points while
Reed Hazard scored 12 points off the bench.
Parker Esary scored 7 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. Markaela Francis led the Battlin' Bears (17-10, 8-8) with 18 points while Kloie Thatcher added 17.
"I'm super pleased with the girls and how they came out and executed from start to finish," Himmelberg said. "We played a complete game again. There was a lot of balanced scoring from a lot of different people. Our girls are moving the ball and making the extra pass. Everything has clicked for them. We know what we're trying to accomplish. They're trusting each other and sharing the ball and then knocking down shots. When you do that we're really tough to beat."
The win moved the Argos to an even .500% winning percentage in the
Frontier Conference, tied with Rocky Mountain with two regular season games remaining. Whoever ends up with the 4 seed will host the first round of a Frontier Conference Playoffs.
Even more important however is the way the team is playing at the moment.
"For our own girls this should give us confidence going into our last week and the conference tournament," Himmelberg said. "These weren't just wins, they were convincing wins over Top 25 teams that are really good. When you get convincing wins I think that really helps."
The Argos will next take the court against Carroll College (18-9, 10-5) in Helena on Feb. 27 at 5:30 p.m.
