Box Score GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence women's basketball team outscored Montana Tech 26-6 in the fourth quarter Saturday night to cap off a 66-52 victory in the McLaughlin Center.

The Argos (16-3, 3-1) couldn't buy a basket from beyond the three-point line, making one of their 23 attempts. Down by eight points in the third quarter, they had to make some offensive adjustments and began focusing on entering the ball to Parker Esary, who had 15 second-half points to lead the comeback.

"In the first half I thought we were settling for a lot of threes," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "I thought we were shooting a lot of shots early in the shot clock. In the second-half we did a much better job of getting the ball inside to Parker and we executed our offense a lot better. We grinded it out defensively."

The Argos shot just 36.2% from the field and 4.3% from the three-point line. With their offense in a funk, the team had to grind out defensively. They forced a total 19 turnovers and held the Orediggers (7-10, 0-4) to 36.0% shooting.

"I thought our kids just did what they needed to do," Himmelberg said. "An older, experienced team like ours, we're not going to get flustered by that type of stuff. Some nights you're going to miss some shots. I don't know if we've ever missed that many. Hopefully we won't see that ever again. We didn't panic, we just worked it inside and found a way to win."

Esary led the team with 26 points and four rebounds. Emilee Maldonado recorded her second-straight double-double, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and also added three assists and three steals. Reed Hazard notched 15 points and seven boards for the squad.

"I'm proud of all of them," Himmelberg said. "It's what we've come to expect from Parker and Emilee. Reed was great tonight. She made some timely shots when we needed them so that was great to see."

Tavia Rooney was the top performer for the Orediggers, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks. Mollie Peoples added 13 points for her team.

The Argos will return to action on Thursday night with an opportunity to take the lead in the Frontier Conference Standings when they'll take on #5 Carroll College on Jan. 13. That game will tip off at 5:00 p.m. in the McLaughlin Center.