Chandler, AZ. –The Lady Firestorm ended their non-conference schedule the same way they started it by defeating the Carroll College Saints in a tight defensive battle by a score of 59-53.  Senior Alyssa Alvarez reached the 30-point mark for the second time this week propelling the Lady Firestorm to their second win in a row, and perfect run at the Cactus Classic.  
 
Said Head Coach Rusty Rogers, "Wow – what a way to wrap up our non-conference schedule!  Knocking off Carroll twice this season is an amazing accomplishment in and of itself.  Very proud of the development and maturation of our team."
 
The Saints raced out to an early first quarter advantage as they saw six different players score the basketball with Willa Albrecht leading both teams in scoring with six points.  Alvarez and Emily Till kept the Firestorm in contact by scoring four points apiece in the period.
 
Despite continued scoring from the Saints' Albrecht, the second quarter belonged to Alvarez who scored ten points on 3-4 shooting while also going 2-2 from the foul line.  Albrecht and Megan Karstetter combined for ten points and kept the game close for the Saints heading into halftime with the Firestorm leading by just two points, 28-26.
 
The third quarter continued to see both teams struggle to find the bottom of the net with Carroll shooting just 28% and the Firestorm ladies only a little better at 35%.  The only player who seemed unaffected was Alvarez who made 3-5 shots and scored six more points.  But while they were able to cool off Carroll's Albrecht who was 0-7 in the quarter, the team could not muster their own scoring and would enter the fourth quarter with a slim four-point lead.
 
In the fourth quarter, Till made a lay-up at the 5:59 mark to put the team ahead 50-42, and it appeared the team was ready to pull away.  But for the next four and a half minutes they were unable to muster another field goal and allowed the Saints to hang around.  It was another lay-up from Till which ended the drought and returned the Firestorm advantage back to two possessions.  Carroll immediately responded though with a three pointer from Keller to cut the deficit to just two points with one minute remaining.  But Alvarez responded with two free throws, and after a key defensive stop, Till made 1-2 free throws with seventeen seconds remaining.  When Lauren Gunn made two more free throws with two seconds remaining, it saw the Lady Firestorm finish 11-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and 19-24 for the game.  Alvarez was a perfect 11-11 for the game and made seven of those in the fourth period.
 
Concluded Coach Rogers, "Our obvious goal is to carry this on through the GSAC schedule.  We know the GSAC is definitely not a cake walk, but we just navigated through a very challenging non-conference schedule and are very well prepared for the conference season!"
 
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