This is it. The final two games of the season for the Carroll College women's basketball team.

The Saints will take on the University of Great Falls Argos (7-20, 1-11) at 6 p.m. tonight and will play host to MSU-Northern Skylights(17-10, 9-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday night.

The two conference contests will determine who the Saints (14-14, 3-9) will matchup against in next week's Frontier Conference tournament.

In their last meeting on Jan. 31, the Argos defeated the Saints by four points.

The Saints had fallen to a 13-point deficit at half, but rallied to pull within four as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Elly Bruursema led the Saints with 26 points, while Sara Meyer added 20 off of 8-of-11 shooting.

The Argos had four players in double figures, with Marissa Francis leading with 21 points.

The Saints are coming off the toughest road trip of the year, after driving to Lewiston, Idaho, to face Lewis-Clark State, flying to Salt Lake City to match up against Westminster and then a seven-hour bus ride home to Helena.

"It's the most exhausting trip," said Saints head coach Shawn Nelson. "The first day of practice after that trip is always extremely tough."

Both games resulted in losses for Carroll, but the Saints are the first team in the Frontier conference to lose at Westminster by less than 15 points.

"The last 15 minutes of that game was just a glimpse of what this team can do," Nelson said. "It was 15 mintues full of flashes of a bright future for this team."

The Saints were down 23 points with 12 minutes left to go against the Griffins, but cut their lead to seven with under four to play.

Two missed 3-pointers by Carroll would have changed the game completely.

A big factor for the Saints over the last five games has been defense.

"Sometimes I think we play so hard on the defensive side of the ball that we are exhausted on the offensive side," Nelson said.

The Saints defense will have to be up to par against the Argos tonight. Jocelyn Moore, Kassie Holmlund and Francis all average double figures for Great Falls.

Last weekend's losses sealed a first-round road tournament game for the Saints. Two wins this weekend could keep them in the state to play either Rocky Mountain or MSU-Northern.

Two losses would mean a trip to either Westminster or Lewis-Clark depending on how the Argos finish out against Rocky Mountain.

"We are feeling positive going into this weekend," Nelson said. "If we can build on the positives from last week, then we will be on the right track."

On a negative note, the Saints lost their fourth player of the year to injuries Wednesday. Haley Pettit, a 6-foot-4 freshman, has fallen to an undisclosed injury.

"It seems that whenever someone starts to play well we get snake bit," Nelson said.

Derek Gengenbacher: 447-4070 or derek.gengenbacher@helenair.com