Would a small meteor impact with much power?

I am asking this, because there is a scene in a movie called "Enemy Mine" where a character finds an alien's shell and claims he can use it as a "meteor shield." I didn't think this was true though, as I thought even small meteors (baseball-basketball sized) impact with a huge amount of force and make small craters. In other words, would an alien's shell (pretty much the same as a turtle shell) be able to withstand the force of an impacting meteor?