Box Score
The Carthage College women's basketball team (11-2, 2-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 25th in the Jan. 3 “D3hoops.com” poll and 28th in the Jan. 3 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll, opened the home portion of its CCIW schedule Saturday, Jan. 7 with a 66-49 victory over Millikin University (9-4, 1-1 CCIW) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
All five starters scored as Carthage made five of its first six field goal attempts to take a 13-4 lead with 13 minutes, 44 seconds to play in the first half. Carthage went on an 11-3 run during the last 3:46 to open a 35-21 halftime advantage. Diana Jacklin (Sr., Berwyn, Ill., Morton West) scored all 10 of her first half points during the first 8 1/2 minutes.
Cailee Corcoran (Jr., Oak Lawn, Ill., Chicago-Marist) split a double team and scored to give the Lady Reds their biggest lead, 49-29, with 10:04 remaining. Millikin closed to 51-39 with 6:27 to play. Jacklin had a three-point play off a feed from Corcoran, Dani Ripkey (Sr., Deerfield, Ill., Deerfield) found Corcoran on the baseline for another basket, and Jacklin made two free throws to make it 58-41 with 3:53 left.
Jacklin and Corcoran led Carthage with 19 and 12 points, respectively. Jacklin made all nine of her free throws, had a team-high seven rebounds and blocked three shots. Carthage, which has won a season-high five in a row, shot 49 percent (25-for-51). The Lady Reds made 13 of 15 free throws, making them 20-for-23 (87 percent) over their last two games.
“Cailee was a little anxious, kind of jumping around early,” Carthage coach Tim Bernero said. “She was struggling with getting comfortable down there. They play a different style, switch a lot of screens and kind of congest (the lane). We had to space it out. Diana got off to a good start. That's really going to be our bread and butter. The guards are pretty good, we've got some shooters. I think Stephanie Kuzmanic (Soph., Mount Prospect, Ill., Wheeling) might have played as good a game as she's played in two years, just by her control of the floor. The inside is where most of our scoring comes from. If we're going to be really good, those two have got to be good. They have been for the last couple weeks.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 11, the Lady Reds play CCIW foe North Park University (6-7, 0-2 CCIW) at 7:30 p.m. at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
