Let us take a look at one possible check list for the Carthage women's basketball team.
Travel by bus close to 500 miles to Alliance, Ohio? Check.
Beat Centre College (Ky.) to be among the final eight of the 434 schools that play the sport at the Division III level? Check.
So far so good? Check.
The final item on the list will be the hardest to achieve.
When the Lady Reds (23-7) and Illinois Wesleyan (25-5) square off Saturday, March 10 at 7 p.m. (EST) at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex on the campus of the University of Mount Union, the biggest prize yet will be at stake. That is, a spot in next weekend's “Final Four” of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.
Nobody in the Carthage was saying anything inflammatory. Nor was there any talk about it being Carthage's turn to win after three losses by the totals of one, four and one points. The first one point defeat came on a three-point basket with 3 seconds to play. The other came on a basket with 20.5 seconds remaining. The middle one was partly the result of a player making three of the 11 three-point baskets she made all season in a span of 2 1/2 minutes.
“It's going to be a dogfight, that's for sure,” said Cailee Corcoran, who scored 24 points in the Lady Reds' 71-61 victory over Centre (26-4). “Do I have confidence in us? Yes. If we play to our highest abilities, do I think we can win? Yes.
“It just comes down to hustle. It comes down to stopping them defensively. Do I think we're a different team, all around, than the last time we saw them? A little bit, because people have picked it up, and everyone's been playing great.”
Diana Jacklin, who teamed with Corcoran to run the high-low set to near perfection during the second half, expects a heck of a game.
“It always is with them,” said Jacklin, who fought through early foul trouble to score 11 of her 13 points and snag seven of her eight rebounds during the second half. “The only problem is, every time we've played them (this year) we haven't been able to finish the game. I think, coming as far as we have, we've been able to finish games, and hopefully that's going to be in our favor tomorrow night.”
Taking care of the ball will be crucial. If it could get away with it, Wesleyan would pressure Carthage as soon as the Lady Reds got off the bus.
“We have to take care of the ball against the press,” Jacklin said. “I think we've faced that so much this year, especially playing them three times. Even in this tournament, we've faced teams who have pressed us pretty hard. We've been able to handle it, break it really well. We've been a lot smarter with the ball. I think if we stay composed, we stay smart, we keep our heads up, and we make sharp passes, that we'll have no problem breaking through it.”
Coach Tim Bernero and assistants Brittany Carper and Katie Jarger likely had a night of little sleep as they prepared a game plan.
What will make the difference in the fourth meeting between Carthage and Wesleyan? Possibly, not much.
“One play, maybe, somewhere,” Bernero said. “All those games have been so close, it's been getting one extra possession, one less turnover, one more rebound. You point at all three games and see, one little swing either way has decided it. I feel pretty comfortable about preparing for them. Now, it's just a matter of will we execute it and make enough shots, and handle the game.
“We know we've been right there in each game. Now it's just a matter of, we've got to go play just a little bit better than before. Nothing drastic. We don't have to scrap the whole plan and start over. It's just a play here or there.”
The one thing Bernero cannot put in his game plan is the one thing that has made the difference in two of the games: The unexpected.
“That's sort of what has happened,” Bernero said. “The games they've won, they've had Bilek and Jackson and those kind of kids make shots that they normally don't make.
“I feel pretty comfortable with what they're going to do. We'll refresh our memories about it.”
Bernero said one thing in particular that made sense when it comes to the hunger his team will take into the game. And one that is probably wishful thinking.
“The hunter's a little more desperate than the hunted,” Bernero said. “They might be sitting there going, 'Hey, we beat them three times. We know we'll get this one.' Their bravado could backfire a little bit.”
Wesleyan is 3-0 against the Lady Reds. Two of those victories led to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular-season title. The third led to the CCIW tournament championship.
“We still want to get the one,” Bernero said. “All it takes is one. They can have the other three if we win tomorrow.”
HOW THE LADY REDS BECAME A MEMBER OF THE “ELITE EIGHT”
One great characteristic of this team is that someone different seems to provide a pick-me-up whenever it is needed.
Jacklin gets her second foul with 15:13 to play in the first half, which results in Carthage trailing, 13-7? Stephanie Kuzmanic and Corcoran each score 10 points. Allison Groessl, Kuzmanic and Corcoran each score a basket as Carthage scores the final six points of the half and goes into the locker room with a 34-29 lead.
To start the second half, Dani Ripkey makes one three-pointer from the left wing and follows with another from the right wing. It is a 12-1 run, and the lead goes to 40-30.
Jacklin gets two offensive rebounds and converts them into baskets. She gets another, is fouled, and makes one of two free throws. The run is 17-3, the score is Carthage 45, Centre 32.
“Di came out in the second half on fire,” Corcoran said. “She was in some foul trouble in the first half, so knowing the player that she is, I knew that she'd come with a little fire, and rebounding is her strong point. That's where we depend on her a lot. It didn't surprise me one bit.”
Then Corcoran gets hot, thanks in large part to Ripkey. Using excellent fakes, she gets a left-handed layup, then another right-handed off a pass from Haley Stercic. Corcoran makes about a 12-footer from the left wing off a pass from Groessl. After blocked shots at the other end by Jacklin and Kristi Schmidt, Corcoran makes another lefty shot in the paint, this off a pass from Ripkey For a change of pace, Jacklin scores inside off Corcoran's pass. Corcoran comes back with another basket off a Ripkey pass. Finally Ripkey finds Jacklin on an inbounds pass, and Jacklin's basket finishes a 14-4 surge that gives the Lady Reds a 65-43 advantage with 4:53 to go.
“It seemed once we broke through their little changes in defenses (switching between zone and man-to-man), we just stayed with the one set, and tried to go high-low, high-low,” Bernero said. “Diana didn't have as big a scoring night, but she was able to get the ball to Cailee. She had a couple of creepers there; I wasn't sure they were going in, but she kept scoring one after the other, and all of a sudden you look up and she's over 20 points. We needed that.”
Corcoran has been frustrated lately. Since a 24-point outburst at Elmhurst that established her collegiate high, she had scored in doubles figures once in five games.
“When you're at this point in the season, and you're in the NCAA tournament, you're going to find teams that are going to scout you,” Corcoran said. “They're going to find your strong points, and they're going to shut you down. I think the teams that we've played up to this point have done a great job of doing that.
“But you know what? We win, and that's when Dani or Al (Groessl) or Steph (Kuzmanic) or Di step up.”
Corcoran did set a collegiate high by making 11 field goals. She took 14 shots.
“I think I could have shot it backwards tonight, and it could have gone in,” Corcoran said with a laugh that showed she was clearly joking. “It was just one of those nights.”
Said Bernero: She's a scorer. She puts the ball in the basket, and she was able to put it in at opportune times. That kind of helped us run away to that big lead.”
Corcoran said the Lady Reds were not about to go away from the high-low set once it started working.
“We're good at that,” Corcoran said. “Dani and Al and Steph, they can shoot. But I think we're very strong in the high-low. Di and I work very well together, and at this point, guards know how to get us the ball. And we score.
That's a very strong point on our team, the high-low. We practice it all the time, almost to exhaustion, we do it so much. We just work well together. It puts points on the board, so why change something that's not broke?”
Bernero got caught up in the excitement when his team advanced to the “Elite Eight” two years after a getting to the “Sweet 16”.
“This is a blast,” Bernero said. “ The kids were screaming. I'm going, 'What are you guys yelling about, we've got to play again tomorrow. The season's not over yet.' I can't take the joy away from them. But you know, coach's paranoia makes you want to prepare for this one, work late tonight, try to figure out what we can to to keep this thing going. It is fun.”
Not that anyone was suggesting otherwise, but Corcoran made it clear the Lady Reds deserved to be where they are.
“I think we deserve to be here, hands down,” Corcoran said. “Am I excited? Yes. Did I cry? Yeah. It's just a great experience, this just a great group of girls, and we deserve to be here. We deserve to be here.”
Ripkey had the defensive assignment on Centre senior guard Maggie Prewitt. Prewitt scored 24 points, but needed 24 shots to do it. She scored the Colonels' final 16 points. In other words, she had eight when it mattered.
“She was really, really tough,” Ripkey said. “I kind of let up at the end. Luckily, in the beginning of the game she wasn't really making a lot of her points, and I just tired to stay in front of her. We helped really, really well, and rotated off of our help really well, and I think that's what gave us an advantage.”
