Box Score The Carthage College women's basketball team (12-3, 3-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 23rd in the Jan. 10 “D3hoops.com” poll and 25th in the Jan. 10 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll, had a six-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, Jan. 14 with a last-second, 70-69 loss to CCIW-opponent and No. 30 Illinois Wesleyan University (11-4, 4-0 CCIW) at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill. 

The Carthage loss dropped the Lady Reds out of what had been a three-way tie for first place with Illinois Wesleyan and Elmhurst College.  The Titans have now won eight in a row. 
 
The first half was an up-and-down the court affair, with Carthage holding a narrow lead much of the way.  Leading by four, 27-23, at 4:59, the Lady Reds were out-scored 15-0 over the final five minutes and trailed by 11 points at halftime, 38-27.  Colleen McMahon scored on a layup and a three-pointer in that 15-0 run.  The Titans went up by 14, 46-32, at 17:33 second half. 

A 21-7 Carthage run tied the game, 53-53, at 9:48.  The Lady Reds re-gained the lead, 55-53, at 8:27 on a layup by Gabby Chapa.  A three-pointer by Haley Stercic at 7:52 put Carthage up by five, 58-53.  An offensive rebound and a put back by Diana Jacklin at 4:32 made it a six-point game, 63-57. Dani Ripkey's three-pointer at 3:48 gave the Lady Reds an eight-point lead, 66-58.  Diana Jacklin made the front end of two-shot free throw at 2:50, and Carthage led by nine, 69-60, with the game seemingly well in hand.
 
Unfortunately, Illinois Wesleyan wasn't through.  A three-pointer by Michelle Bilek and jumper by Britt Hasselbring brought the Titans to within four, 69-65, at 2:11.  Olivia Lett drained two free throws at 1:41 to make it a two-point game, 69-67.  After each team had a couple of unsuccessful trips each down the court, Bilek drained an open three-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining to cap off 10 unanswered points, giving IWU a 70-69 lead.  Diana Jacklin's desperation three-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go just missed, and the Titans claimed the one-point victory.
 
Illinois Wesleyan shot 43 percent (25-58), including seven-of-28 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 49 percent (25-51), including six-of-19 from three-point range.  Both teams were 13-of-17 from the free-throw line, with the Lady Reds out-rebounding the Titans by a 36-30 margin.  Carthage turned the ball over 20 times to 14 for Illinois Wesleyan.  Olivia Lett led the Titans with 21 points on seven-of-22 field goals, including one-of-10 from three-point range, along with six-of-six free throws, nine rebounds and four assists.  Colleen McMahon and Michelle Bilek added 12 points each for the Titans, with Bilek connecting on three-of-four three-pointers. 
 
Carthage's Cailee Corcoran (Jr. Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago-Marist) scored a game-high 23 points on nine-of-14 shooting and five-of-six free throws, along with six rebounds.  Diana Jacklin (Sr., Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) had 17 points on six-of-10 field goals and five-of-seven from the free-throw line, along with a game-high 15 rebounds that also matched her career high. 

“It drives you crazy,” said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, “because we out-played them for such a large portion of the game.  You have to play 40 minutes—that's the moral of the story.  It wasn't the two star players from Illinois Wesleyan that beat us, but a unsung hero who makes a last-second shot.  That's what you expect to happen sometimes in a high-quality game like this.  We were confident coming in.  We scared them out of their press for awhile, for we didn't execute our half-court offense in the first half.  We didn't score in the last three minutes, and when you're up by nine, you need something, a basket or free throw to finish the game.  Instead, we missed some shots or turned the ball over.  Any one of those possessions would have made this a different game.  We made the same number of baskets as Illinois Wesleyan and the same number of free throws, but they made one more three-pointer than us.”

Carthage travels to Wheaton, Ill., on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to play CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill.) in a 7:30 p.m. game at King Arena.