Box Score The Carthage College women's basketball team (12-4, 3-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 28th in the Jan. 17 “D3hoops.com” poll and tied for 31st place in the Jan. 17 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/
USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll, dropped its second-straight game on Wednesday, Jan. 18 with a 66-51 loss to CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 10-6, 3-2 CCIW) at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill.
The loss left the Lady Reds in a third-place tie with Wheaton, both teams two games behind league-leaders Elmhurst College and Illinois Wesleyan University at 5-0.
Carthage broke out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes and led for the first 10 minutes. Wheaton tied the game, 20-20, at 9:26, and took a 24-22 lead at 8:13. The Lady Reds re-gained the lead, 25-24, at 7:54, but the Thunder closed out the half on a 16-2 run to take a 14-point lead, 40-27, at the break. Lindsey Brenneman scored on two layups as part of that 16-point outburst. Wheaton shot 60 percent on 15-25 field goals in the first half.
The Thunder extended their lead to 15 points early in the second half, 42-27, at 18:20 and to 16 points, 50-34, at 13:26. The Lady Red scored six-straight to make it a 10-point game, 50-40, at 10:56. Carthage got as close as nine points, 53-44, at 9:25, but Wheaton put on the brakes with a 10-5 run to go back up by 14, 63-49, at 3:50. The Thunder led by as much as 17 points down the stretch, 66-49, at 1:16 and went on to win by 15, 66-51.
Statistically, the game was about even. Wheaton shot 46 percent (23-50), including eight-of-14 from three-point range, while Carthage shot 45 percent (18-40), including eight-of-17 three-pointers. The Thunder did convert 12-of-16 from the free-throw line, compared to seven-of-10 for the Lady Reds. Wheaton had a narrow, 25-24 edge in rebounding, but Carthage turned the ball over 26 times to 20 for Wheaton.
Wheaton's Lindsey Brenneman scored a game-high 19 points on seven-of-nine field goals, including three-of-four three-pointers, along with two-of-two from the free-throw line. Breanna Bohlen came off the bench to score 15 points on five-of-six shooting, including three-of-three from three-point range, along with two-of-two free throws. Maris Hovee added 11 points and five rebounds. Carthage had nobody in double-figure scoring.
Diana Jacklin (Sr., Berwyn, Ill./Morton West),
Dani Ripkey (Sr., Deerfield, Ill.) and
Haley Stercic (So., Chicago, Ill./Marist) had nine points each, with Jacklin pulling down a game-high seven rebounds.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Lady Reds travel to Rock Island, Ill., to take on conference-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 9-7, 1-4 CCIW) in a 5:30 p.m. contest at the Roy J. Carver Center.
