Box Score The Carthage College women's basketball team (11-3, 3-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) upped its CCIW record to 3-0 on Wednesday, Jan. 9 with an 85-74 win over North Central College (7-7, 0-3 CCIW) at Gregory Arena at Merner Fieldhouse in Naperville, Ill. The win, combined with a Wheaton College (Ill.) loss to Augustana College (Ill.), left the Lady Reds in first place in the conference.
North Central, which utilizes a Grinnell College-type offensive system, jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first five minutes, with the help of three successful three-pointers. The Cardinals approach allows easy layups on the other end, and the Lady Reds converted four of those in the next two minutes to pull to within two points, 15-13, at 13:41. North Central's last lead was 22-21 at 10:36. Carthage broke a 25-25 tie with a pair of
Kristi Schmidt free throws at 8:52 and never looked back. The Lady Reds led by as much as 10 points in the first half, 38-28, at 4:10 and led by eight at the break, 45-37. The game tightened up considerably in the second half. The Cardinals pulled to within one, 45-44, at 17:26 and stayed within seven points of the Lady Reds until the game's final seconds. Carthage went on to win by 11 points, 85-74.
Carthage shot 46 percent (35-76), and took only five three-pointers, while North Central shot just 29 percent (24-81) and connected on just 11-of-42 from three-point range. The Cardinals' 42 three-point attempts broke a Carthage game record for opponents, bettering a mark of 29 set by the University of Chicago on Nov. 28, 2009. The two teams combined for 47 three-pointers, which also broke a Carthage game record set against North Central on Feb. 20, 1995. Carthage enjoyed a 60-46 rebounding advantage. The turnovers were high for both teams, with the Lady Reds collecting 30 and the Cardinals being charged with 28 turnovers.
Four Carthage players scored in double figures.
Michelle Wenzel (Jr., Darien, Wis./Delavan-Darien) came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points on 11-of-15 field goals, along with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Kristi Schmidt (Jr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) scored 20 points on nine-of-16 shooting, along with eight boards.
Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn Ill./Chicago-Marist) had 15 points with an astounding 24 rebounds, seven offensive and 17 defensive. Her 24 boards set a CCIW game record of 22 set by Millikin University's Jodi Foster, also against North Central (Ill.), in 1994 and were just three short of a Carthage game record of 27 set by Kathy Mucha in 1975.
Stephanie Kuzmanic (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Wheeling) added 13 points, eight assists and six steals. Sophie Newson was the lone North Central player in double figures with 11 points.
"It certainly is a different way to play the game,” said Carthage coach
Tim Bernero. “We could have made it easier on ourselves, offensively, by making better decisions and making some more layups. We are 3-0 and happy to be in that position. We persevered and got another road win."
Carthage travels to Bloomington, Ill., on Saturday, Jan. 12 to take on conference-opponent Illinois Wesleyan University (9-5, 2-1 CCIW) in a 5 p.m. contest at the Shirk Center.
