KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College women's basketball team was edged-out narrowly for the first time in the 2015-16 season Wednesday, December 2nd, as the Clarke University Crusaders came into Tarble Arena and snuck out with a 63-61 defeat of the Lady Reds. 
 
The loss is the first on the year for d3hoops.com's number-23 team in the country, sending the Lady Reds to 4-1 on the young season, while the Crusaders improved to 5-4 on the year.
 
Bailey Gilbert and Morgan Harris each had 18 points for Carthage to lead the way and Morgan Vukovich added ten to join in double-figures.
 
The Lady Reds struggled to shoot from the field much of the first half and found themselves playing from behind most of the first quarter until a late run led by Harris gave Carthage a four-point lead after the first ten minutes.
 
Clarke opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run, holding the Lady Reds without a field goal for the first 6:26 of the quarter, which was ended by a Morgan Vukovich jumper.
 
The Lady Reds closed the deficit to two in the final 1:23 of the second.  However, two late field goals pushed a halftime lead to five at 28-23 in favor of the Crusaders.  The 23-point first half was the lowest scoring half for the Lady Reds this season as Carthage shot just 29.4-percent from the field and two-of-nine from three point land.
 
In the third quarter, Clarke continued to find success in the paint, outscoring the Lady Reds 10-2 in the quarter inside the key.  However the Lady Reds would continue to fight back from down by as many as seven and a three-point field goal on Micala Giammarino's first shot of the season tied the game for the ninth time at 40-40 late in the third.  Tied again at 42-42, the Crusaders would use a 5-0 run to take 47-42 lead into the fourth.
 
Carthage continued to fight back in the fourth quarter, trailing by as many as seven with just over three minutes to go, and were able to cut it to a pair with 18-seconds remaining on a three by Bailey Gilbert.  A pair of missed Clarke free throws gave Carthage life, but Gilbert's runner in the paint against the Crusaders bigs in the final seconds wouldn't fall.
 
Clarke's Katelyn Hoppman led the Crusaders and was the game's high-scorer with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while CU's Kelsey Ernst turned-in a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Lady Reds return to Tarble Saturday, December 5th, when Carthage plays host to instate foe, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Points.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.