KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team welcomed Carroll University to Tarble Arena on Wednesday night. For the Pioneers, it was their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin contest since returning to the league prior to this season. That fact gave Carroll every reason to put their 0-7 record in the back burner and capitalize on their first victory back in the CCIW.
 
The Pioneers did everything they could to accomplish that feat as they held three leads in the contest. Their latest advantage occurred at the 4:27 mark of the third quarter when the score was 47-46.
 
The Lady Reds were too much for Carroll at the end, and Morgan Harris was an integral reason.   Her triple-double 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds powered Carthage past the Pioneers 82-69.
 
"I challenged the girls at halftime and asked who wants to be our defensive stoppers? Who wants 10 rebounds in a game? She (Harris) did it a bunch last year, but this year she's been doing other stuff," said head women's basketball coach Tim Bernero.
 
The Lady Reds improve to 5-3, 2-0 CCIW while Carroll University falls to 0-8, 0-1 CCIW.
 
Lady Reds 82, Carroll University 69
 
The bounces went Carthage's way in the opening stages of the first quarter as they jumped to a 15-5 lead at the 4:48 mark. The Pioneers responded with a 9-0 run, fueled by Caylee Koker's five points and one steal to cut the deficit to 15-14 with 1:41 left in the frame. Three-pointers from each Mandy Hozzian and Autumn Kalis gave Carthage more breathing room to help widen their lead to 23-17 after the first quarter.
 
The Pioneers notched their first lead of the game when Koker rebounded Hozzian's missed three-pointer and drove it the distance for a layup to make the score 28-26 at the 5:52 mark of the second quarter. Both teams traded leads once more in the frame before Carthage's 10-0 run to end the quarter pushed their advantage to 41-31.
 
Carroll University's 16-5 run to open the third quarter was capped off by Sara Hartl's three-pointer at the 4:27 mark of the frame, giving them a brief 47-46 lead. Madie Kaelber's jumper at the 4:12 mark of the third quarter gave Carthage the advantage for good at 48-47 with 4:12 left in the frame.
 
A pair of Kalis three-pointers helped Carthage stretch their cushion to 63-51 with 1:01 left in the third quarter. The Lady Reds held a 64-56 lead after the third quarter despite Carroll outscoring them 25-23 in the frame.
 
Carthage never let Carroll get within eight points of them the remainder of the contest en route to an 82-69 win.
 
Kaelber paced the Lady Red scorers with 22 points while Kalis's 15 points (4-of-9 from three-point line) round out the double-figure scorers.  
 
Carthage will travel to Augustana College on Saturday, December 10. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m.