NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College Lady Reds fell on the road Wednesday, February 10th at North Central College's Gregory Arena, falling to the Carddinals 109-87.
 
The loss drops the Lady Reds to 9-14 on the season and 5-7 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Cardinals improved to 12-11 and 6-6 in the conference.
 
Morgan Vukovich led all scorers in the game with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting.  Bailey Gilbert, Mandy Hozzian, and Monica Masini each joined Vukovich in double-figures with 21, 13 and 10 points respectively.
 
Despite outshooting the Cardinals from the field and from three, the Lady Reds couldn't overcome their 30 turnovers leading to 26 Cardinal points off those turnovers.
 
The Lady Reds fell behind early as the Cardinals opened the game with a hot hand from deep, going four-of-five on three-point field goals in the first 3:40 of the game.   Trailing by as many as eight midway through the quarter, 16-8, Carthage hung tight behind a strong presence in the paint, outscoring the Cardinals 12-6 from inside.  Harris led the Lady Reds in the opening frame with seven points but North Central's ability to get to the free throw line and go eight-of-ten gave the Cardinals a 32-26 lead after the quarter.
 
The Lady Reds struggled to keep-up with the Cardinals frantic pace, as an 11-6 run to open the second gave the Cardinals their largest lead thus far at 43-32, before extending it once again to 12 late in the half.  However the Lady Reds wouldn't go away as three's by Mandy Hozzian and Kelly Klendworth and a pair of free throws by Bailey Gilbert allowed Carthage to cut into the double-digit lead and only trailed by seven, 51-44, at the half.  For Klendworth, it was her first field goal and points of her Carthage career.
 
Opening the third quarter with a three, the Cardinals once again found their shooting stroke from deep, connecting on 6 of 12 on threes in the quarter and took advantage of nine Carthage turnovers resulting in eleven points for North Central.   The Cardinals outscored the Lady Reds 29-15 in the quarter and built an 80-59 lead over Carthage heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Lady Reds hung with the Cardinals in the fourth, however the North Central barrage of threes continued eliminating any chance of a comeback and securing the win for the Cardinals.  One of the lone bright moments on the evening for the Lady Reds came towards the end of the game as Amber Roberts checked in for the first time this season and scored her first points of her career on a short jumper from the right block.

Mayson Whipple led all Cardinal scorers with 17 points as North Central connected on 18-of-49 three-point attempts in the game.
 
The Lady Reds return to Tarble Arena for senior night on Saturday, February 13th at 5:00 p.m. to face Wheaton College in the first game of the men's and women's doubleheader.  Erin Thomas and Gracie Sanchez will be honored prior to the Lady Reds' game.