KENOSHA, WIS.—Home-openers have gone in the Carthage College women's basketball team's favor for 16-consecutive seasons prior to their showdown against UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday night. The Lady Reds pushed that margin to 17-consecutive seasons with a 67-49 victory over the Pointers behind Sammie Woodward's career-high 18 points, which doubled her previous mark of nine achieved against University of Chicago last Sunday.
 
The Carthage defense came through as they held UW-Stevens Point to just 16-of-52 shooting, and 2-of-17 from three-point land. Morgan Harris paced the Lady Reds defense with four steals and 10 boards. Autumn Kalis contributed 15 points, and tied for a game-high five assists. Bailey Gilbert matched Kalis's assist total along with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Rachel Szydlowski rounded out the Lady Reds in double-figuring scoring with 10 points.
 
Carthage improves to 4-1, 0-0 CCIW while UW-Stevens Point falls to 3-2, 0-0 WIAC.
 
Lady Reds 67, UW-Stevens Point 49
 
Carthage, who didn't surrender a lead in the contest, jumped to an 8-0 run with 6:10 left in the first quarter behind an Autumn Kalis three-pointer and layup. The Lady Reds were the victim of four fouls throughout the remainder of the first quarter, where UW-Stevens Point converted on all six of their free throw attempts to cut the margin to 12-10 with 0:58 left in the opening frame. Bailey Gilbert gave Carthage breathing room with a three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to push their advantage to 15-10.
 
Harris's steal at the 6:14 mark of the second frame set up Gilbert's three-pointer that gave Carthage a double-digit lead for good at 25-14. Taylor Greenheck and Mickey Roland each tallied the Pointers' lone three-pointers in the contest over the final minutes of the second quarter to make the score 34-22 with 1:21 left before Carthage went to intermission with a 39-24 lead.
 
The second half was all Woodward, who drained 13 of her 18 points during the final 20:00 of play to propel the Lady Reds to a 67-49 victory. She engineered a Carthage attack that tied for a season best .467 (29-of-60) field goal percentage, and .455 (10-22) three-point field goal percentage. Woodward accounted for four of those three-pointers.
 
The Lady Reds will open CCIW play at Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday December 2 at 5:00 p.m. John Weiser will have the call at www.wlip.com.