KENOSHA, WIS.—Home cooking has worked wonders for the Carthage College women's basketball team as they've won six-of-eight games at Tarble Arena throughout the 2017 calandar year prior to Saturday's bout against Augustana College (Ill.). The Lady Reds made it seven-of-nine with a 74-67 victory over the Vikings.
 
Madie Kaelber returned to the lineup with 32 points after missing the previous three games to injury. She finished the game with an 11-of-17 figure from the field, and a 4-of-5 mark from the three-point line. She registered 21 of her 32 points in the opening half.
 
Rachel Szydlowski tallied her fourth career double-double in the contest with 13 points and 13 boards. The Lady Reds held the Augustana offense to a season-low 19-of-68 (.279) field goal percentage.
 
"I thought we played pretty good defense," said head women's basketball coach Tim Bernero. "Rachel (Szydlowski) came up big for us with a pair of key blocks while Gilbert did a fantastic job inbounding the ball against the press at times. Morgan (Harris) was solid with nine rebounds and five assists, which was another day at the office for her."
 
The Lady Reds' first CCIW victory of 2017-18 gives them an overall record of 5-3, 1-2 CCIW while Augustana's first conference loss sends them to 5-2, 1-1 CCIW.
 
Lady Reds 74, Augustana (Ill.) 67
 
Autumn Kalis's three-pointer with 4:27 left in the first quarter capped an 11-4 Carthage run, their largest advantage of the frame. A pair of Lady Reds fouls over the next 1:30 gave Augustana opportunities at the free throw line. Their four made free throws down the stretch highlighted an 11-0 Vikings run that gave them a 15-11 lead with 2:03 left in the opening frame.
 
Kaelber capped off the first quarter with six points, and opened the second frame with the first four points to give Carthage a 22-18 lead with 8:03 left. The Vikings tied things once more at 23-23 with 7:02 left before Kaelber's layup at the 6:53 mark gave Carthage the lead for good at 25-23.
 
The Lady Reds defense held Augustana to just one field goal for the remainder of the first half en route to a 41-30 advantage.
 
Kalis's three-pointer with 4:33 left in the third gave Carthage their largest lead of the game at 51-36 before the Vikings slowly closed the gap. The Vikings converted on seven-of-eight free throws the remainder of the third quarter to narrow the score to 57-48 heading into the final 10:00.   
 
Izzy Anderson responded with seven fourth-quarter points for Augustana to narrow the Lady Reds' lead as close as 70-66 with 0:23 on the clock. With Augustana in foul mode, Kaelber and Gilbert nailed both of their free throw attempts to ice the game and give Carthage a 74-64 victory.

The Lady Reds will return to action on Saturday, December 16 when they host Knox College. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.