KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team welcomed first place #24 Wheaton College to Tarble Arena on Wednesday night. The Thunder, who defeated the Lady Reds 65-46 on January 21, were in the midst of a six-game win streak.
 
CCIW leading scorer Katie McDaniels notched 35 points in Wheaton's victory over the Lady Reds in their previous meeting. Carthage took advantage of their home floor by holding McDaniels to just seven points on two-of-nine shooting en route to a 70-44 victory over the Thunder.
 
No Wheaton player eclipsed double-figures as Devin Kyler paced the team with eight points. The last time Carthage held all opposing players to single-digit scoring was on November 22, 2014 in a 62-41 win over UW-La Crosse. Wheaton's 44 points was also the lowest of any team the Lady Reds faced this season.
 
"When you got a young team, you don't know when the light goes on," said head women's basketball coach Tim Bernero. "You keep trying and if something doesn't work, you try something else. Maybe we hit the right mix on what we need to do and they're accepting the coaching and working really hard at it. They've done it, executed and played really well the last three games."
 
Madie Kaelber paced Carthage with 14 points and two steals while Morgan Vukovich and Autumn Kalis each chipped in 10 points. Morgan Harris collected nine rebounds and nine assists for the Lady Reds.
 
Carthage improves to 11-8, 6-5 CCIW while Wheaton (Ill.) falls to 16-3, 8-2 CCIW.
 
Lady Reds 70, Wheaton 46
 
Outside a 4-2 Wheaton lead at the 8:06 mark of the first quarter, the Lady Reds led the entire game. Carthage took a 28-21 lead into halftime while holding Wheaton to 10-of-31 from the field and 0-of-8 from beyond the arch.
 
The Lady Reds didn't reach a double-digit cushion until Rachel Szydlowski's free throw with 2:53 left in the third quarter made the score 40-30. Carthage took a 46-32 advantage into the fourth quarter, where they didn't look back.
 
Madie Kaelber put the finishing touches on a 6-0 Lady Red run to open the final frame with back-to-back steals and lay-ins to make the score 53-32 at the 9:08 mark. This provoked Bernero to burn a timeout with a 20-point lead. Kaelber closed the rest of the quarter with five points to help Carthage maintain a 20-point cushion, and hold onto a 70-44 win. The Lady Reds outscored Wheaton 24-12 in the fourth quarter. 
 
Carthage will close their four-game home swing against Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday, February 4 at 12:00 p.m. The game will be billed "Pink Out" afternoon. We encourage all fans to wear pink to the game to support the fight against breast cancer.