KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team have opened the calendar year with a victory for the past six seasons. The Lady Reds couldn't keep that trend alive in their Thursday-evening showdown against Wheaton College (Ill.) at Tarble Arena as they dropped a 72-59 decision.
 
"Our awareness of what was going on was awful," said head women's basketball coach Tim Bernero. "We took shots with 6'2 people in front of and behind us like they weren't there and ended up blocking them. We were poor offensively, we couldn't reverse the ball, we threw the ball right to their (Wheaton's) hands. The fact we only had 13 turnovers is misleading because we never had any flow offensively."
 
The Lady Reds surrendered a season-high eight blocks in the contest. Hannah Frazier and Jill Berg each came up with a pair of blocks for the Wheaton defense.  
 
Madie Kaelber and Morgan Harris each drained 11 points for Carthage while Sammie Woodward rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10. Both squads registered a .875 figure from the charity strip, but it was Wheaton who drained 14-of-16 while Carthage netted 7-of-8.  
 
The Lady Reds fall to 8-5, 1-3 CCIW while the Thunder improve to 8-4, 2-2 CCIW.
 
Lady Reds 59, Wheaton (Ill.) 72
 
The Lady Reds went 7-of-19 (.368) from the field in the opening quarter, but Hannah Frazier's 10 points propelled the Thunder to a 23-17 lead heading into the second quarter. The score remained within single-digits throughout the second quarter, but Carthage couldn't improve their field goal percentage as they clocked-in a 5-of-17 (.294) mark in the frame. The Thunder eventually took a 36-28 lead into halftime.
 
Hannah Frazier opened the third quarter with Wheaton's first four points, capped by her two made free throws at the 8:26 mark to regain their 10-point lead at 40-30. Dansdill gave Wheaton the double-digit lead for good at the 7:34 mark of the third with a three-pointer to make the score 43-32. The Thunder's advantage grew to 53-41 heading into the fourth.
 
Both teams played an 18-18 fourth quarter, but it was too late for a comeback-bid as Wheaton secured a 72-59 victory.
 
The Lady Reds will return to action on Wednesday, January 10 at Carroll University. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.