KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team hosted North Central College (Ill.) in the first-of-three home games to close out the 2017-18 regular season. The Lady Reds avenged their 81-77 OT loss to the Cardinals from December 6 with a 92-56 victory on Wednesday, which ups their record to 9-2 since the calendar flipped to 2018. Bailey Gilbert engineered the Lady Reds' season-high .585 (38-65) field goal percentage with a season-high 20 points on a 6-of-6 mark from three-point land, and a 7-of-7 mark from the field. Madie Kaelber also chipped in 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
 
"Bailey (Gilbert) opened up and got shots for herself and she's capable of running them off like that," said Lady Reds head coach Tim Bernero. "She'll probably leave here as the all-time leader in three-point field goal makes and that's a big list. If you put that on film and the stat sheet, the teams will say they can't cheat off that either."
 
Morgan Harris nearly notched her second career triple-double with 13 points, nine assists, and eight boards. Sammie Woodward added 13 points while Rachel Szydlowski's 10 made up the five Lady Reds with double-figures, the first time that's been achieved this season. The Lady Reds also tied for a season-high .542 (13-24) three-point percentage.
 
"The nine assists and no turnovers from Harris is what's impressive," said Bernero. "She may have pulled it off if I left her in the fourth quarter leading by 30+ points, but I'm a fool for doing that if she turns her ankle, and we don't have her for Saturday."
 
The Lady Reds improve to 17-6, 10-4 CCIW while North Central drops to 5-18, 3-11 CCIW. The victory gives Carthage nine wins out of their last 10 games, and entrenches them in third place behind Illinois Wesleyan University (13-1) and Wheaton College (Ill.) (13-2).
 
Lady Reds 92, North Central 56
 
Carthage scored first and never surrendered the lead as they jumped to a 26-21 edge after the first quarter, capped off by Kaelber's three-pointer at the buzzer. Carthage took a double-digit lead for good at the 5:34 mark of the second quarter off Sammie Woodward's jumper that made the score 36-26. Carthage built on that momentum with four three-pointers to close out the half en route to a 50-38 edge.
 
Szydlowski notched eight third-quarter points while Gilbert tallied both the Lady Reds' three-balls to propel them to a 28-9 run, which gave Carthage a 78-47 lead heading into the final frame. All 16 Lady Reds eventually saw minutes in the fourth quarter to ice a 92-56 win.
 
The Lady Reds will host #20 Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, February 17 at 5:00 p.m.
 
"We're at a point where we can't win the league," said Bernero. "We know we're in the tournament so Saturday will determine who we'll play. If we win, we'll end up playing Illinois Wesleyan and if we lose, we'll get Wheaton. We need a signature win on Saturday."