KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team was in pursuit of their first season sweep of Millikin University since 2013-14 at Tarble Arena on Saturday evening. The Lady Reds accomplished that feat with a 78-60 victory over the Big Blue behind Morgan Vukovich's game-high, and season-high 17 points on a 7-of-11 figure from the field.
 
"After not shooting the three-ball well in the first half and getting ourselves into foul trouble, we were forced to go back to the two-post lineup with Vukovich, and she did a really good job," said Lady Reds head basketball coach Tim Bernero. "Giving her that chance gave us another weapon to score around the basket. Sometimes we have to relieve that pressure of shooting three's by getting the ball to the post or off the dribble."
 
Morgan Harris tallied her 18^th career double-double in the game with 13 points and 10 boards while Rachel Szydlowski and Autumn Kalis each drained 11 points to round out the Lady Reds in double-figures.
 
All 16 players on the Carthage roster saw minutes in the contest.
 
The Lady Reds held Millikin leading scorer Devin Curry, who entered Saturday with 16.2 points per game, to just six points in the contest. Curry didn't attempt a free throw after coming into the bout with an NCAA Division III seventh-ranked .899 (62-69) free-throw percentage.
 
Carthage, who has now won seven of their last eight games, sports a 15-6, 8-4 CCIW record while Millikin falls to 5-15, 0-11 CCIW. The Lady Reds now own more victories than all of 2016-17.
 
Lady Reds 78, Millikin 60
 
The Big Blue out-rebounded Carthage 13-5 throughout the opening 6:15 of the first quarter, which helped them jump to a 15-11 lead with 2:28 left in the frame. The Lady Reds proceeded to outrebound Millikin 5-2 the remainder of the quarter, which helped spark a 7-0 run to close the frame en route to an 18-15 lead at the break.
 
It was a lead Carthage held onto for good as they cruised to a 23-12 second quarter to secure a 41-27 halftime edge. Three-pointers from Autumn Kalis, Morgan Harris and Sammie Woodward within the final 5:00 of the third quarter helped push the Lady Reds lead to 66-45 heading into the final 10:00 of play, where they secured a 78-60 victory.
 
Carthage will return to competition on Saturday, February 10 at Elmhurst College for a 2:00-p.m. tip-off.
 
"It's time to work on us and freshen up our legs this week with not having a Wednesday game," said Bernero. "We have a week to prepare for a game that may solidify third place in the conference."