KENOSHA, WIS.—The Carthage College women's basketball team found themselves in a deficit throughout the entire first half and most of the third quarter of Saturday evening's home bout against Millikin University. Down 36-28 with 8:39 left in the third quarter,
Autumn Kalis sparked a 16-2 Lady Reds run with a jumper that gave them enough cushion in a come-from-behind 68-63 victory at Tarble Arena.
Haley Ahr registered a career game with 14 points and six rebounds for the Lady Reds.
"That was her (Ahr) best game as a member of our team for sure," said Lady Reds head basketball coach
Tim Bernero. "She can stir things up defensively and is very aggressive on the boards. She finished her shots around the basket and made a jump shot when they zoned us in the first half. It was an interesting game, we didn't start strong and I give Millikin credit because they played their roles."
Madie Kaelber's 14-point effort included a 4-of-9 night from the three-point line while
Sammie Woodward rounded out the Lady Reds in double figures with 12 points.
Maggie Berigan nearly missed a double-double with nine points and nine boards.
The Lady Reds push their win streak to three and improve to 9-5, 3-2 CCIW while Millikin drops to 5-9, 1-4 CCIW.
Lady Reds 68, Millikin 63
The Big Blue jetted to an 11-0 lead to begin the game, which proved to be their peak performance as
Maggie Berigan's jumper with 3:30 left in the first quarter capped Carthage's 11-2 run that narrowed their deficit to 13-11. Ahr cut Carthage's deficit to two points again with 0:37 left in the first quarter when her layup made the score 17-15. The Lady Reds got within one point of Millikin with 1:52 left in the second quarter off Gilbert's made free throw before going into halftime with a 32-28 deficit.
After Millikin stretched their lead to 36-28 with back-to-back layups, Kalis sparked a Carthage 16-2 run with a jumper at the 8:39 mark of the third quarter.
Bailey Gilbert capped the run with 2:57 left in the third quarter off a jumper, which gave Carthage a 44-40 lead. It was a lead Carthage didn't surrender again in a 68-63 victory.
The Lady Reds will hit the road to face North Central College (Ill.) in Naperville, Illinois on Wednesday, January 9 at 7:00 p.m.
