KENOSHA, WIS.—North Central College (Ill.) paid the Carthage College women's basketball team a visit to Tarble Arena on Wednesday night. The Lady Reds tied the ball game 58-58 with 0:24 left off Sammie Woodward's three-pointer, but a foul called on the Lady Reds with 0:02 left put North Central at the free throw where Allison Pearson drained both shots to secure a 60-58 victory for the Cardinals.
 
"For a team that's supposed to be a good shooting team, we didn't have it tonight," said Lady Reds head basketball coach Tim Bernero. "We didn't finish and contest stuff around the basket. You have to make the layups, the tough plays and play all four quarters and we didn't do that tonight."
 
Sammie Woodward tied for a career-high 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting while Autumn Kalis tallied 12 points and tied for a team-leading seven boards. Madie Kaelber notched 10 points to round out the Lady Reds in double figures. Maggie Berigan put together a solid night as she tied for a career-high five blocks along with seven rebounds and three points. 
 
The Lady Reds registered a season-high 17 offensive boards in the contest, and attempted 74 shots. 
 
Carthage drops their third straight game and falls to 14-8, 8-5 CCIW while North Central improves to 7-15, 5-8 CCIW.
 
North Central 60, Lady Reds 58
 
The opening half was tick-for-tack as the largest point margin was six, which belonged to North Central when Haydn Braun's three-pointer with 1:41 left in the first quarter pushed their lead to 16-10, which provoked a Lady Reds timeout. The breather paid dividends as Carthage closed the first quarter with a 4-0 run to cut their deficit to 16-14.
 
The Lady Reds' 7-3 run to open the second quarter gave them a brief 21-19 advantage with 6:43 left, but the Cardinals responded and held onto the lead until halftime with a 28-27 cushion.
 
Carthage outscored North Central 17-14 in the third, where they took a 44-42 lead into the fourth quarter. North Central took the lead for good with a 13-4 run to begin the fourth, which gave them their largest cushion of the game at 55-48 with 2:11 left.
 
Woodward sparked, and ended a Carthage 10-3 run within the final minute to tie the game 58-58 with 0:24 left. The excitement was short-lived as a Lady Reds foul with 0:02 left put Pearson at the free throw line, where she drained both shots to give North Central a 60-58 win.  
 
Carthage will travel to North Park University on Saturday, February 9 for a 5:00 p.m. game.