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Carthage College Athletics

The Official Website of The Carthage College Firebirds
Orozco-Alyssa
Carthage College
54
John Carroll JCU 8-2,2-1 OAC
69
Winner Carthage CARTH 7-2,1-1 CCIW
John Carroll JCU
8-2,2-1 OAC
54
Final
69
Carthage CARTH
7-2,1-1 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
John Carroll JCU 22 17 5 10 54
Carthage CARTH 15 16 22 16 69

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Career Days for Women's Basketball Lead to Victory in Puerto Rico Clasico Opener

Carthage 69, John Carroll 54
CAGUAS - The Carthage women's basketball team opened their series at the Puerto Rico Clasico with a midday game against the John Carroll Blue Streaks on Wednesday. After a slow start, the Firebirds took complete control of the game in the second half with a dominating performance to open the Puerto Rico trip with a victory, as well as several career-best performances for the student-athletes.



The Blue Streaks opened the game with a steal that led to a made three-pointer from Brooke Laub. Emma Carlson got the Firebirds on the scoreboard with her first shot attempt of the day to bring the score to 3-2, before draining her second shot attempt to give the Firebirds a 4-3 lead early. Laub answered back for the Blue Streaks, putting John Carroll back ahead 5-4 with 7:10 to play in the opening quarter. The two squads traded baskets over the next four minutes, with the Blue Streaks holding on to a 13-11 lead with three minutes to play in the first quarter. A 9-4 run for John Carroll would close out the quarter with the Firebirds trailing 22-15. Carlson led the Firebirds with six points in the quarter, while Alyssa Orozco finished the quarter with five points.

Malia Green drained a free throw to start the scoring in the second quarter before the Blue Streaks hit a three-point shot to extend the lead to 25-16. Back-to-back scores from Carlson and Elena Knebel brought the Firebirds back within five points of the lead with 7:38 to play in the first half. The two teams exchanged scores through the remainder of the period with the Firebirds getting back within four points on a Grace Cord layup with 1:39 to go. The Firebirds struggled to close out the half, sending the Blue Streaks to the free throw line three times in the final 80 seconds of the half. John Carroll made four out of their five attempts at the free throw line and took a 39-31 lead into the halftime break. Carlson led the Firebirds once again with four points in the quarter and 10 in the first half.

The Firebirds came out of the locker room with a newfound energy in the third quarter. Carlson opened the scoring with a layup on the opening possession, and a turnover on the next defensive possession led to a three from Marianna Morrissey cut the deficit to 39-36 just 38 seconds into the second half. Another basket from Carlson cut the John Carroll lead to one point and a basket from Emma Thistle gave the Firebirds their first lead in over 20 minutes of play. A pair of free throws gave the lead back to the Blue Streaks, but a quick pair of scores from Carlson and Green extended the Firebirds lead to 44-41. Carlson and Orozco combined for a 9-0 run over 1:53 of play to extend the Firebirds lead to double digits for the first time in the game. The Firebirds entered the fourth quarter with a 53-44 lead. Carlson registered eight points in the period, continuing to lead the Firebirds with 18 points.

Grace Wamser got the scoring with a made jump shot to start the fourth quarter, extending the Carthage lead to 55-44. Carlson and Orozco continued to shine, scoring on back-to-back possessions and building the Carthage lead to 12 points with 5:33 to play. A free throw from Wamser and a layup from Green extended the lead even further and the Firebirds would finish the game with a 15 point victory.


 
  • Carlson led the team with 20 points,and 15 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and 10th of her career. Carlson finished just one point shy of her career high 21 points, which she scored on Dec. 19, 2022 against Mount St. Joseph as a member of the Lawrence Vikings.
  • Orozco ended with a career high 17 points, shooting 6-11 from the field and 3-7 from behind the three-point line.
  • Thistle led the team in assists with seven.
  • Green registered a career-high four steals in the contest.



"What a great start to our trip!" exclaimed Head Coach Megan Jones. "John Carroll is a great team with multiple weapons but I thought we did a phenomenal job defensively today, especially on scout assignments. In the first half we would defend well for about 22 seconds but not finish it, and we gave up way too many offensive boards which gave them the lead at halftime. We came out in the second half and executed really well offensively to give us a big energy spark. We stayed disciplined in the second half and took control. Extremely proud of our effort today. A great win that we will enjoy for a few hours before turning our focus to Saint Joseph for tomorrow."



The Firebirds (7-2, 1-1 CCIW) are back on the court to close out the Puerto Rico Clasico tomorrow, Dec. 19, as the team takes on Saint Joseph at 11 a.m. CST / 1 p.m. AST. Carthage basketball returns to Tarble Arena on Monday, Dec. 30 as the Firebirds close out the calendar year with a game against Luther at 2 p.m. For more information, visit athletics.carthage.edu.

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