The Carthage College women's basketball team (14-5, 5-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) stunned CCIW-opponent and No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan University (15-4, 7-1 CCIW), 63-55, on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 29 at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill.  

The victory, along with Elmhurst College's 70-68 loss in double-overtime to Augustana College (Ill.), left the Lady Reds all alone in fourth place in the CCIW.  Carthage also snapped a 10-game Titan winning streak that stretched back to Dec. 18.

Carthage jumped out to an 11-2 lead at 17:02 thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Dani Ripkey and five points from Heather Gilmore.  The Lady Reds made it 15-3 at 12:18, as the Titans missed eighth of their first nine field-goal attempts.  The lead went to 19 points, 22-3, at 9:48.  Still leading by 19 points, 25-6, at 7:54, Carthage saw its lead shrink to 11, 25-14, at 1:33 before Kristi Schmidt nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 28-14 at halftime. 

Carthage started out hot again in the second period, scoring the first two baskets to take a 32-14 lead at 18:56.  Then the unthinkable occurred, as the Titans scored 16 unanswered points to make it a two-point game, 32-30, at 14:55.  Illinois Wesleyan tied the game, 37-37, at 10:50, before three-consecutive threes by Gilmore, Taylor Tondelli and Allison Groessl gave the Lady Reds a nine-point lead, 46-37, at 9:29.  The Titans got no closer than six points the rest of the way, as Carthage went on to win by eight points, 63-55.

Carthage shot 52 percent (22-42), including nine-of-14 from three-point range, while Illinois Wesleyan shot just 30 percent (19-of-63), including five-of-23 three-pointers and just 18 percent overall in the first period (5-28).  The Lady Reds out-rebounded the Titans, 42-34.  Carthage's Heather Gilmore scored a game-high 19 points on seven-of-nine field goals, including three-of-four from three-point range.  Diana Jacklin (Jr., Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) had 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Olivia Lett paced the Titans with 16 points and six rebounds, while Nikki Preston added 13 points and six boards.

"We shot the ball well," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero," and you could see us gain confidence after a couple of shots went in.  We played this one a little more like the game we won against them last year at Tarble Arena.  We did a good job contesting everything, including the rebounds.  We let them shoot the three, so we knew there would be a lot of long rebounds.  Thirty-one turnovers is a lot for us, but that's part of the cost of playing their style of basketball.  I felt like we had control most of the way, except obviously for the 16-0 run where we went blank and didn't execute.  After we got the nine-point lead on the three three-pointers, that was sort of the tipping point.  Heather Gilmore played a great game, maybe the best you'll ever see for a player with 12 turnovers.  She made some great defensive plays and hit some big baskets.  I don't think Illinois Wesleyan thought we could win this game, and by the same token, we have to be ready for Wheaton on Wednesday.  There's a lot of basketball still to be played, and I think we're starting to play pretty well."

Carthage plays host to CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 13-5, 6-2 CCIW) on Wednesday, Feb. 2 in a 5 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.