In the end, the Carthage College women's basketball team just couldn't find a way to beat CCIW-rival Illinois Wesleyan University.  The Lady Reds (23-8) fell to the Titans (26-5), 77-69, in the Saturday, March 10 sectional-championship game of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship at the University of Mount Union's McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in Alliance, Ohio. 

Carthage lost to Illinois Wesleyan four times this year, twice in the regular season, once in the title game of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Womens Basketball Tournament and finally in the sectional-championship game.  With the win, the Titans advanced to the March 16-17 national championship at Hope College's DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich.  Carthage won its sectional-semifinal game, 71-61, over Centre College (26-4) on Friday, March 9, with Illinois Wesleyan outlasting Mount Union (28-2), 70-69, on a last-second layup by Olivia Lett in the other sectional-semifinal game.

In the sectional final, Illinois Wesleyan opened up a 14-0 lead at 15:14 first half following a layup by Olivia Lett.  The Titans upped their lead to 15 points, 16-1, at 13:56 and to 17 points, 21-4, at 10:21 on a three by Michelle Bilek.  A pair of free throws by Lett at 6:16 made it an 18-point game, 31-13.  The Lady Reds managed to close to the gap to 12 points at the break, 36-24.  The Titans' Olivia Lett had 18 first-half points on six-of-nine shooting.

Second half?  Different story.  Carthage went into a two-three zone defense and opened the period with a 9-3 run to close the gap to six points, 39-33, at 17:29.  Dani Ripkey's three-pointer at 16:23 made it a four-point game, 42-38.  The Lady Reds whittled the lead down to two points on two occasions, 44-42, at 12:27 and 48-46 at 9:55.  What followed was a 7-0 Illinois Wesleyan run that proved decisive.  Lexi Baltes hit a three-pointer.  Britt Hasselbring made two free throws, and Karen Solari scored on a layup, putting the Titans up by nine, 55-46, at 8:28.  A three-pointer by Melissa Gardner at 7:11 upped the IWU lead to 11, 58-47.  Carthage got it down to eight points on three occasions, the last time in the final seconds for the 77-69 margin.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 42 percent (25-60), including 10-of-28 from three-point range, while Carthage shot 43 percent (23-53), including 60 percent in the second half (18-30) and seven-of-16 three-pointers.  The Titans converted a blistering 17-of-19 from the free-throw line, while the Lady Reds shot 16-of-28.  Carthage had a 41-35 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 18 times to 12 for Illinois Wesleyan.  The Titans' Olivia Lett scored a game-high 24 points on eight-of-17 shooting, including two-of-six three-pointers, along with a perfect six-of-six free throws, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.  Lexi Baltes scored 12 points with four rebounds, and Melissa Gardner added 11 points. 

Diana Jacklin (Sr., Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) concluded her Carthage career with 18 points on six-of-10 shooting, along with six-of-11 from the free-throw line and 10 rebounds.  Dani Ripkey (Sr., Deerfield, Ill.) also wrapped up her career with the Lady Reds by scoring 17 points on five-of-12 field goals, including three-of-seven three-pointers, along with four-of-six free throws, seven rebounds and four assists.  Cailee Corcoran (Jr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago-Marist) added 13 points and seven boards.

"I didn't see that start coming" said Carthage coach Tim Bernero.  "We got rattled, offensively, and just weren't aggressive enough in the opening minutes.  We made some bad decisions at bad times.  We got back into the game in the second half, and except for a couple of bad bounces, we might have caught them.  Once we spotted them all those points, we just couldn't get over the hill.  We did some different things, defensively, in the second half, and we fought like hell.  We got to the free-throw line enough, but we just didn't convert enough of those.  We were never very clean, offensively.  We made some good defensive stops n the second half, but we didn't make the conversion baskets when we needed to.  It was disappointing how the game started, and we just ran out of juice and out of time in the second half."

"Every team is a special collection of people with different personalities," Bernero continued.  "This group was great, but we'll never have this group of 17 together again.  You never know how many times you'll get to this spot.  It's special, and our seniors had a lot to do with it.  Now, my job is to impress upon the returning players their responsibility to carry that on or maybe beyond.  We've gotten a lot of attention this year.  It's a good place to go to school and a good place to play.  I think we're one of the top programs in the country, and we go on."

The Lady Reds advanced to the sectional championship by eliminating No. 4 DePauw University (27-2), 53-48, in a second-round game on March 3 at DePauw's Neal Fieldhouse in Greencastle, Ind.  Carthage knocked off No. 19 Wisconsin-Whitewater (22-7), 74-68, on in a March 2 first-round game,  

Carthage has made two other appearances in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.  Coach Tim Bernero's 2010 team advanced to the sectional semifinals in St. Louis, Mo., before losing to the George Fox University.  Coach Rich Fanning's 1996 squad made the Lady Reds' first-ever NCAA appearance but lost to CCIW-opponent