No. 16 Carthage opened play at the D3hoops.com Classic on Saturday, Dec. 28 with an 88-61 win over Carroll at the South Point Hotel Casino Arena in Las Vegas. The Lady Reds take on No. 8 Wisconsin-Whitewater (8-1) on Sunday, Dec. 29 at Noon, PST.
Carthage (8-2) jumped out to a 12-point lead, 20-8, at 12:48. The Lady Reds upped their margin to 20 points, 33-13, at 8:01 and led by as much as 23 in the first half, 36-13, at 7:34. Carthage led by 22 points at halftime, 48-26, as the Lady Reds drained seven-of-10 three-point attempts. A 7-2 run to open the second period gave the Lady Reds a 27-point lead, 55-28, at 18:05. The lead went to 30 points, 66-36, at 10:34, as Carthage cruised to a 27-point victory, 88-61.
Carthage shot 56 percent (30-54), including 11-of-15 from three-point range, while Carroll (Wis.) shot just 32 percent (22-72), including 4-of-19 on 3-pointers. The Lady Reds got to the free-throw line 27 times and made 17, while the Pioneers hit 11-of-18. Carthage out-rebounded Carroll by a 48-37 margin.
Taylor Boardman (So., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) led Carthage with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-9 field goals, including two-of-three three-pointers and two-of-four free throws, along with nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Haley Stercic (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Marist) scored 17 points on six-of-eight shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Kristi Schmidt (Sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) had 14 points on five-of-10 shooting and six boards, while Stephanie Kuzmanic (Sr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Wheeling) added 12 points and four assists. Emily Denoyer led the Pioneers with 14 points, and Brianna Johnson had 10 points and six rebounds.
"We played pretty well in the first half," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero," although we could have done a better job on the defensive end. Even though we were in good shape with a good lead in the second half, that's when we started to turn the ball over. Our turnovers were not the result of any unusual Carroll pressure, but just stupid things on our part and throwing the ball away. We looked a little sluggish at times in the second half. I was really happy with Haley Stercic's game. She gives you all she has, and we got her some easy looks today. We also got a great game from Taylor Boardman."
"We kind of play with a timing system," continued Bernero, "so maybe the game under our belt will help us tomorrow against Wisconsin-Whitewater, who hasn't played in over two weeks. We'll see how that plays out. UW-Whitewater is a really good basketball team with good quickness on the perimeter and four people who can shoot the three-pointer. We have to contest those. You know what's coming, so you have to make the plays and make the right decisions. We'll have to sharp, but it should be a heck of game between two really good programs."