The Carthage women's basketball team (6-3, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) defeated Wells College (2-5), 69-35, at the Eckerd College "St. Pete Classic" on Saturday, Dec. 20, at the McArthur Center in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Carthage maintained complete control over Wells throughout the entire first half. Alexis Hahn (Jr., Itasca, Ill./Roselle-Lake Park) opened up play with a jumper at the 19:11 mark. The Lady Reds extended their lead 13-4, with a three from Erin Thomas (Jr., Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton) at 13:45. Carthage extended their lead even more with back-to-back three-pointers from Ashlee Cunningham (Jr., Lindenhurst, Ill./Lake Villa-Lakes Community) and Allison Riley (Sr., Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) at the 3:59 and 3:19 marks. The Lady Reds closed out the first half with a dominating lead of 42-9 over the Express.
Back-to-back triples from Kasey Kleiner (Sr., South Milwaukee, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) and Thomas started the second-half off strong for Carthage. The Lady Reds took a 41-point lead, 55-14, at the 13:58 mark with a three from Riley. Carthage continued to control the pace of the game and sealed a Lady Reds victory, 69-35, with a three-pointer from Mandy Hozzian (So., New Lennox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) with eight seconds left on the clock.
Carthage shot 47 percent (28-59), including 11-of-25 three-pointers, while Wells shot 30 percent (13-43), with three-of-15 from the three-point range. The Lady Reds connected two-of-five from the free-throw line, while the Express made six-of-12. Carthage out-rebound Wells by a 46-21 margin, and had only 16 turnovers compared to Wells' 15.
Three Lady Reds were in double figures against the Express. Thomas, Kleiner, and Riley, each had 12 points. Thomas went two-for-five from the three-point range, while teammates Kleiner made four-of-six threes and Riley went two-for-four from the three-point range. Taylor Boardman (Jr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) had six points and collected six rebounds for Carthage. Lindsay Achzet led Wells with nine points.
"Thomas is a good shooter and started us off offensively," said head coach Tim Bernero, "Kleiner made some threes, and we were able to get control. Thomas played really well this weekend."
The Lady Reds are idle on Christmas week and play host to the Carthage Women's Basketball Classic on Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 29-30 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. On Monday, Dec. 29, Manchester University (3-5) takes on No. 8 the University of St. Thomas (Minn., 8-0) at 5 p.m., followed by Carthage against St. Mary's College (Ind., 3-7) at 7 p.m. The Tuesday, Dec. 30 consolation and championship games get underway at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.