The Carthage College women's basketball team (12-5, 3-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 33rd in the Jan. 18 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll and tied for 41st place in the Jan. 18 "D3hoops.com" poll, lost to CCIW-opponent Millikin University (13-4, 5-1 CCIW), 46-44, on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 22 at the Griswold Physical Education Center in Decatur, Ill. The Big Blue were ranked 33rd in the Jan. 18 "D3hoops.com" poll.
In a rather slow-developing first half, Carthage took a 15-7 lead at 9:55. After the Big Blue closed to within two, 17-15, the Lady Reds pulled away to a nine-point lead, 28-19, with 55 seconds to play and led by seven at the break, 28-21. In the second half, after Millikin whittled the lead down to three, 32-29, at 15:59, Carthage's Heather Gilmore scored on a pair of breakaway layups to put the Lady Reds back up by nine points, 38-29, at 13:45.
The Big Blue got it back to five points, 40-35, at 8:24, and back-to-back three-pointers by Nikki Tipsword at 3:45 and 3:09 made it one-point game, 44-43. Millikin took its first lead of the game, 45-44, at 1:49 on a jumper by Crystal Ziegler. The Lady Reds had a chance to re-gain the lead with 36.9 seconds to go, but Cailee Corcoran missed both ends of a two-shot foul. Millikin's Beth Wellbaum made the front end of a one-and-one with 7.1 seconds remaining to make it 46-44. Carthage's Diana Jacklin missed what would have been a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
Neither team shot very well. Millikin connected at 33 percent clip (18-54), including six-of-16 three-pointers, while Carthage also shot 33 percent (20-61), including just two-of-13 from three-point range and just 27 percent overall (8-30)in the second half . The Big Blue out-rebounded the Lady Reds, 44-34. Elise Wildman was the lone Millikin player in double figures with 15 points on six-of-16 field goals, along with a game-high 14 rebounds. Julia Robert had six points and 11 boards.
Diana Jacklin (Jr., Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) topped Carthage with 11 points on five-of-13 shooting, along with nine rebounds, while Cailee Corcoran (So., Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago-Marist) had 10 points, also on five-of-13 field goals.
"We felt confident about this one," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, " and we had control of the game most of the way. Sometimes, it's just a funny bounce here or there. Nikki Tipsword didn't look comfortable shooting the three-pointer in the first half, but the two she made late in the game were game-changers. We had the right game plan, in that we wanted to contest Elise Wildman in the post as much as we could. We only scored 16 points in the second half, so Millikin made more plays than we did. I felt like we could have opened up a 15-point lead early in the game. We had the right shots, but they just weren't dropping. That was frustrating, not making shots when we needed them. We had chances and opportunities. The rebounding edge in the second half also hurt us. North Park is obviously an important game on Tuesday, and then we'll take our chances at Illinois Wesleyan next Saturday. The good news is that after that, we're done with Illinois Wesleyan, and everyone else has to play them. It's long ways to go yet, and we still have a chance to do some good things this year."
Carthage plays host to conference-opponent North Park University (7-10, 1-5 CCIW) on Tuesday, Jan. 25 in a 7:30 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.