| Carthage's defense held
UW-River Falls under 35 percent shooting and forced the Falcons to
turn the ball over 19 times. Photo by Dave McHugh, D3sports.com |
Diana Jacklin had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots as Carthage knocked off UW-River Falls 75-68 in overtime at the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas. Carthage opened tournament play on Tuesday, Dec. 27 with a 57-51 win over DeSales (5-5).
On Thursday, UW-River Falls (11-1) took an early, eight-point lead, 12-4, at 14:28. Carthage came right back with 10 unanswered points to take a 14-12 lead at 11:34. The Lady Reds had a six-point lead, 27-21, at 3:57, but led by only a point at halftime, 31-30.
In the second half, with the game tied at 45-45 with 10:07 to play, Carthage ran off 10 unanswered points to take a 10-point lead, 55-45, at 7:27. Back-to-back three-pointers by Allison Groessl and Haley Stercic at 8:09 and 7:27, respectively, capped the Lady Reds' surge.
The Falcons came right back with a 14-2 run of their own. Alise Holst connected on a three-pointer at 4:47 to shave the Carthage lead to 57-54. A layup by Nikki Guhr at 3:48 made it a one-point game, 57-56, and a three by Brittany Gregorich at 3:11 put UW-River Falls back up, 59-57.
Carthage tied the game, 61-61, at 1:28 on a layup by Cailee Corcoran. Diana Jacklin was fouled with 55 seconds to go, and she made both free throws to give the Lady Reds a 63-61 edge. The Falcons' Tiffany Gregorich was fouled with 34 seconds and made both of her free throws to tie the contest, 63-63. Jacklin's jumper with eight seconds remaining was blocked by Maranda Dohrn, sending the game into overtime.
Carthage scored the first five points in the overtime period, taking a 68-63 lead at 1:30. UW-River Falls got no closer than four points, 72-68 at 37 seconds, as the Lady Reds went on to win by seven, 75-68.
Carthage shot 40 percent (26-65), including 3-for-10 from three-point range, while UW-River Falls shot just 35 percent (22-63) and hit just four of 21 three-pointers. The Falcons out-rebounded the Lady Reds by a 46-41 margin. Cailee Corcoran had 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line, along with a team-high 12 rebounds. Allison Groessl added 15 points for the Lady Reds. Tiffany Gregorich scored a game-high 22 points for UW-River Falls on six of-14 field goals and a perfect nine of nine free throws, while Maranda Dohrn had 14 points and game-high 13 rebounds.
Carthage opens CCIW play on Wednesday, Jan. 4 by traveling to Naperville, Ill., to play North Central College in a 5:30 p.m. game at Merner Fieldhouse/Gregory Arena.
Scroll down for a postgame interview with Jacklin and Carthage coach Tim Bernero.