The Carthage College women's basketball team (17-5, 8-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 26th in the Feb. 7 "D3hoops.com" poll and 28th in the Feb. 7 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll, lost a slugfest to CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 15-7, 8-3 CCIW), 51-49, on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. 

The Lady Reds still have a chance to claim a share of the championship if they can win their three remaining games with Illinois Wesleyan, Elmhurst College and Augustana College (Ill.), and if the Titans lose to either Elmhurst or Millikin University next week.

Neither side gained much of any kind of momentum in the first half, with four ties and three lead changes.  Wheaton led by as much as four points, 19-15, at 8:20, with Carthage opening up a six-point lead at the break, 26-20.  The Lady Reds shot just 38 percent in the first period (11-29), while the Thunder connected at just a 21 percent rate (7-34), including five-of-17 from three-point range.  The Thunder hung around in the early part of the second half and closed to two points on two occasions, the second at 32-30 at 14:11.  The Lady Reds went back up by six, 36-30, at 13:30, but a 10-2 run by the Thunder gave Wheaton a two-point lead, 40-38, at 7:42.  Elisabeth Potts drained a pair of three-pointers in that 10-point run.  The Thunder extended the run to 15-2 and went up by seven, 45-38, at 5:44.  Still leading by seven, 49-42, with 3:04 to play, Wheaton went cold again for the next two minutes, allowing Carthage to cut the lead to two points, 49-47, at 1:14 and again at 51-49 on a Cailee Corcoran jumper with 51 seconds remaining.  The Thunder turned the ball over on their next possession, and the Lady Reds took over at midcourt with 19 seconds to play.  Corcoran missed a layup with five seconds to go and fouled Wheaton's Maris Hovee on the rebound attempt.  Hovee missed the front end of a one-and-one , but the Thunder rebounded the miss and hung on with a 51-49 victory.

Carthage, which entered the game leading NCAA Division III in field-goal percentage at .473, shot just 39 percent (22-57), including four-of-16 from three-point range, while Wheaton shot just 27 percent (18-66), including nine-of-32 three-pointers.  Carthage held its opponent under 32-percent shooting for the fifth time in six games.  The Lady Reds got to the free-throw line only three times and converted one-of-three, while the Thunder connected on six-of-nine.  Wheaton had a 46-41 rebounding advantage, and the Lady Reds turned the ball over 14 times to just nine for the Thunder. 

Wheaton's Lindsey Brenneman scored a game-high 23 points on eight-of-16 field goals, including five-of-11 three-pointers.  Elisabeth Potts added 11 points.  Cailee Corcoran (Jr., Oak Lawn, Ill., Chicago-Marist) led Carthage with 19 points on nine-of-15 shooting, along with eight rebounds.  Diana Jacklin (Sr., Berwyn, Ill., Morton West) scored 10 points and pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds.

"Wheaton is a good defensive team," admitted Carthage coach Tim Bernero.  "They got into us a little bit physically and took us out of what we wanted to do.  It just didn't go our way.  Now, we're two games back of Illinois Wesleyan instead of one, and that makes it hard, for sure." (courtesy of the Kenosha News)

Carthage plays host to conference-opponent and No. 25 Illinois Wesleyan University (17-5, 10-1 CCIW) on Saturday, Feb. 11 in a 5:30 p.m. contest, also at Tarble Arena.