The Carthage College women's basketball team (5-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 22nd in the Dec. 4 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll and third among others receiving votes in the Dec. 4 D3hoops.com poll, saw its four-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 8 with a 60-48 loss to Loras College (7-1) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
Following a 9-9 tie at 17:11, Loras took 10-9 lead at 16:38 on a free throw by Katie Wheeler. A 14-4 Duhawks run put Loras up by 11 points, 24-13, at 6:41. The Lady Reds got it back to seven on two occasions, but the Duhawks led by nine points at the break, 28-19. Loras edged out to 14-point lead, 38-24, at 13:29. After Carthage pulled to within nine, 39-30, at 11:59, the Duhawks used an 8-1 spurt to take their largest lead of the game at 16 points, 47-31, at 7:27. Niki Rivera's three-pointer capped that Loras mini-run. The Lady Reds got it down to nine points on four more occasions, the last at 55-46 with 1:28 to play, The Duhawks went on to win by 12 points, 60-48.
Neither team shot very well in what amounted to a tough, defensive game. Loras shot 32 percent (20-62), including three-of-16 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 36 percent (18-50), including just one-of-seven from three-point range. The Duhawks connected on 17-of-25 free throws, while the Lady Reds converted 11-of-20. Loras had a 47-37 rebounding advantage over Carthage, with the Lady Reds turning the ball over 19 times.
Katie Langmeier and Niki Rivera led the Duhawks with 11 points each, with Langmeier pulling down eight rebounds. Brit Kent came off the bench to add 10 points and five boards. For Carthage, Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago-Marist) led the way with a game-high 15 points on five-of-12 shooting, along with five-of-12 from the free-throw line and a game-high 10 rebounds. Stephanie Kuzmanic (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Wheeling) had 11 points and five boards, while Gabby Chapa (Jr., Barrington, Ill./Lake Zurich) added 10 points and five rebounds.
"This was our worst-case scenario for how this game would go," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero. "Loras got to play the game at its tempo and play the way they wanted to defensively. They did a really good job, and we didn't handle it so well. We got on our heels after the first five or six minutes, and they had control of the game all the way through. Loras is a good defensive team and very aggressive, and they took us out of stuff. Their physical play also bothered us a bit. A few times, they ran over us like road kill. To use a football analogy, we were going east-west, and they were going north-south. You can't play laterally against good defensive teams like Loras. We didn't get Haley Stercic very many clean looks from three-point range, and we have to find ways to score more than 48 points."
Carthage plays host to Aurora University (3-5) on Saturday, Dec. 15 in a 2 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.