The Carthage College women's basketball team (12-3, 4-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) stayed perfect in the CCIW at 4-0 with a 62-48 win over conference-opponent Illinois Wesleyan University (9-6, 2-2 CCIW), on Saturday, Jan. 12 at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill.
Some hot three-point shooting gave Carthage a quick, 12-point lead, 18-6 at 14:21. Halsey Stercic and Stephanie Kuzmanic each drained a pair of treys in that early run. Turnovers really hurt the Lady Reds in the first half, as Carthage turned the ball over 16 times, including nine for point guard Stephanie Kuzmanic. The Titans pulled to within a point, 24-23, at 2:25. Michelle Wenzel was called for a technical as the buzzer went off for the first half. The Titans converted two-of-four free throws, and Carthage went into the locker room leading by four, 31-27.
The Lady Reds opened the second half with a 14-4 run to pull out to a 14-point lead, 45-31, at 15:27. The margin went to 15 points, 52-37, at 11:12. The Titans came back with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to six points, 54-48, at 6:29. Carthage went back up by 10, 58-48, at 3:22 and went on to win by 14 points, 62-48.
Carthage shot 44 percent (23-52), including six-of-18 three pointers, while Illinois Wesleyan shot just 25 percent (17-67) and connected on just two-of-24 from three-point range. Carthage had a decisive, 50-33 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 25 times to 11 turnover for the Titans.
Three Carthage players scored in double figures. Stephanie Kuzmanic (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Wheeling) scored a career-high 28 points on nine-of-15 field goals, along with nine rebounds and five assists. Haley Stercic (Jr., Chicago, Ill./Marist) scored 12 points on four-of-seven three-pointers, and Kristi Schmidt (Jr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) added 11 points and eight rebounds. Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn Ill./Chicago-Marist), while limited to four points, pulled down 14 rebounds, four offensive and 10 defensive. Melissa Gardner led Illinois Wesleyan with 17 points.
"It was an interesting game," admitted Carthage coach Tim Bernero, "because you know they're going to press you. We were kind of used to that after playing North Central on Wednesday, but we did more to hurt ourselves in the half-court game than we did in the full court. We tried to get the ball from side to side and got stuck with it, or we made plays that we couldn't score from. We guarded the heck out of them—we just needed to clean up our offense. Melissa Gardner had 17 points, but she worked really hard to get that. They tried to get some other people to score, and that's what we tried to do. The game is not going to go your way for 40 minutes. It could have been a much-bigger win had we done a better job in the first half. We've been plus-double figures in rebounds the last few games, and if you can defend and rebound, that gives you a heck of a chance. We're not as clean or as deep of an offensive team as we were last year. If that comes—look out."
Three Carthage players scored in double figures. Stephanie Kuzmanic (Jr., Mount Prospect, Ill./Wheeling) scored a career-high 28 points on nine-of-15 field goals, along with nine rebounds and five assists. Haley Stercic (Jr., Chicago, Ill./Marist) scored 12 points on four-of-seven three-pointers, and Kristi Schmidt (Jr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) added 11 points and eight rebounds. Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn Ill./Chicago-Marist), while limited to four points, pulled down 14 rebounds, four offensive and 10 defensive. Melissa Gardner led Illinois Wesleyan with 17 points.
Carthage plays host to CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (7-8, 1-3 CCIW) on Wednesday, Jan. 16 in a 7:30 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.