The Carthage College women's basketball team (24-5, 13-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 23rd in the Feb. 26 "D3hoops.com" poll and tied for 24th place in the Feb. 26 Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll, lost to No. 22 Wisconsin-Whitewater (23-6), 71-51, on Saturday night, March 2 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship at Wisconsin-Whitewater's Kachel Gymnasium in Whitewater, Wis.
Carthage opened tournament play on Friday, March 1 with a 72-55 win over No. 7 Thomas More College (27-2), with Wisconsin-Whitewater (22-6) defeating No. 32 Wisconsin Lutheran College (25-3), 68-48, in the other first-round game on Friday.
Carthage made its fourth appearances in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship in 2013. Coach Tim Bernero's 2012 team advanced to the "elite eight," and his 2010 team reached the "sweet 16." The 1996 squad made the Lady Reds' first-ever NCAA appearance.
Carthage, struggling slightly with a Wisconsin-Whitewater press, fell behind by nine points, 16-7, at 10:57 first half. The Lady Reds cut the lead to four points, 16-12, at 9:41. After a couple more four-point spreads, the Warhawks went up by nine again, 25-16, at 5:44. The lead went 10 points, 31-21, at 2:09, and the Warhawks led by seven at halftime, 32-25.
Wisconsin-Whitewater's Kaitlyn Thill went to work on the Lady Reds in the first four minutes of the second half, scoring a quick 10 points on a 12-3 run that gave the Warhawks a 16-point lead, 44-28, at 15:55. A three-pointer by Abbie Reeves (Fr., Salem, Wis./Westosha Central) at 14:47 and a Reeves layup at 14:16 gave the Warhawks a 19-point spread, 49-30. The Lady Reds whittled the margin down to 11 points, 51-40, at 10:03, but UW-Whitewater went back up by 19, 61-42, at 5:46. The Warhawks went on to win by 20 points, 71-51,
Wisconsin-Whitewater shot 45 percent (22-49), including seven-of-14 three-pointers, while Carthage shot a season-low 30 percent (17-56), including five-of-16 three-pointers. Carthage shot just 30 percent in the first period (8-27) and turned the ball over nine times to just three for the Warhawks. The Warhawks got to free-throw line 26 times and converted 20, while the Lady Reds hit 12-of-20. Wisconsin-Whitewater connected on 12-of-14 free throws in the first half. Carthage on the rebounding battle, 41-35.
Abbie Reeves led Wisconsin-Whitewater with 16 points on five-of-nine field goals, including three-of-six three-pointers, along with three-of-four free throws. Kaitlyn Thill had 15 points on four-of-10 shooting. Carthage' Michelle Wenzel (Jr., Darien, Wis./Delavan-Darien) came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points on six-of-10 field goals, along with nine rebounds. Kristi Schmidt (Jr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) had seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
"For the first time in awhile," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, "we didn't have control of things defensively. We had a plan to play them, but we didn't stop anything. They got stuff on the dribble, they got stuff inside, and they made 50 percent of their three-pointers. We needed to be better than that defensively, and it kind of snowballed. We put ourselves in a bad spot, and eventually, that's going to get you in trouble. We didn't handle their press very well in the first half, and we let them dictate the tempo of the game. We were on our heels, rather than going after them. We sat back and let them be aggressive, and that was to their benefit. Offensively, we never got into a rhythm. It wasn't five people in synch like we normally are.
"We're 6-3 now in the NCAA tournament," continued Bernero, "without ever having played a home game—that's pretty hard to. I'd like to know if anybody else has had our level of success without playing at home in post-season. We've taken this program to another level in the CCIW and in the region, and we believe we're at the top level of NCAA Division III. I think we're in a position of staying strong going forward. We don't lose a lot to graduation, other than Cailee Corcoran, so I have a lot of expectations. We're going to miss Cailee a ton—she leaves Carthage as a top-10 scorer. She's been a cornerstone of this program. "
"I have no regrets," said Cailee Corcoran. "I'm grateful for all my opportunities. I've made a family at Carthage, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Not many players get to play in the NCAA's three years out of four. I wanted to play basketball at Carthage, and I think I was pretty successful at it."