Without Stephanie Kuzmanic, No. 9 Carthage won its 11th game in a row on Wednesday, Feb. 5 with a 64-45 decision over Wheaton (Ill.) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
The Lady Reds (18-2, 9-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) remain in sole possession of first place in the CCIW. Second-place Illinois Wesleyan (14-6, 8-1) defeated Augustana 85-71, on Wednesday. Carthage has not lost since falling to Coe College on Dec. 17. The school-record win streak is 12 games in the 2012-13 season.
The Lady Reds jumped out to a nine-point lead, 11-2, at 15:46. Carthage led by as much as 10 points in the first half, 23-13 at 5:36 and 25-15 at 3:50. The Thunder (15-5, 6-4) scored the last seven points of the half to pull to within three points at the break, 25-22. The second half was pretty much all Carthage. Wheaton hung around for the first eight minutes and trailed by only seven, 39-32, at 12:21. An 11-2 Lady Reds run put Carthage up by 16 points, 50-34, at 7:54, and the Thunder never got any closer than 12 points the rest of the way. Carthage went on to win by 19 points, 64-45.
Kuzmanic did not dress after turning an ankle in practice on Tuesday.
The Lady Reds shot 46 percent (25-54), including seven-of-18 from three-point range, while the Thunder shot just 34 percent (20-59), including just two-of-15 three-pointers. Carthage had a 41-35 rebounding edge over Wheaton. The Lady Reds got to the free-throw line 15 times and made seven.
Three Carthage starters scored in double figures. Haley Stercic (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Marist) scored a game-high 15 points on five-of-10 field goals, including five-of-nine three-pointers, along with three assists. Kristi Schmidt (Sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal-Community) scored 14 points on five-of-six shooting and four-of-seven free throws, along with six rebounds and three assists. Michelle Wenzel (Sr., Darien, Wis./Delavan-Darien) had 13 points on five-of-14 field goals, a game-high 14 rebounds, including five offensive boards, and four blocked shots. Katie McDaniels topped the Thunder with 10 points.
"Losing an All-American, even for a game, is a little bit of an adjustment," admitted Carthage coach Tim Bernero. "but I couldn't be prouder of the rest of them for making the adjustment. It happened on short notice late in practice on Tuesday, so we only had a few minutes to practice without her. I was worried about the kids freaking out, but everyone did a great job.
"I didn't want to take Kasey Kleiner off the floor in the second half. She's a fantastic defender, and she really filled in for Stephanie very well. I was really pleased with our defensive effort. We took pretty much everything away from Wheaton and made it difficult for them to score. Offensively, Wheaton tried to take our inside game away, so we had to rely more on our perimeter shooters. Getting them the ball wasn't pretty a lot of the time, but we did a good job."
Carthage plays host to Augustana on Saturday, Feb. 8 in a 5 p.m. game, also at Tarble Arena.