ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst women's basketball team slipped to 12-10 overall and 4-7 in the CCIW following a 65-48 loss to ninth-ranked Carthage College.

Carthage (20-2, 11-0 CCIW) remained perfect in CCIW play by scoring the game's first nine points and never trailing in the contest. The Lady Reds opened up a 12-point advantage midway through the opening half, but Elmhurst responded with a 13-3 run over the next 7:30 to pull to within two points after a Melanie Schwerdtmann bucket. The Bluejays trailed by just four points (25-21) at the half.

Elmhurst scored the first four points of the second half to knot the score at 25-all, but the Lady Reds responded with seven straight points keyed by four points from Kristi Schmidt. Carthage opened up an 11-point cushion midway through the half, but the Bluejays sliced the lead down to just six points (52-46) with 3:38 remaining, but Carthage scored the next 13 straight points over the next three minutes, including a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line to pull away or the 65-48 win.

Elmhurst struggled with its shooting, hitting just 19-of-65 attempts to finish at 29.2 percent. Almost half of the Bluejays' shots came from three-point range and Elmhurst hit just 6-of-32 from downtown (18.8 percent). The Bluejays were ice cold in the first half, knocking down just 1-of-15 from beyond the arc.

Karen Senette was the only Bluejay to reach double figures in scoring, finishing with 12 points. Schwerdtmann and Fiona McMahon added eight points apiece for the Bluejays while McMahon pulled down nine rebounds.

Carthage finished the contest shooting 43.0 percent (21-of-48) from the floor, including 40.0 percent (6-of-15) from downtown. The Lady Reds enjoyed a 45-31 edge in rebounding.

Stephanie Kuzmanic led Carthage with 19 points and eight rebounds while Alexis Hahn added 13 points and 13 rebounds. Schmidt added 14 points for the Lady Reds.

Elmhurst travels to Augustana College on Saturday, February 15.