Greencastle, Ind. - Third-ranked DePauw fell behind, 9-2, in the opening minutes of its NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship sectional semifinal game against ninth-ranked Carthage, but the Tigers surged to a 73-54 win over the visiting Lady Reds at Neal Fieldhouse.
DePauw, 30-1, makes its sixth appearance in the NCAA Division III sectional finals (national quarterfinals) in the last 13 years when it takes on 25-4 Wisconsin-Whitewater tomorrow at 7 p.m. The Warhawks topped Wisconsin-Oshkosh in tonight's first game, 69-57. The teams met in last year's Division III championship game with DePauw winning, 69-51.
In the opening minutes Carthage made it look easy, scoring on its first three possessions to take a 7-0 lead and it connected on six of its first eight from the floor. The Lady Reds still held a 19-11 lead after Kristi Schmidt hit two free throws with 10:12 left in the half.
Savannah Trees knocked in a jumper before Abby Keller nailed a pair of free throws and Hannah Douglas added a bucket to close the gap to two. Emma Ondik's basket knotted the score at 19-19 with 7:13 left and capped an 8-0 run.
Ali Ross' three-point play and Alex Gasaway's three-point field goal gave DePauw the lead for good at 30-24 and the Tigers took a 35-26 lead into the intermission after finishing with a 16-4 run.
DePauw took control of the game midway through the second half as it used a 10-2 run to stretch a nine-point lead to 17 at 52-35 at the 11:42 mark. The margin reached a high of 28 at 73-45 after Gasaway buried a three with 3:56 left.
Trees led DePauw with 20 points, while Gasaway followed with 18. Alison Stephens grabbed 11 rebounds in the win as DePauw held a narrow 34-31 edge on the boards.
Michelle Wenzel paced Carthage with 14 and Kristi Schmidt added 13. Stephanie Kuzmanic paced the Lady Reds with nine assists and Wenzel blocked five shots.
DePauw shot 46 percent for the game and hit 7-of-18 threes, while Carthage connected on 41.5 percent from the floor and hit 3-of-11 from beyond the arc.
The Tigers, the Division III leader in fewest turnovers per game, totaled just six on the evening.