The Carthage women's basketball team (7-4, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost to No. 8 the University of St. Thomas (Minn., 10-0), 67-45, on Tuesday, Dec. 30 in the title game of the Carthage Classic at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
Manchester University (4-6) defeated St. Mary's College (Ind., 3-9), 60-54, in the consolation game on Tuesday. In first-round play on Monday, Dec. 29, Carthage upended St. Mary's (Ind., 3-8), 86-42, with St. Thomas (Minn., 9-0) thumping Manchester (3-6) by a 73-41 margin.
In the loss to St. Thomas, Carthage fell behind by 18 points midway thru the first period, 20-2, at 8:48, with Maggie Weiers scoring eight of those 20 points. The Lady Reds battled back to cut the lead to five points, 24-19, late in the period. The Tommies led by seven points at halftime, 26-19. After falling behind by 10 points, 31-21, at 17:54 second period, the Lady Reds used a 10-3 run to pull to within three points, 34-31, at 13:16. Taylor Boardman, working effectively in the paint, scored on four layups during that run.
"When we got to the point of just trailing by three," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, "we had worked so hard offensively to get back, the defense broke down a little bit. That's what a good team like St. Thomas does—they just keep grinding you and wearing you down. They wore us down with their physical play."
Carthage was down just five points, 38-33, at 11:27, when the Tommies' two post players, Maggie Weiers and Anna Smith, re-entered the game from foul trouble. Weiers scored on a layup and a jumper as part of a 12-0 Tommies run that bumped their lead to 17 points, 50-33, at 8:08. The Lady Reds got it back to 15 points, 50-35, at 7:41, but a back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, two by Maddie Wolkow, gave St. Thomas a commanding, 26-point lead, 61-35, at 5:37. The Tommies went on to win by 22, 67-45.
St. Thomas shot 45 percent (23-51), including seven-of-25 from three-point range, while Carthage connected at just a 34 percent clip (16-47), including two-of-14 three-pointers. The Tommies got to the free-throw line 17 times and made 14, while the Lady Reds converted 11-of-14. The rebounds were even at 30 each, with Carthage turning the ball over 18 times to 11 turnovers for the St. Thomas.
Two Tommie starters scored in double figures, Maggie Weiers, the tournament MVP, scored 16 points on a perfect seven-of-seven field goals, along with two-of-two free throws and four rebounds. Jenna Dockter was named to the all-tournament team with 12 points. For Carthage, Taylor Boardman (Jr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) had a game-high 19 points on seven-of-13 shooting, along with five-of-seven free throws and a game-high nine rebounds. Boardman was also named to the all-tournament team. Alexis Hahn (Jr., Itasca, Ill./Roselle-Lake Park) added 10 points. The other all-tournament honorees were Ariana Paul from St. Mary's (Ind.) and Manchester's Katie Arterburn.
Carthage opens its CCIW-schedule on Saturday, Jan. 3 by playing host to Augustana College (Ill., 6-5, 0-0 CCIW) in a 2 p.m. contest, also at Tarble Arena.