The Carthage women's basketball team (9-4, 2-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) got by CCIW-opponent North Park University (8-5, 0-2 CCIW), 58-53, on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.

The game got off to a slow start, with North Park taking a 13-10 lead at 8:55 first half.  The Vikings upped their lead to nine points, 21-12, at 4:54 and led by 10, 31-21, with 26 seconds to play.  North Park led by eight at the break, 31-23, with both Taylor Boardman and Allison Riley picking up their third fouls late in the period.  The Lady Reds controlled the second half and outscored the Vikings, 35-22.  Carthage tied the game, 38-38, at 11:47 and went up to stay, 40-38, at 11:04 on layup by Morgan Vukovich.  The Lady Reds increased their margin to as much as eight points, 56-48, at 1:56 and 58-50 with 10 seconds left.  Carthage won the game by five points, 58-53.

The Lady Reds shot 43 percent (20-47), including six-of-20 from three-point range, while the Vikings also shot 43 percent (21-49), including five-of-15 three-pointers.  Carthage got to free-throw line 16 times and made 12, while North Park converted six-of-10.  The Lady Reds out-rebounded the Vikings by a 34-27 margin.

Carthage's Alexis Hahn (Jr., Itasca, Ill./Roselle-Lake Park) led all scorers with 22 points, 14 of those in the second half, on nine-of-14 field goals, along with four-of-five free throws, and she matched her career-high with 13 rebounds.  Erin Thomas (Jr., Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton) scored 13 points on four-of-eight shooting, including three-of-six three-pointers.  Erin Quinn (Sr., Island Lake, Ill./Mundelein-Carmel Catholic), who re-injured her right shoulder in the Dec. 30 St. Thomas (Minn.) game, did not play and remains sidelined Liz Rehberger led North Park with 17 points.  Nicole Kruckman had 12 points and five rebounds, while Annie Shain chipped in 11 points with seven boards.

"It was one of those games where I wasn't sure if I should yell or just shrug my shoulders," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero.  "Mentally, we weren't ready to take the them to them.  North Park was physical and took the game to us, and we looked offended that they wanted to beat us.  If out post players are not in the post, then we're not physically in the game.  Alexis Hahn did a fantastic job of taking the game over in the second half.  Coaching is stressful, but the key is getting results.  We got more than they did, even though it was far from our best effort.  We'll take it, because we're going into a bit of hornet's nest on Saturday at Illinois Wesleyan."

Carthage travels to Bloomington, Ill., on Saturday, Jan. 10 to play Illinois Wesleyan University (6-7, 0-2 CCIW) in a 5 p.m. game at the Shirk Center.