The Carthage women's basketball team (15-10, 8-6 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) closed out its regular-season schedule on Saturday, Feb. 21 with 76-59 loss to CCIW-opponent Millikin University (14-12, 5-9 CCIW) at the Griswold Center in Decatur, Ill. Carthage had already clinched a berth in the Friday-Saturday, Feb. 27-28 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament, and the Lady Reds will be the fourth-seeded team in that event.
No. 19 Wheaton College (Ill., 22-3, 12-2 CCIW), this year's CCIW champion, will have the top seed and will play host to Carthage in a semifinal game on Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill. Second-seeded North Central College (21-4, 10-4) will take on third-seeded Elmhurst College (16-9, 9-5) in the other semifinal contest at 5 p.m.
The first half was close, with neither team enjoying more than a six-point lead. Millikin led by two points at halftime, 24-22. The Big Blue went up by 12 points, 40-28, at 15:09 second half following back-to-back-to-back three-pointers by Holly Haskins. Millikin upped its lead to 14 points, 43-29 at 14:17 on a three by Rachael Weber. Haskins connected on her fourth trey of the half at 12:58 to keep the Big Blue's lead at 14, 48-34. Millikin made it a 20-point game, 59-39, at 8:40. The Lady Reds cut the lead to 11 points, 59-48 at 6:10, but Millikin went on to win by 17, 76-59.
Millikin shot 49 percent (26-53), including 11-of-24 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 42 percent (19-45), including six-of-19 from three-point range. The Big Blue got to free-throw line 15 times and made 13, while the Lady Reds connected on just 15-of-25. Millikin won the rebounding battle by a 38-26 margin
Millikin's Holly Haskins scored a game-high 23 points on nine-of-17 field goals, including five-of-11 three-pointers. Rachael Weber scored 17 points on six-of-eight shooting, including five-of-seven from three-point range, while Alyssa Saklak had 16 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Ashlee Cunningham (Jr., Lindenhurst, Ill./Lake Villa-Lakes Community) came off the Carthage bench to score 15 points on six-of-11 field goals, along with four rebounds. Alexis Hahn (Jr., Itasca, Ill./Roselle-Lake Park) had 14 points and seven boards, while Allison Riley (Sr., Cudahy, Wis.) chipped in 12 points and four rebounds. Taylor Boardman (Jr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North), who injured a knee in last Saturday's Wheaton College (Ill.) game, did not play. Morgan Vukovich (Fr, Mukwonago, Wis.) also missed the game with an injury.
"Rachael Weber was averaging five points a game," said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, "and she made five threes. We tried to adjust to Holly Haskins, and to their credit, they made the shots. We didn't make shots, and what we did, came late in the game. Millikin does a lot of switching on defense, and without Taylor Boardman in the game, it made it easier for them to do that. Holly Haskins played well in this game, and she played well against us earlier. "We've played two pretty good games against Wheaton College (Ill.). We got off two really good starts in both games. Hopefully, we can keep them close on Friday, and hopefully we'll be back to full strength by then."