SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – The Carthage College women's basketball team opened the 2015 season Friday, November 13th with a win on the road as the Lady Reds went into Lakeland College's Woltzen Gymnasium and topped the Muskies, 62-54, in the opening game of the Lakeland Tip-Off Tournament.
 
Friday's win is the Lady Red's eighth win in their last nine season openers dating back to the 2006-07 season.   The win also marked a new era in women's basketball, as it was the Lady Reds first time playing the new four-quarter format.
 
Carthage's Erin Thomas led all scored in the game with 21 points on 7-of 16 shooting, followed by Bailey Gilbert with 15 points.
 
On the boards, Gracie Sanchez led all players with 11 rebounds to be the only player with double-digit boards.  Thomas and Morgan Harris added eight  each as Carthage earned a 48-40 advantage on the board including 14-8 on the offensive end to give Carthage 11 second-chance points to Lakeland's none.
 
After opening the game with a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, the Lady Reds went cold for much of the first quarter, trailing by as many as ten before Thomas scored the final eight points of the quarter to cut the deficit to two.
 
"We didn't get off to the start we had hoped for," said Lady Reds head coach Tim Bernero.  "But we made a few shots late in the 1st quarter to stabilize things.
 
The Lady Reds turned to the reserves in the second quarter with Mandy Hozzian and Monica Masini combining for eight points to equal the Muskies total for the quarter.  The bench production would give the Lady Reds a five-point advantage into the halftime break following a 19-6 run to close the half.
 
Out of the break the Lady Reds pushed the pace of play, extending their lead to as many as 13 in the third quarter with Bailey Gilbert scoring a team-high five in the period.
 
Gilbert then pushed the lead to 12 to open the fourth quarter with her third three-point field goal of the game. 
 
After not getting to the free throw line in the first half, Carthage converted 13-of-15 attempts in the second half.  Bernero added, "We did a good job on the boards and gave up no second chance points.  Making 8-9 from the line in the fourth quarter is a good formula to finish off a win!"
 
While it wasn't the best shooting performance for the Lady Reds against the Muskies zone defense (18-62 FG and 9-35 3FG), Carthage was able to limit Lakeland to only 29.3% shooting in the game including 20% from three-point distance.
 
Carthage will return to the hardwood Saturday, November 14th at 3 p.m. for the Lakeland Tip-Off Tournament championship game where the Lady Reds will face Nebraska Wesleyan who knocked off Simpson in tournament's second game, 60-57.