LA CROSSE, Wis. – Carthage College women's basketball dropped their fourth in a row Saturday, falling to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at Mitchell Hall, 62-50.
The loss sends Carthage to .500 on the season at 4-4, while La Crosse improved to the same mark.
Bailey Gilbert led Carthage with 17 points, which tied for the game's high by an individual, and Monica Masini added 13 points for Carthage in the post. Erin Thomas scored nine points in her return to the court for Carthage after missing three games due to injury
The 50 points are a season low for the Lady Reds who were held to 32.7-percent from the field and tying a season-high with 19 turnovers 19. Surprisingly, the Lady Reds managed to win the points off turnover battle, outscoring the Eagles 25-21 off turnovers. The Eagles however were relentless in the paint, scoring 36 points to Carthage's 24 from close in.
La Crosse came out on fire, shooting 75-percent from the field for most of the first quarter before a pair of late misses dropped the Eagles to 60-percent for the quarter. Despite shooting 4-of-15 from the field and only 1-of-4 from the free throw stripe, Carthage was able to cut a 12-point deficit to seven at 17-10 after the first ten minutes.
The Lady Red then found their shooting stroke in the opening minutes of the second quarter as a 7-0 run aided by two-threes by Gilbert tied the game at 17-17. Back-to-back 6-0 runs, first by the Eagles then the Lady Reds would tie it again at 23-23. However, four more points in the paint, giving the Eagles 18 by the break, along with two free throws put Carthage in a 29-23 halftime hole.
The Lady Reds were plagued by the Eagles' high pressure defense out of the halftime break which forced Carthage into three turnovers before taking a shot in the quarter and leading to a 7-0 La Crosse run to put the Lady Reds in a 13-point hole early in the half.
La Crosse would push the lead to 19 in the fourth with an 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter and putting Carthage in their largest deficit of the game. Masini and Gilbert teamed-up to score 12 of the Lady Reds final 15 points, but it wouldn't be enough as time ran out on a Carthage comeback.
For the game, La Crosse shot an impressive 46.3-percent from the field and won the rebounding battle, 41-30, on the boards.
The Lady Reds return to action once more before Christmas, Sunday, December 20th at Olivet College at 1:00 p.m. EST.