The Carthage College women's basketball team (1-0, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 18th in the pre-season Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN NCAA Division III poll and 20th in the pre-season "D3hoops.com" poll, lost to St. Norbert College (2-0), 49-46, on Saturday, Nov. 17 in the championship game of the St. Norbert "Baylake Bank Tip-Off Tournament" at the Schuldes Center in De Pere, Wis.
Wisconsin-River Falls (1-1) defeated Lakeland (0-2), 71-49, in the Saturday, Nov. 17 consolation game. In first-round play on Friday, Nov. 16, Carthage defeated Wisconsin-River Falls (0-1), 57-50, with the host-Green Knights (1-0) winning over Lakeland College (0-1), 58-42.
Carthage jumped out to an 11-5 lead. St. Norbert took over at 19-18 at 8:50, and the Green Knights led by three at the break, 32-29. St. Norbert went up by six, 39-33, at 15:41 before Carthage tied the game, 40-40, at 10:37 on a layup by Michelle Wenzel. Two free throws by Krista Hawkinson at 10:02 put the Green Knights up by two, 42-40. Two free throws by Tara Giese at 2:46 put the Green Knights up by four, 48-44. A jumper by Kristi Schmidt at 2:27 cut the lead to 48-46. Carthage's Haley Stercic missed a three-pointer with 50 seconds left that would have put Carthage up by one, and Cailee Corcoran turned the ball over with seven seconds remaining. Giese hit one final free throw with a second left to close out the scoring at 49-46.
Neither team shot very well. St. Norbert shot 33 percent (15-46), while Carthage shot 36 percent (20-56). The Green Knights connected on five-of13 three pointers and the Lady Reds two-of-13. St. Norbert had a narrow, 49-46 rebounding edge. Heim Morgan led the Green Knights with 14 points. Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Chicago-Marist) was the lone Carthage player in double figures with 11 points on five-of-nine shooting, along with a game-high 10 rebounds. Carthage travels to Beloit, Wis., on Tuesday, Nov. 20 to play Beloit College in a 5 p.m. game at Flood Arena.