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UW-Whitewater women come up short

WHITEWATER — It appeared the UW-Whitewater women’s basketball team had it all.

The Warhawks had a boat-load of NCAA Division III tournament experience and home- court advantage.

Yet it still wasn’t enough to carry Whitewater to victory.

Carthage College, behind five three-pointers, jumped out to a 14-point second-half lead and held on to knock off the veteran Warhawks, 79-74, in an NCAA Division III regional final here Saturday night.

Rosie Dorn had 26 points, while Heather Gilmore each had 15 to lead the Red to its first-ever berth in the sectional semifinals.

Carthage faces George Fox/Puget Sound winner next Friday or Saturday at a time to be determined.

“We knew we needed to be physical and mentally tough to get through this one, especially on the road,” said Carthage coach Tim Bernero, whose program earned its second NCAA tournament victory in school history. “We had enough poise to make plays to get rebounds and make free throws, which turned out to be just enough.”

The surprising Red showed poise down the stretch and impressed Whitewater coach Keri Carollo.

“I give a lot of credit to Carthage,” said Carollo, whose teams have won seven NCAA Division III tournament games over the past three years. “They made big plays when they needed to.”

Whitewater finally put the Carthage poise to the test late in the second half.

After falling behind by 14, Whitewater got it rolling with a 12-2 run that cut the deficit to 65-61 with four minutes to play.

Kelsey Hendrickson later scored four straight points cut the lead to 74-72 with a minute left.

After a Gilmore free throw on the ensuing possession, the Warhawks had possession down three with 34 seconds to play.

But an errant Warhawk pass on the ensuing possession sealed Whitewater’s fate.

Carthage then drained six free throws down the stretch to put the finishing touches on the victory.

“I thought the momentum was going our way and we had things rolling, and then they (Carthage) hit a big shot,” Carollo said. “So I can’t discredit our effort and willingness not to give up, but in the same respect, they made big plays, too.”

Both teams made big plays for the first 10 minutes of the game with the Warhawks clinging to a 22-20 lead.

But Whitewater fell out of sync on offense and didn’t score for nearly six minutes and fell behind 27-22 with 4:20 seconds to play in the first half and trailed 35-32 at halftime.

Carthage, behind five three-pointers, opened a 63-49 lead with just less than nine minutes to play. The Red then held on from there.

Hendrickson had a team-high 22 points, while Nicole Bundy scored in 21 in their final game at Whitewater.

CARTHAGE 79, WHITEWATER 74

Carthage (79)—Ripkey 3-6 3-3 11, Pancratz 0-2 2-3 2, Groessl 0-1 1-2 1, Klemke 3-5 1-2 9, Jacklin 6-9 2-4 14, Gilmore 2-6 11-15 15, Corcoran 0-1 1-4 1, Dorn,10-14 4-4 26. Totals: 24-44 25-37 79.

Whitewater (74)—Hendrickson 5-14 8-9 21, Moran 6-10 0-0 14, Theune 0-1 1-3 1, Bundy 7-15 7-8 22, Olsen 2-2 0-0 4, Beese 0-0 1-2 1, Sonntag, 3-13 1-1 7, Burg, 0-2 0-0 0, Kumerow 1-3 2-2 4. Totals: 24-60 20-25 74.

Carthage 35 44—79

UW-Whitewater 32 42—74

Three-point goals—Carthage 6-15 (Ripkey 2-5, Pancratz, 0-1, Groessl, 0-1, Klemke 2-4, Gilmore 0-2, Dorn 2-2), UW-Whitewater 6-23 (Hendrickson 3-7, Moran 2-5, Bundy 1-5, Sonntag 0-4, Burg 0-2). Rebounds—Carthage 32 (Jacklin and Gilmore, 6 each), UW-Whitewater 33 (Burg 10). Assists—Carthage 16 (Klemke 5), UW-Whitewater 9 (Hendrickson 6). Total fouls—Carthage 17, UW-Whitewater 25. Fouled out—Bundy, Kumerow.