Waukesha, Wis. – The Carroll University women's basketball team were defeated in the first game of 2020 by the Elmhurst College Bluejays, 56-55. The Pioneers fell on a last second field goal by Marissa Urso of Elmhurst, before failing to get a shot up to try and win the game.
Sierra Grubor led the Pioneers tonight with 13 points on 5-13 shooting (38.5% FGM) and a team high six rebounds.
The Pioneers (5-7, 1-3 CCIW) outshot the Bluejays in every regard, including knocking down 11-12 free throws, second best on the season. The solid Pioneer bench was finally outscored this evening, falling behind 35 points to 23 points.
Megan Madsen and
Kayla Stefka led all bench scorers with nine and eight points, respectively. Elmhurst led in the rebounding category by nine, including seven more offensive rebounds. This led to 13-7 second chance points in favor of the Bluejays. Despite the rebounding, the Pioneers led by points in the paint with 32.
The first quarter started off slow, ending with a score of 13-11 in favor of Elmhurst.
Megan Madsen drained a three ball to tie the game at the one minute mark, she would go on to finish with eight first half points. The women had enough of the Bluejays and went on a 16-4 run midway through the quarter. Thersea Wichser and Madsen knocked down three pointers on the run, while
Alyssa Cruz added in an and-one. They secured a seven point lead going into halftime.
Wichser knocked down her second three of the night to keep the Pioneers in the lead after the halftime intermission.
Elizabeth Behrndt brought the lead to double digits with a layup she cleaned up off the offensive glass. Behrndt finished with three blocks on the night. The Bluejays finished the third quarter on a 9-0 run, with their best shooting quarter of the game. The fourth quarter turned into a wild ride, with both teams failing to control much down the stretch. Grubor added the last seven points for the Pios, before a deep Elmhurst three brough the lead to just three points for Carroll. The late turnover from Cruz led to the final basket of the contest with Urso's layup with one second remaining.
The women will travel in state next week to Carthage College to take on the lady reds in their next CCIW matchup of the season. Stay up to date on Carroll women's basketball this season by going online to www.gopios.com, or by following the Pioneers on Facebook (Carroll University Athletics), Twitter (@pio_athletics), and Instagram (@pio_athletics).
