DECATUR, Ill. – The Carroll University women's basketball team took a lead into halftime, but were unable to hold offensive power from Millikin, falling 57-72 on Saturday afternoon. Allison Thompson and Brooke Foster led the team in scoring with 12 each, while Thompson pulled in nine rebounds.
 
The Pioneers (5-5, 2-1 CCIW) committed 23 turnovers while shooting 40% from the floor in the game. Carroll combined for just 23 points in the second half on 7-23 shooting with six fouls in each quarter. The Pios knocked down six three-pointers and 11 free throws. Carroll surrendered 28 points in the paint but Carroll scored 20 points off the bench. Millikin took advantage of Carroll turnovers with 30 points.
 
The Pioneers and Big Blue started with a slow battle to begin the game, with both teams only scoring six points each at the media timeout. Natalie Gricius knocked down a three-pointer and Natalie Palzkill followed it up with two free throws to tie the game at 13-13, but the Big Blue hit a jumper as the first quarter expired to take a 15-13 lead. Thompson finished in the paint and got fouled to complete a successful three-point play, leading to a 10-0 Carroll run. Millikin cut the lead back to three multiple times, but baskets from Foster, Chloe Halverson, and Lauren Soyke helped keep Carroll out front as the Pioneers went into halftime with a 34-28 lead.
 
Millikn came out of the break hot, taking the lead on a 7-0 run forcing a Carroll timeout. The Big blue took up to a seven point lead before the Pioneers finally scored their first bucket of the second half, a three-pointer from Katie Evans. The Big Blue cranked the lead up to 15 with 3:02 left in the quarter, forcing another Pioneer timeout. Thanks to free throws, Carroll was able to work the lead down to nine going into the fourth quarter.
 
Midway through the fourth, back-to-back three-pointers for Millikin increased their lead to 12. Carroll's attempts to chip into the lead were thwarted by sharp foul line shooting and three-pointers from Millikin.