DECATUR, Ill. - Ranked 24th in the latest d3hoops.com Top 25 poll, the Carroll Pioneers' women's basketball team earned a season sweep of #16 Millikin University Saturday afternoon, defeating the Big Blue by a score of 80-75 to snap Millikin's 21-game home winning streak. That gives the Pioneers a 15-win season for the 10th time in program history, with at least seven games still to play this year, and marks the third time the program has won 15+ games in back-to-back seasons.

Saturday's game featured eight ties and eight lead changes, as it was tightly contested throughout. Millikin (16-4, 8-3 CCIW) scored 20 points off 21 Pioneer turnovers, but Carroll (15-4, 8-2 CCIW) out-rebounded the Big Blue 43-31, leading to 18 second-chance points. Sixty-nine percent of Carroll's 80 points came from two players, as Olivia Rangel (30) and Emilie Wizner (25) combined for 55 points.

The two teams traded baskets for the first few minutes, before Millikin used a 10-1 run to take a seven-point advantage mid-way through the opening quarter. The Big Blue would lead by five at the end of the period, but that lead would evaporate with just under two and a half minutes to play when Natalie Palzkill converted a layup to give Carroll a two-point advantage. The two teams would go into halftime tied at 29 after Carroll's Lauren Soyke scored a basket in the half's final seconds.

Millikin then took control of the game early in the second half, scoring the first nine points of the third quarter, the first seven of which came from Elyce Knudsen. As they always do, the Pioneers showed grit, erasing that nine-point deficit to tie the score at 49 just before the final period. In that fourth frame, Carroll grabbed the lead two minutes in on a Wizner 3-pointer. Carroll would hold that lead for the remainder of the game, holding Millikin at arm's length for the rest of the contest.

The Pioneers shot 43 percent (26-60) from the field, including 36 percent (4-11) from 3-point range and 89 percent (24-27) from the free throw line. Rangel's 30 points came on 8-of-14 shooting, leaving her 21 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Rangel also converted 13-of-14 free throws, which is just one shy of the program record for free throws made in a game. She also finished with a game-high six assists. Wizner's 25 points came on 9-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, while she also converted all four of her free throw attempts. Natalie Gricius also chipped in with nine points and six boards.

Millikin converted 44 percent (33-75) of their shots, but sank just 12 percent (2-17) of their 3-pointers. A recent 2,000-point scorer, Knudsen led the Big Blue with 38 points on 16-of-32 shooting, as she became Millikin's all-time leading scorer. Sophie Darden added a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Bailey Coffman and Christina Rice each scored 10 points.

After their nine-game winning streak ended last weekend, the Pioneers are anxious to start a new streak, as they'll travel to Carthage College on Wednesday. That game will begin at 7 p.m. in Kenosha, Wis.