The winningest season ever for the Centre College women ended Friday with a 71-61 loss to Carthage in a sectional semifinal in the NCAA Division III women's tournament at Alliance, Ohio.
The Colonels made a late run in which Maggie Prewitt scored 16 points in just over 2 minutes, but they had too much ground to make up after Carthage runs earlier in the second half built the margin to as many as 22 points.
Prewitt leaves Centre ranked third in career scoring and first in assists, steals, 3-point goals and free-throw percentage, had 24 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists in her final game.
She leaves Centre ranked third in career scoring and first in assists, steals, 3-point goals and free-throw percentage.
Centre (26-4) made its final push after Carthage (23-7) took its largest lead at 65-43 following a 12-0 run in which the Colonels went scoreless for 4 minutes while the Lady Reds scored on five straight possessions.
Lauren Huter got the Colonels going with a layup with 4:43 to play. Prewitt then sank a pair of 3-point shots, converted a steal into a layup and scored 10 straight points to cut the lead to 65-55 with 2:20 to play.
In all, Prewitt scored Centre's final 16 points over the span of 2:34, but the Colonels would get no closer than 10 points.
Centre finished with the highest total in school history and reached the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2001, when it also won two games before being eliminated.
The Colonels, who shot 43 percent from the field for the season, struggled against Carthage, shooting 31.3 percent (21 for 67) overall and just 28.9 percent (11 for 38) in the second half.
Carthage, meanwhile, shot 53.7 percent (29 for 54) overall and 64 percent (16 for 25) after halftime.
Centre led 29-28 with 2 minutes left in the first half, but it was almost all Carthage from that point. The Lady Reds scored the final six points of the half to take a 34-29 lead to the break, then quickly built it to double digits when Dani Ripke sank two 3-pointers to open the second half.
Centre was able to keep the margin around the 10-point range until just inside the 9-minute mark, when Carthage began to pull away.
Huter, another of the Colonels' eight seniors, reached a milestone in her final game with five rebounds, moving past coach Wendie Austin-Robinson for first place on the school's career rebounding list.
Paige Baechle scored nine points and Chelsea Benham and Maggie Hartlage had eight each for Centre, which surpassed the previous school record for wins by three.
Cailee Corcoran had 24 points for Carthage, which lost 77-69 to conference rival Illinois Wesleyan in Saturday's sectional final.
CARTHAGE 71, CENTRE 61
NCAA¿Division III¿Women’s Tournament
At Alliance, Ohio
Sectional Semifinal
CENTRE (26-4)
Alyson Burke 1-2 0-0 3, Bridget Winstead 2-4 0-0 5, Chelsea Benham 4-12 0-0 8, Maggie Prewitt 9-24 3-4 24, Lauren Huter 1-2 1-1 3, Aubrey Holle 0-0 0-0 0, Maggie Hartlage 1-6 5-6 8, Jane Goatley 0-3 0-0 0, Hillary Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Alexis Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Jenna Mire 0-0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Bressler 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Baechle 3-13 3-4 9, Cailynn West 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 21-67 13-17 61.
CARTHAGE (23-7)
Dani Ripkey 3-5 1-2 10, Allison Groessl 2-7 0-0 5, Diana Jacklin 5-12 3-4 13, Cailee Corcoran 11-14 2-5 24, Stephanie Kuzmanic 4-7 1-3 10, Drewann Pancratz 0-0 0-0 0, Gabby Chapa 2-4 0-0 2, Haley Stercic 1-1 0-0 1, Kiki Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Kasey Kleiner 0-0 0-0 0, Michelle Wenzel 0-1 0-0 0, Kristi Schmidt 1-3 0-0 1. Totals 29-54 7-14 71.
Halftime—Carthage 34-29. 3-Point Goals—Centre 6-19 (Burke 1-2, Winstead 1-3, Benham 0-1, Prewitt 3-6, Hartlage 1-3, Goatley 0-2, Anderson 0-1, Baechle 0-1), Carthage 6-14 (Ripkey 3-4, Groessl 1-5, Corcoran 0-1, Kuzmanic 1-2, Chapa 0-1, Stercic 1-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Centre 34 (Baechel 7), Carthage 42 (Corcoran, Kuzmanic 9). Assists—Centre 11 (Prewitt 4), Carthage 14 (Groessl 4). Total Fouls—Centre 16, Carthage 10. A—497.
