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The Carthage women's basketball team is one victory from earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Divison III Tournament.

The Lady Reds defeated Wheaton 65-50 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin semifinals Friday night at Bloomington, Ill.

Carthage (18-8) will play top-seeded and No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan (25-0) at 2 p.m. today for the CCIW Tournament championship.

Illinois Wesleyan defeated North Central 76-58 to reach the championship game.

The victory ended six years of semifinal frustration for the Lady Reds, who lost five CCIW semifinal games in the last six years. Four of those semifinal losses came against Wheaton (2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007). The Lady Reds lost to Millikin University in last year's

semifinals.

Carthage trailed 23-17 when Wheaton's Lyannea Kvam made a 3-point shot with 3:25 remaining in the first half. The Lady Reds rallied and closed out the first half with a 12-2 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Shana Lieberman and Dani Ripkey.

A three-pointer by Katie Jarger to open the second half made it 32-25, and Carthage took a 34-25 lead at 19:04 Heather Gilmore's layup. Carthage extended its lead to 46-31 on Katie Klemke's 3-pointer with 12 minutes left and never led by less than 15 the rest of the way.

Ripkey had 12 points and Katie Jarger added 11 for Carthage.

Jamie Jones led Wheaton (16-10) with 11 points.