KENOSHA, Wis. - The Elmhurst women's basketball team limited Carthage to just two points for the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter to rally for a 59-56 victory over the Lady Reds. 

Playing its first contest since December 31, the Bluejays improved to 10-3 overall and 2-2 in the CCIW with the victory. 

Elmhurst raced out to a quick 18-10 lead after the first quarter before Carthage (8-5, 3-2 CCIW) responded in the second. The Lady Reds outscored the Bluejays 18-8 in the second to lead 28-26 at the break. Carthage led by as many as seven points in the third quarter and carried a 48-45 lead into the fourth quarter. 

The Lady Reds increased their lead to seven (54-47) just 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, but the Bluejays stymied Carthage for the next eight minutes as Elmhurst kept the Lady Reds off the scoreboard and used an 8-0 run to surge in front at 55-54 following a Mikaela Eppard layup with just 36 seconds remaining. 

Carthage finally ended its scoring drought eight seconds later after Morgan Harris hit a layup to put the Lady Reds back in front 56-55. The Bluejays answered back with a Michaela Kumer layup with 18 seconds remaining. After a Carthage miss, Kumer split a pair of free throws to extend Elmhurst's lead to two with six seconds left. An offensive foul on Carthage gave the ball back to Elmhurst and Hannah Lipman split two free throws to seal the game for the Bluejays.

Elmhurst outscored Carthage 30-20 in the paint and the Bluejays' bench contributed 24 points to Carthage's 10. Elmhurst finished the game shooting 35.7 percent (20-of-56) from the floor, but struggled from three-point range, hitting just 1-of-16 attempts (6.3 percent). 

Eppard powered the Bluejays with a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 7-of-13 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Kumer came off the bench to score 11, hitting 4-of-5 shots from the field while adding five rebounds. Kaela Jones added eight points while Lipman scored seven for the Bluejays. 

Carthage shot  35.5 percent (22-of-62) from the field, including 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three-point distance. Harris paced Carthage with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Madie Kaelber and Bailey Gilbert scored nine points apiece. 

Elmhurst hosts Millikin University on Wednesday, January  11.