NCC 71, Blackburn 58
Summary
The Cardinals got a early lead they'd never relinquish thanks to good defense and solid rebounding. The scoring tonight was very balanced, and when you shoot 50 percent as a team, you're usually in good shape. Three point shooting got better in the second half, and they did a good job limiting the damage done by 6'2" Andrea Kleinsorge.
Key Stats
- NCC & Blackburn: 63 combined turnovers. One thing I've noticed is that women's basketball seems to have more turnovers than men's games, but this was ridiculous. The Beavers had 35 (leading to 33 NCC points). A lot of bad passes, traveling calls, etc. were big, but North Central made the most of the opportunities.
- Jenny Swanson (NCC): 5-8 FG, 3-6 3PT, 14 pts. Jenny hit 3 threes in the second half to extend the Cardinals' lead. She's my player of the game, though an argument could easily be made for Sophie Newson, who had a 12-5.
- Rashonda Willis (BC): 6-18 FG, 1-6 3PT, 8-8 FT, 21 pts. She was the lead scorer on the night, and drove to the basket a lot in the 2nd half. She should have done this throughout, but most of the team's 3's were contested (poor decision making). A good outing overall.
Final Thoughts
North Central had some jitters tonight. The Cardinals turned it over 28 times themselves, committing some travels (again, happens a lot), but there were a lot of bad decisions on offense. Too many times passes weren't crisp and/or the Cardinals waited for Blackburn's trap defense to collapse on the ball handler. They forced bad passes that were picked off on several occasions. The Cardinals need to move the ball better. This was something I saw much of last year, but it's early, and they can certainly pick up the pace as the season goes on. They play tomorrow at 5:00 against Trine University, and I will have another report tomorrow night.
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