Game Notes: Lake Forest College @ North Central College (12/6/11)

Final Score
NCC 66, LFC 55

Summary
Probably their best game of the season that I've been to so far. The Cardinals (5-3) jumped out to an early 18-7 lead and never really looked back. The Foresters (4-3) did get within 2 early in the 2nd half, but the Cards were able to pull away late, leading by as much as 15. The defense was fantastic tonight; players switched extremely well on screens, and there weren't a whole lot of easy shots taken by Lake Forest. Rebounding was about even, and the Cardinals shot well enough other than at the line (18-30 for the game after starting 3-8).

Key Stats

• Jenny Swanson (NCC): 4-10 FG (all 3PT), 14 pts, 2 ast. She hit her first two 3's of the game then cooled off, but she was open most of the time when she shot. Would help to see her drive and dish a little more, but she made the most of her opportunities, especially on passes from Helen Muleya. 
• Emily Murphy (NCC): 6-12 FG, 1-3 FT, 13 pts, 4 reb (2 off). She's turning into the biggest low-post threat for the Cardinals, though she hasn't had many opportunities to receive entry passes. If she works on posting up, she can turn into the sort of player who can score 15 a night. To her credit though, she was in perfect position for a couple of easy shots off baseline drives on back to back plays.
• Sam Schuring (LFC): 3-11 FG 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT, 8 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl. Coming into tonight's game, Schuring was averaging 14.5 points, 4 boards, almost 4 assists and 3 steals per game. All those averages went down after tonight. She was kept in check by fantastic defense by the Cardinals.

Finals Thoughts
I looked up stats for Lake Forest earlier this afternoon to see how good they were, and I saw they forced an average of 22 or 23 turnovers per game. They employed a full-court press that answered all the questions. North Central did a great job breaking the press and only turned it over 16 times tonight (several of them traveling calls). The offense was about 50/50 between good ball movement and open looks and the Clogged Toilet offense. They're looking better as the season goes on, and should be in decent shape come conference play. They take the court again Friday against Dubuque.