Game Notes: Elmhurst College @ North Central College (1/11/12)

Final Score
Elmhurst 64, NCC 52

Summary
Playing without 3 of their main rotation players (Callie Rezin, Kelsey Cooling, and Larynn Shumaker) for undisclosed reasons, the Cardinals (6-8, 0-3) started off hot once again, leading by as many as 6 early in the game before the Blue Jays (12-2, 3-0) started to come back. It was a 12-8 NCC lead when Elmhurst called a timeout to settle down and reset. They quickly stormed back and the teams traded leads, with Elmhurst up 27-25 at the half. In the 2nd, they started quickly, and the Cardinals got back within 3 at 31-28 but would get no closer. Elmhurst led by as much as 15 late, too big a gap with too little time on the clock.

Key Stats

• NCC: 19-55 FG (34.5%), 2-8 3PT. You're not going to win a lot of games shooting only 35 percent from the floor and struggling from deep. To Elmhurst's credit, they played tight perimeter defense, only letting Jenny Swanson get off 3 attempts (she made 1), which took away a strength of the Cardinals. Many of the other misses were terrible attempts at layups. It seems like sometimes they will attack the basket with the intent of getting fouled, but you have to make a reasonable attempt at the basket rather than relying on the officials to get you to the line.
• Sophie Newson (NCC): 6-11 FG, 0-1 3PT, 4-4 FT, 16 pts, 5 reb, 2 stl. Looked good in her return to the starting lineup. She played well in the first half then tapered off later, including keying the wrong end of a four point swing that pretty much tilted momentum to Elmhurst permanently. She got a steal and was trying to start a fast break, got to the lane, then tried to feed one of the Emily's. It was deflected and Sophie got it back, then tried to force it again, this time seeing it stolen and having Elmhurst score an easy bucket. Instead of a 5 point game, it was a 9 point game. Other than that one play, Sophie did a good job of attacking the basket, something I'd like to see her do more of.
• Meghan Merklein (EC): 13-22 FG, 5-8 3PT, 0-1 FT, 31 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast. It also usually doesn't help comeback attempts when an opposing player absolutely goes off. For a stretch of much of the 2nd half, I got the feeling every shot she took was going in. And guess what? They were. I saw her run back down the court several times smiling. Her 31 tonight was a career high, possibly makes her the top scorer in the conference (over Illinois Wesleyan's Olivia Lett, who had 22 in IWU's win over Augie). The Cardinals tried everything to stop her, it was just her night.

Cardinal Turnover Watch
A new feature, just because it seems necessary. I set the over-under on turnovers for the Cardinals tonight at 20.5. I took the over, official scorer Tye Thompson took the under. His faith was well placed. The Cardinals only turned it over 18 times tonight (compared to 16 by Elmhurst). The chief culprit was once again Helen Muleya, keeping her pace up by turning it over 4 times tonight. Though to be fair to Helen, she is a great perimeter defender, and it showed in her 4 steals.

Final Thoughts
I was prepared for a blowout tonight, and it didn't really happen. Elmhurst came out sluggish to start, and the Cardinals played fairly well. They just got outplayed by a tough team with a hot shooter, much better than how they looked for much of last week's affair against Carthage. They'll get their players back and have some positives to take into Wheaton on Saturday. I'm debating about making the trek out there, so there may be a couple road reports on Saturday. If not, I will for sure be back next week as the Cardinals welcome Illinois Wesleyan.