Game Notes: North Park University @ North Central College (1/25/12)

Final Score
North Park 62, NCC 50

Summary
The Cardinals (6-12, 0-7) fell behind 10-3 early on, forcing coach Roof to call a timeout. From that point, the Cardinals went on a 15-0 run before the Vikings (8-10, 2-5) came back to make it a game. NCC led 23-21 at the break. It was fairly even early on in the second half, seeing a tie game at 33 and a three pulled the Cardinals within 2 at 43-41. But then the Vikings went on a 12-0 run to put the Cardinals away and keep them winless in conference play.

Key Stats

• NPU: Outrebounded NCC 41-37 (25-12 in 2nd half). North Central didn't seem to have the energy they normally did, especially in the 2nd half tonight. The sad part about the 2nd half numbers is that North Park had as many offensive rebounds as the Cardinals did overall. That by itself is a good indicator as to why the Cardinals lost tonight.
• Maryssa Cladis (NCC): 3-5 FG (3-4 3PT), 2-2 FT, 11 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast. Another freshman with a good future. She set a new career high in points, and will be someone to reckon with from deep. She was the leading scorer for the Cardinals who struggled offensively overall once again.
• Roxanne Jones (NPU): 8-12 FG, 3-5 FT, 19 pts, 9 reb (5 off). I don't know why, but North Central has had trouble containing post players this season. 13 of Jones' points came in the 2nd half, and she made her presence known down low all game. Tough to get going when you're getting destroyed in the paint.

Cardinal Turnover Watch
We set an over/under on turnovers at the scorers' table right when the game started. The number was 20, and I took the over. I feel bad having no faith in this team to take care of the ball, but unfortunately I was right. 21 turnovers tonight, including 2 shot clock violations, but the biggest killer of all was the fact that 14 of the 21 turnovers came off steals (including 7 of the 8 giveaways in the 2nd half). Too be honest though, the turnovers weren't entirely the worst part tonight.

Final Thoughts
This was the rare game where the Cardinals got out-hustled. It seemed pretty clear North Park wanted this game more. And unfortunately, the Cardinals have lost to every team in the conference once. It's a tough go from here on out, and I'm hoping they can at least get one win before the end of the season. Tomorrow I'll have a recap of both the men's and women's teams at the halfway point of conference play.