Game Notes: Benedictine University @ North Central College (11/26/13)

Final Score
NCC 102, Benedictine 98

Game Summary
Assistant SID Drew Sauer stole my line about "a tale of two halves", but it was completely true in this game. The Cardinals (3-1) took a couple small leads early, but the Eagles (1-3) stormed back and went on a 9-0 run to go up 18-10. The Cardinals would battle back to tie and even take a couple more small leads before another Benedictine run of 12 straight points in about 90 seconds. The Eagles would lead by as many as 14 before settling into a 12 point gap at the break. Whatever Michelle Roof said in the Cardinal locker room clearly had an impact, as they made small pushes to climb back into the game, taking a 68-67 lead with 12:26 left. Benedictine didn't go quietly despite the Cardinal outburst, even leading by 6 with 5:46 to play before back to back threes tied the game. Later, tied at 91, the Cardinals pulled away with a couple well-timed triples and decent free throw shooting to pick up their third win of the year.

Key Stats

• Kim Wilson (NCC): 6-14 FG (5-13 3PT)- 17 pts, 1 ast, 2 stl. Kim all but kept the Cardinals in the game in the second half with a good shooting effort. Even without a rebound, she also played pretty good defense. In her second start of the season, she was probably the key figure in this win, though there were plenty of others.
• Marion Boeck (NCC): 2-5 FG (all 3PT), 2-4 FT- 8 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl. Marion missed the first few games due to injury, but looked pretty good in her first game back. She got some key rebounds, with a couple coming in the last two minutes when it was a one-possession game, while also picking up one of her threes after a rebound to double the Cardinals lead. Huge to see from the lone senior on this squad.
• NCC: 7* charges drawn. The asterisk is used because it's unofficial (though honestly, I wish every place was like Aurora Christian where the charge was kept as an official stat). This Cardinal team drew an astounding five (five!) in the first half alone, which frustrated the hell out of Benedictine's coach. The Cardinals picked up a couple more early in the second half, and it obviously affected the Eagles, who ended up having to settle for pull up 5-footers instead of layups.

North Central System Watch

• NCC 3PT: 18-63 (28.6%). I mentioned in the season preview that if North Central could improve its three point shooting even a couple points to 28%, it could mean the difference between a win and a loss. And it really showed in this game. What astounded me was at halftime, the Cardinals had shot 7-38 from deep. It was bad. A lot of it had to do with the Eagles buckling down in a 2-3 zone, keeping a close eye on Larynn Shumaker and daring everyone else to shoot. Other than Kim Wilson, no one else was really hitting. But for whatever reason, they caught fire in the second half. Marion Boeck's two threes came in the second stanza, Maryssa Cladis all three of her triples after halftime, and Anita Sterling hit a couple as well. As a team, the Cardinals shot 11-25 from deep in the second half. If they can shoot that well over the course of a whole game... oh man.
• Benedictine Turnovers: 30. This is a season low so far for NCC to force, but for the Eagles it was a season high (and probably will remain so, given NCC's system). A few of these probably came on those charges, but the Cardinals also managed 15 steals. AnnMarie Bachmann led the way with three thefts, while four other Cardinals notched two (including last year's leader Bobbi Johns).

Final Thoughts

Photo taken by the NCC Sports Information Department.

I can't help but feel like this is a game last year's Cardinals would have lost. I feel like it still could have been, with somewhat shaky free throw shooting late (I blame that stupid rim on the west end of the court). But this team showed poise and never gave up despite a pretty sizable defecit in the first half. Like the Ripon game, the Cardinals should carry memories of this contest as they go forward this season. This game is a reminder that they can get hot at any time and they're capable of beating just about anyone on any given night. A long road trip looms after Thanksgiving, so I won't have any more reports until we near the end of 2013. Hopefully we'll be talking about a team on a long win streak as we approach the new year and another trip through the Gauntlet.