Game Notes: Aurora University @ North Central College (12/30/13)

Final Score
NCC 108, Aurora 80

Game Summary
This game felt closer than it should have been in the early going. The Cardinals (7-4) needed a couple minutes to get going, but led 11-3 just over four minutes in and 16-5 about five and a half minutes in. The lead stayed around that range for several minutes but the Spartans (4-7) never wavered, narrowing the gap to two points when the halftime buzzer sounded. Order was quickly restored in the second half though as the Cardinals went on a 15-2 run to open up a 60-45 edge two and a half minutes into the frame. Still, the Spartans didn't go away, keeping within striking distance and even got within six at 77-71 with less than 10 mintues to go. From there, the Cardinals decided they'd had enough shenanigans and pulled away for a comfortable win.

Key Stats

• Miranda Grizaffi (NCC): 5-12 FG (5-12 3PT), 2-2 FT; 17 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl. I could have gone in a few directions for top NCC player yesterday. I decided on Miranda based on this being kind of her breakout game. She shot well last night and led her team in scoring. She was primarily aided by Larynn Shumaker (16 points on 5-8 shooting plus 6-6 on freebies) and Lauren Hernandez (12 points on 4-11 shooting).
• Anna Roszkowski (AUR): 9-17 FG, 10-14 FT; 28 pts, 20 reb (10 ofr), 2 ast, 1 blk. After the game when the Sports Information guys and a local reporter were looking at the stat sheet, somebody mentioned that this looked like a Karl Malone line. Holy crap. Roszkowski was lethal in the first half, when she had a 23-12. She was a big part of a minute stretch where Aurora maintained possession based on something like 6 or 7 straight offensive rebounds that might have killed me if it had netted more than her one point on a free throw.
• Shay Jenkins (AUR): 10-24 FG (0-1 3PT), 5-8 FT; 25 pts, 10 reb, 7 ast, 3 stl. Like Roszkowski was in the first half, Jenkins was the key for the Spartans after halftime in keeping the game close. She kept finding ways into the lane to drop home floater after floater. Regarding the rebound numbers: she's 5'4". Let that sink in. In the second half, she shot 8-16 and hit all four of her free throws.

North Central System Watch

• NCC 3PT: 17-62 (27.4%). Percentage-wise, this is lower than you'd like. But when you end up making 17 three's in a game, you can live with it a little more. The shooting seemed more crisp than it did on Saturday, which helped. I said Saturday that this team lives and dies by the three, and the numbers back it up. In the first half, the Cardinals shot 7-33 from deep (21.7%). In the second, they shot 10-29 (34.5%). If they can sustain that shooting percentage closer to 30 percent, and even a few points higher, this team will be very tough to beat.
• Aurora Turnovers: 39. That also helps matters. There weren't a lot of whistles for traveling, and Aurora didn't throw many passes out of bounds. It showed; 27 of those turnovers came off Cardinal steals. 13 players recorded at least one theft, led by Maryssa Cladis' five. Bobbi Johns and Marion Boeck each added four.

Final Thoughts
I told a number of people in the first half that there was no way we should have let Aurora hang around the way they were. Fortunately the Cardinals caught fire and put the game out of reach at the end. They close out non-conference play with the same mark they had last year at 7-4, with no real surprises. The four teams they've lost to are all good teams, especially Hope. There is an interesting stat that we've seen through 11 games. Look at NCC's schedule and results so far. They are 7-0 when scoring at least 100 points and 0-4 when they fail to hit the century mark. The Cardinals only hit that mark six times last year, so clearly in Year Two of the new system, the offense has figured out a lot of the kinks. They've actually scored just over 100 points per game this season, yet still have a total point differential of -1 on the season.

Millikin and North Park play today to hit the 11-game mark, while Wheaton plays its 10th of the year (they have a date against IIT in late January for some reason). Of all the CCIW squads, only Augustana has a losing record. Wheaton sits at 8-1 coming into today, and preseason favorite Carthage is 9-2. I was surprised to see Illinois Wesleyan is only 6-5, but they've played a ton of tough competition, with four of their five losses coming to teams in or just outside the last Top 25 poll. As usual, the CCIW is going to be a gauntlet. The Cardinals snuck into the tournament last year with a 6-8 mark in conference. I don't think it's out of the question to see the Cardinals hit .500 in conference play this year and make the tournament again, but teams will be gunning for them this year.

Talking to Michelle Roof before the game yesterday, she was thrilled that I had been back after missing a couple games and mentioned that the energy and the aura of the team just seems different at home when I'm there. I'm sure a lot of it is being in a familiar environment without having to travel and knowing the rims and such. I told her that I'm an intangible, but I want to try and give them as much of a home court advantage as I can, and if my work energizes this team, I'm happy to help. But they deserve the credit. I'm just a guy who happens to like yelling "THREEEEEEEEEE!" a lot.

CCIW play begins Saturday, and the Cardinals open at home against North Park. This is a big one for no other reason than how last year's tilt at Merner ended. Hopefully these girls can get some revenge for last year and start CCIW play on the right foot.