Game Notes: Elmhurst College @ North Central College (1/18/14)

Final Score
NCC 111, Elmhurst 92

Game Summary
In a pretty tight contest throughout, the Blue Jays (10-6, 2-3) got out to an early lead. It didn't last long as the Cardinals (9-7, 2-3) started to find their range and caught fire to storm ahead. They stayed ahead by at least a couple possessions for most of the rest of the half until Elmhurst tied it at 31 with five minutes left in the half. Again, the Cardinals pulled ahead by a sizable margin, and despite a weak final 30 seconds or so, led 49-43 at the intermission. The flow and feel of the game completely changed early in the second half, as the refs who let a lot go early started blowing the whistle a lot more and got the Cardinals into the penalty just five minutes in. That kept the Blue Jays in the game and even gave them a two-point lead at 81-79 with 6:51 left. The Cardinals took the lead back, and held a narrow 83-82 margin with 5:52 left. From there, a barrage of threes, charges, and free throws enabled North Central to pull away.

Key Stats

• Bobbi Johns (NCC): 5-10 FG (1-5 3PT), 5-5 FT; 16 pts, 3 reb (3 ofr), 6 ast, 5 stl. I could have picked from a number of Cardinal players tonight, but to me Bobbi played one of the best all-around games out of everyone. Her deep shooting left something to be desired, but she found driving lanes a few times for easy layups, found open teammates, and did her usual thing in being a master thief. At her current pace, she should join the Top 10 in program history in steals, and could threaten to join the Top 10 for a single season as well.
• NCC: 7 players with double digit points. This includes Bobbi (above). Kim Wilson struggled early, but found her shot as the game went on and finished with 15 points, all on threes. Larynn Shumaker struggled early as well, but finished with 14 points despite some foul trouble that included a technical for (justifiably) complaining about the officiating. Kelsey Cooling also had 14 points with some excellent sniping. Maryssa Cladis had 11, and Lauren Hernandez and Uzuri Williams each had 10.
• Melanie Schwerdtmann (ELM): 8-11 FG, 6-12 FT; 22 pts, 4 reb (2 ofr). I'd argue she had a better game than the 6'1" Fiona McMahon (16-15 on 8-15 shooting), but it was in the usual manner with a fair number of easy layups in breaking North Central's press. She struggled at the line though, which might have been a bit of a factor in Elmhurst fading late.

North Central System Watch

• NCC 3PT: 17-43 (39.5%). I think this is the best the Cardinals have shot in a game that I can remember, though you can click on the "North Central College" label at the end of the post to look through all my Game Notes files to find out. At one point, North Central was 7-15 as they were establishing control of the game. I told the official scorer that it was unsustainable, and I was right: the Cardinals finished the first half 10-29, which was still a respectable 34.5%. They then shot 7-14 after halftime, with most of those threes coming late in an effort to pull away. When you shoot that well from deep, you'll win a lot of games. It was good to see.
• ELM Turnovers: 30. North Central drew a charge in the opening couple minutes, and that one play altered much of the rest of the game, as the Blue Jays ended up pulling up a little more. They did get called for a few more over the course of the game, and threw a few usual errant passes. The Cardinals did notch 15 steals on the night though, including the team-leading five for Bobbi Johns. Maryssa Cladis had four and a handful of other players had one. It was something to watch.

CCIW Watch

• Carthage (14-2, 50) 73, @ Millikin (6-10, 0-5) 63
• @ Illinois Wesleyan (11-5, 5-0) 93, Wheaton (12-3, 3-2) 85
• North Park (9-7, 2-3) 53, @ Augustana (5-11, 1-4) 50

Final Thoughts
This was a really good, hard fought game, and one the Cardinals desperately needed. That three game road trip probably took a lot out of this team. After their narrow victory at Millikin on the 8th, they got blown out by Carthage and lost a game they should have won against Augustana. Tonight, I was worried for a time that they would lose. I was also a little worried that I'd come across as a total homer by blaming the officiating for some of Elmhurst getting to come back. There were some awful calls against the Cardinals, but I'm sure Elmhurst got shafted a couple times as well. Such is the nature of the game.

Ultimately though, getting some home cooking probably helped, and it didn't come down to who got calls at the end. This was probably the best game I've seen the team play maybe all season. Right now they're in that magical three-way tie for the fourth spot in the tournament, and I honestly have no idea how the tiebreaker works. It's not super important yet though, with more than half of conference play still left. The Cardinals are back home on Wednesday, and I'm not looking forward to the confrontation with Wesleyan, who went 6-5 outside of CCIW play, but all five of their losses came to really good and/or ranked teams. I'm hoping it won't be as ugly as I worry it will be. It's been a while since this Cardinal team has beaten the Titans (IWU has won 13 straight), but maybe fortunes can reverse. We'll find out.