Game Notes: (WBK) Carthage College @ North Central College (1/21/15)

Final Score
NCC 101, Carthage 72

Game Summary
After moving up the rankings to 22nd in the country, the Cardinals (16-1, 5-1) opened the game with a three to take the early lead. The Lady Reds (11-6, 4-2) stayed with it, taking a lead of 6-5 before the Cardinals went on an 14-0 run to open up a big advantage. Carthage called time out to try and stem the tide, but the Cardinals would not be cooled off from outside, leading by as many as 34 before taking a 61-31 lead into the break. They had a sluggish start to the second half, but Carthage couldn't really take advantage, narrowing the gap to as small as 24 a couple times before North Central snapped out of it. The Cardinals led by as many as 34 in the second half before settling for that 29 point final margin. North Central broke the century mark with 21 seconds left, the tenth time this season that they've hit that threshold.

Key Stats

• Anita Sterling (NCC): 6-7 FG (5-5 3PT); 17 pts, 4 reb. This was probably Anita's best game as a Cardinal. Her previous career high for scoring was 16 points last season against Milwaukee School of Engineering. Anita has improved her outside shooting, but to go 5-5 is something pretty special. She only played ten minutes last night, leaving at one point in the second half after taking a charge and didn't return.
• Corrine Rowe (NCC): 4-9 FG (2-5 3PT), 2-5 FT; 12 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl. This is Corrine's first appearance among the "Key Stats: since coming to NCC, and part of me is surprised I haven't included her before. She's been a very good addition to the team as a good ball handler, distributor, and three point shooter. She only hit a couple threes last night, but she takes good shots, and her six dimes were second only to Bobbi Johns' eight.
• Alexis Hahn (CAR): 13-26 FG, 7-9 FT; 33 pts, 15 reb (4 off), 1 blk, 1 stl. Opposing forwards always have their best games against the Cardinals. Carthage played conservative against the press, preferring to get into a half court offense, but found Hahn early and often. She hit a bunch of layups, but was also able to hit a few mid range jumpers as well.

North Central System Watch

• Carthage Turnovers: 26. The officials spent most of the first half (and a good chunk of the second half as well) calling traveling by the book. Most of Carthage's turnovers came from these, though they did also commit a five second violation in the second half. 17 of the 26 came before the break, and the Cardinals managed nine steals on the game, led by Tess Godhardt's four.
• NCC 3PT: 22-52 (42.3%). This team has a tendency once in a while to get red hot from deep. That was the first half in a nutshell, when they hit 16 of their 31 attempts from beyond the arc (that's 51.6 percent, by the way). They regressed back to the mean in the second half, which is to be expected, but even so. Their red hot shooting pretty much knocked Carthage out of the game before it even started.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 1. Anita Sterling drew the charge in the second half, and seemed like she took a good shot on it, as she left for the rest of the game. Coach Roof seemed encouraged that she would be all right, and she seemed to be okay after the game from what I could tell.

Around the CCIW

• @Illinois Wesleyan 84 (8-9, 2-4), Augustana 71 (7-10, 1-5)
• North Park 64 (10-7, 2-4), @Elmhurst 54 (9-8, 2-4)
• @Wheaton 78 (15-2, 5-1), Millikin 66 (12-5, 3-3)

Final Thoughts

Photo from NCC Sports Information Department

This was one of the games I circled on my calendar back in July, when the schedule first came out. Carthage has struggled in Naperville the last two years and came within a missed pushoff of getting beat last year. Needless to say, blowing these guys out was enjoyable, especially since I didn't expect this kind of offensive showing.

Quick officiating note: I wasn't nearly as mad as I've been in recent games, but out of a sense of fairness, I'll note it here. They didn't call many fouls in the game, with each team logging seven in the first half. There was a little more disparity in the second half favoring NCC, which Carthage coach Tim Bernero wasn't thrilled with, and I don't blame him, given the score.

The Cardinals close out their first round through the CCIW with a trip to North Park on Saturday at 5pm. Sunday, I'll take a look at the CCIW as a whole going into the second go-around.