2016 NCC Women's Basketball Recap

Later this afternoon, the NCAA Division III Selection Committees will adjourn and unveil their brackets for the NCAA Tournament. On one side, unfortunately, I already know one team whose name will not be called.


I knew this season was going to be a tricky one for North Central. Given that I am a huge homer though, I still had fairly high expectations for this Cardinal team. They just had a fairly tough non conference schedule, especially early with a pair of ranked teams in Calvin and Maryville. Those losses got NCC off to a 1-2 start, but the pieces were there early. Looking back at the schedule and the 6-5 finish in the non-conference portion (one game back of what I'd projected), there weren't any terrible blips. Calvin might not make the NCAA Tournament, but had a phenomenal year, and Maryville is going to be a national title dark horse (because as long as Sydney Moss is playing for Thomas More, I don't know that anyone is beating them). The other losses came on neutral hardwood against Denison (who has a decent shot at an at large bid), on a neutral court against a decent Augsburg team, and at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who I'm sure had revenge on their mind after the most incredible comeback I've ever seen in person from last season.

I mentioned it a couple times, but the CCIW was just kind of weird this year. To no real surprise, Wheaton was the top team in the conference, but dealt with some injuries which may have contributed to some of their stumbles. Nonetheless, the Thunder are back in the NCAA Tournament again as the CCIW Champions, including two more wins against this Cardinal team. North Central showed it can hang with everyone in the conference though, including picking up a home win against Illinois Wesleyan, who roared back from a down 2014-15 season to tie Wheaton for the regular season title.

One of the enduring memories for me from this season came at a critical junction halfway through conference play. The Cardinals had struggled in the early going of CCIW play, starting 2-4 and finding themselves staring up at everyone except Millikin. Elmhurst was coming into Merner Fieldhouse having won four of its first six CCIW games and was in good shape for the conference tournament at that stage... and this is before we get into the fact that Elmhurst-NCC has developed into a major rivalry over the last couple of seasons. After some early struggles in that game though, the Cardinals came out and annihilated the Blue Jays at both ends of the floor for a comfortable home win. Coach Roof called the win a "season saver" at the time, but little did we know how right she was.

North Central went on to win six of its final eight regular season games, including the critical regular season finale at North Park where they overcame an 11 point deficit going into the final quarter and clinched the #3 seed in the CCIW Tournament. They then went to Wheaton for the Tournament and got off to a slow start against Illinois Wesleyan as the Titans finished off the Cardinals' season.

Coach Roof told me on Friday before the game that they were going to try and make me proud. Even if the result wasn't what I hoped for, I am very proud of this squad.  They overcame losing three of their key players to graduation and came back to finish the year with a winning record and a solid mark in the CCIW. This second straight winning season marks the first time this program has reached the milestone since 1990 when the Cardinals followed up a 15-11 campaign with a 14-11 mark. The team also remains in great shape for next season, so there's nothing for this team to hang their heads about.

As of February 25th, North Central was the highest scoring team in the country. They'll probably finish second behind the aforementioned Thomas More Saints, who put up 198 points in two games this weekend to run to 27-0 in their quest for back to back national championships. Still, averaging 94.7 points per game is the best mark by this team in the four years of running The System. This year's team finished fourth in program history in points scored, fifth in attempted and made field goals. They made 367 threes, the second most in program history behind last year's 390. They finished at 29.2 percent for the campaign, just seven tenths of a point behind the high mark for The System set in 2013-14. This year's team also finished second in program history in assists, fourth in steals, and set a new single season record for team blocks. More on that in a minute.

North Central will have to replace the production of three seniors once again, and while it may not be as bad of losses as last year, it's still going to be tough to replace the contributions. Forward Erica Buck set career highs with 2.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in her final campaign, but her biggest contribution came in my subconscious.

So I had a dream last night that @NCCWBB went to Wheaton and blew them out behind 52 points from @BUCK_dynasty0.

— Lucas Mitzel (@northsider89) February 1, 2016

Even so, the depth she brought to the 4 spot on the floor is going to be missed. North Central also loses a pair of guards who have been key to the resurgence of this program. Kim Wilson was a key piece for the entirety of System Basketball to date, and she had a good year with 4.5 points per game and some solid defense. Her production was down from the first couple seasons, but she was still a key part of this team and finishes her career third in program history in made threes and tops in attempts. It's hard to replace that, combined with her leadership and chemistry with this team.

It's going to be even harder to replace not only the production, but the grit and heart of the final departing senior in Lauren Hernandez.

It all seems so surreal. I never thought a game I loved so much would ever come to an end. This game has been apart of my life since I was a child and it has been a game of many lessons. Last night my career as a college basketball player came to an end but I am so thankful to have the opportunity to play for so long. Overcoming three surgeries in a year and a half and finishing my career at NCC is all I hoped for and I achieved that goal. I am beyond grateful for my teammates, family, friends, coaches, athletics trainers, and physical therapists who have supported me throughout the years. To my teammates: thank you for being my backbone, pushing me, and being the best team I could ever ask for to play my last game with and to my parents: thank you thank you thank you for the dedication to never miss a game no matter how late you had to stay up and how early you had to wake, your love and support means everything to me. I will forever cherish all the moments and memories I have made and no matter how badly I wish I could just rewind, I will forever be thankful for the time I had on the court. 🏀❤️ #OnceACardinalAlwaysACardinal

A photo posted by Lauren Hernandez (@laurenhernandez14) on Feb 27, 2016 at 9:57am PST

I was working the game when Lauren first went down two years ago; it was hard to watch. I had hoped she would be back for the magical run in 2014-15, but she had that second injury and had to serve as a student assistant coach for the year. She worked her butt off, made it back, and I put a little bit extra into announcing her start in the season opener against Calvin before watching her help lead this team. Lauren finished the year averaging 6.9 points per game and added 33 steals, getting stronger as the season went on, including a couple excellent performances down the stretch at Augustana and at North Park. She finishes her career fifth in program history in both made and attempted threes, but to me, her biggest impact will be her resilience and I'm going to miss watching her play.

There is still a lot here for the coming campaign though. This looks to be Mayson Whipple's team going forward; the sophomore point guard and member of the All-CCIW Second Team emerged as a go-to figure on this squad, leading the team with 13 points per game on 42/33/70 shooting splits while notching over five assists per game. She's going to have plenty of help back next year though. There is a lot of depth in the backcourt with Paula Zerante (8 points per game on 33 percent shooting), Miranda Grizaffi (7.7 points per game on 35.1 percent shooting, including a 35.5 percent clip from beyond the arc), and Michaela Reedy (7.1 points per game on 28.6 percent shooting) all looking to play key roles next year, while players like Caroline Heimerdinger (5.2 points per game on 29.9 percent shooting) and Siarra O'Neil (3.5 points per game on 37.3 percent shooting) in the mix as well. Heimerdinger made 11 starts and was fairly high up the depth chart, while O'Neil was figuring things out as a freshman. She definitely got better as the season went on though, and her shooting will be a key part of next year's squad.

The forward spots should be interesting. Therese Pettersson, though listed as a guard, emerged as the heir apparent to Tess Godhardt, averaging 11.9 points on 47.8 percent shooting, including a 40.5 percent mark beyond the arc. She turned into a consistent post threat, which is something this team needs for when the threes aren't falling. There remains some depth behind her with Aaliyah Johnson (2.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game) and Selena Juarez (2.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game), but I wouldn't mind a little more depth there too, just to be sure. The center spot is in good shape next year with a pair of seniors. Anita Sterling finished the campaign averaging 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while also drawing 16 charges in 12 home games (and I'm sure had more in the road games, but I don't have totals because charges are stupidly not considered an official stat), and can get hot from outside from time to time. Jamie Cuny improved on her first year in The System with 9.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this year, and while she dropped to 28.7 percent shooting from three, she was a force on the back end, breaking her old single season record with 95 blocks (she had 91 last year in two more games), a mark that's all the more impressive when you see that she took a little while to get going but was a monster in conference play with 59 rejections in 14 games. Those two will be key pieces to next year's squad, as will the continued development of Kelly Wallner (1.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per game).

The other thing that excites me is that Coach Roof is thrilled with the incoming recruiting class for next season. I met a couple of them when they came to games as part of official visits, though without game footage I can't say with certainty what kind of impact they will have. I can't ignore Coach Roof's excitement about it though, and that combined with the returning forces from this year's team should have this team back in the mix in the CCIW again next year.


All in all, this was a successful season for the Cardinals, and I'm very proud of them. I look forward to celebrating with the team in a month or so, and also getting back behind the microphone again in November!