Game Notes: (WBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (1-28-17)

Final Score
Wheaton 112, NCC 71

Game Summary
This is a game I'm going to want to repress from my memory. The Thunder (15-3, 8-1) overcame an immediate steal and missed three with a three of their own, and things just cascaded from there as the Thunder scored the game's first 22 points. It wasn't until just over six minutes in that the Cardinals (10-9, 4-6) finally got on the board with a free throw, but wouldn't get their first field goal until the final minute of the frame, and when the buzzer finally sounded and the dust cleared, the Thunder were up 33-5. The Cardinals got a little offense going early in the second quarter, but Wheaton still kept up the pressure against a Cardinal defense that fell back away from the press and led 57-19 at the break. Wheaton led by as many as 51 in the third quarter, but the Cardinals closed the frame on a 15-4 run to make it a 40 point game after three. The Thunder called off the dogs fairly early in the fourth, hit the century mark with 7:11 to play, and would lead by as many as 53 before the Cardinals came back to only lose by 41.

Key Stats

• Wheaton: 43-71 FG (60.6%). I had 'Nam-like flashbacks to this matchup from two years ago, except in that game the Cardinals actually showed up. But Wheaton shot incredibly well all game, and this wasn't just a layup line type of game. Wheaton was hitting jumpers all night, shot at a decent clip from beyond the arc, and many of these shots were relatively open. Kent Madsen knows how to beat The System, and continues to have the personnel in place to do so.
• Kelly Lawson (WHE): 9-14 FG (2-3 3PT), 7-7 FT; 27 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 4 ast, 1 stl. Lawson killed the Cardinals early and often in this one, boosting her scoring average by a point (and I thought it would be more). Most of her baskets were those aforementioned jumpers, and there's a degree of "You can't do anything about it" with them.
• Katie McDaniels (WHE): 6-6 FG, 8-11 FT; 20 pts, 9 reb (2 off), 7 ast, 5 stl. Anytime you can put up a quadruple-nickel, you have to do it. The preseason All-American showed why she earned those honors and is probably going to win CCIW Player of the Year this year, affecting the game at both ends. One of her layups in the early going, you can hear the exasperation in my voice announcing her name as the scoring player. It was that kind of night.

North Central System Watch

• Wheaton Turnovers: 20. This isn't a bad total considering the opponent, but when you turn it over 25 times yourself, you're gonna have a bad time. Natali Dimitrova picked up 3 steals and Lyndsay Brennan and Shannon Ryan each had two.
• NCC 3PT: 15-51 (29.4%). For an awful, awful game, this number is okay. Anita Sterling got hot later in the game, and ten players in all hit at least one three. The percentage brings their season total up a little bit, and it was nice to get to yell the names of freshmen like Veronica LaVia and Maddie McHugh, who don't get a ton of run time and got their first threes at home this season (at least as far as I can remember).
• NCC Charges Drawn: 1. Anita Sterling picked up another one. I've lost track of exactly how many she has this year, but hers on Saturday came in the second half with the outcome long since decided. I still got excited about it, and this is why I continue to argue that the charge must be kept as an official stat.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ Elmhurst 85 (16-3, 8-2), North Park 71 (9-10, 2-8)
• @ Carthage 73 (10-8, 5-5), Augustana 62 (13-6, 6-4)
• @ Millikin 91 (9-10, 3-7), Carroll 59 (1-17, 1-9)
• BYE: Illinois Wesleyan (12-6, 7-2)

Final Thoughts
I caught up with Michelle Roof postgame and she was... not pleased. She said she had flashbacks to the Hope game from a few years ago, which I can't say aren't unfounded. The difference between then and now is that Hope was a much better team and that Cardinal team wasn't as good as this one. Either way, it's still a pretty apt comparison. It's embarrassing to get the doors blown off of you in your own gym, especially when you fall behind 22-0 in the first six minutes. I imagine she'll run them hard in practice this week.

Big picture wise, this loss puts the Cardinals into what is effectively must-win territory. They're in sixth place in the CCIW, two games out of a playoff spot and one behind Carthage for fifth place with the tiebreaker there in doubt. The next couple of weeks are relatively forgiving in terms of the schedule, but the season ends with a pair of tough road games. In the immediate future, the Cardinals have a bye on Wednesday before heading to the north side of Chicago to take on North Park on Saturday.