2017 NCC Women's Basketball Recap

This is always one of the more disappointing pieces I end up writing on Confessions of a Sportscaster. It means basketball season is winding down and my work for the year is done. Year Six is in the books, and while it didn't end the way I necessarily would have liked, I'm proud of what this team accomplished this year.

I had reasonably high expectations for this team coming into the year, and given the excitement that head coach Michelle Roof displayed in talking about the recruiting class, I figured the Cardinals would be in the tier just below the elite teams in the CCIW in Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan. The team started well enough, using a shift that looked like the Golden State Warriors to annihilate a pretty good Piedmont team in the opener. They continued that momentum into the rivalry with Benedictine, knocking the Eagles off again. The team split a pair of games at North Park Thanksgiving weekend in preparation for an early start to CCIW play.

The Cardinals dropped a pair of tough ones to the top teams in conference, with the Titans edging the Cardinals in an overtime thriller and Wheaton hanging on at home before North Central rounded out the CCIW preview with a win at Millikin. The Cardinals closed out their non conference schedule with a loss up at Stevens Point, a pair of wins over California teams in Hawaii, and splitting a pair of games at an NAIA, though not without significant cost.

Playing without their floor general, the Cardinals dove back into conference play with a pair of back to back wins, including a thriller over North Park. But the team saw some struggles over the next few, seeing a furious rally that nearly killed me fall short against Augustana, and despite getting a solid home win over Carthage, the team went ice cold after one quarter at Elmhurst and got beat handily to fall to 4-4 at the halfway point. That started a free fall, as the Cardinals dropped their next three, including an embarrassing showing against the Thunder. After taking care of business against Millikin, the Cardinals saw their CCIW Tournament dreams die on Senior Night at the hands of Elmhurst. They played out the string admirably though, winning their final three games, including two on the road against Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana, as well as blowing out Carroll at home without me before those games.

My top memories of this season would have to be that season opener against Piedmont, in particular those five straight threes that broke the game open, the 19-2 run against Augie that damn near killed me, and of course, Senior Night; even though the team got beat pretty badly that night, it's always an emotional night seeing players whose names I've announced for four years take the floor at home for the (almost) final time.

Stat wise, the team performed all right. The Cardinals finished the year averaging 89.6 points per game, including seven games with at least 100 points. They did reasonably well from beyond the arc, hitting 341 threes in 25 games at a 28.9 percent clip. It's a higher number for this team, but well within the range of percentages they've had since going to The System in 2012-13. The stat that I spent much of the year complaining about though was free throws. The Cardinals finished the year with a 60.2 percent clip at the stripe, which isn't going to get it done. They missed a bunch in the loss to Illinois Wesleyan at home as well as the road loss to Wheaton, were awful at Stevens Point, and only got saved from a 55.6 percent night in their first game in Hawaii because they went to the line 54 times. The aforementioned Augie game saw them miss 11, and they missed a dozen in a loss at North Park. Shooting closer to the mid-60's from the stripe for the year probably turns the tide of at least a couple games and then I'm not writing this post today because they'd be in the CCIW Tournament. If there's anything I'd want the team to really work on in the offseason, free throw shooting would be it. Well, that and keep taking threes in hopes that maybe one year this team will crack 30 percent for a season, but free throws are a key.

All in all, for the Cardinals to have performed the way they did given the circumstances was pretty impressive. In the aforementioned NAIA tournament, the team lost their best player in point guard Mayson Whipple for the season to a torn ACL, and with it a playmaker who could get to the rim and create shots when the threes weren't falling. It meant the rest of the team needed to pick up the slack, and while the young players on the team filled in admirably, it just wasn't quite enough. It's hard to replace 12.3 points per game and just shy of five assists per game. She's recovering nicely though, and barring any setbacks should be back to lead this team again next season.

The Cardinals are going to have some big shoes to fill, however. Four seniors depart, and they're all significant contributors. Miranda Grizaffi enters her post playing life as North Central's all time leader in threes by a significant margin, and even though she had her struggles for stretches, when she heated up, she could hit threes like nobody's business. Paula Zerante brought the energy and hustle, and could score both inside and outside, and she finishes her career sixth in program history in steals. Jamie Cuny proved her transfer back home was a wise move, as she finishes her career seventh in threes, tenth in three point percentage unless she somehow dropped out over the final few games, and set the blocks column on fire, almost tripling the previous career record, and notching the school's first triple-double two seasons ago, including a school record 10 blocks. And Anita Sterling had a career year in her final season to finish her career ninth in steals, ninth in blocks, and fourth in threes. She's probably also at least top two in charges drawn, but I can't be sure because charges still aren't kept as an official stat. Miranda and Paula's shooting will be hard to replace, but it's going to be even harder to replace the defense that Jamie and Anita played at the back end of the press to take away easy transition baskets.

I think the future nonetheless remains bright for this Cardinal team. Jamie and Anita's heirs apparent are in house, as Natali Dimitrova and Maya Walls will likely step into their shoes for next year. Kelly Wallner started to show some excellent signs as a swing player between the 4 and 5 spots, and players like Diamond Calicott and Hannah Vitkus will be solid post players going forward. There's also a good amount of guard depth, as players like Lyndsay Brennan and Jordan Bradley had solid freshman years. Siarra O'Neil brings a solid shooting presence, and that's before we get into next year's seniors. Shannon Ryan and Caroline Heimerdinger will likely end up being captains, as well as a healthy Mayson Whipple, who will bring all of the pieces back together.

At this point, Michelle Roof's focus shifts fully to the recruiting trail, and while there isn't much known yet about the incoming class, I'm sure she will reload nicely, and this team should be right back in the mix again next season. Hopefully the experience these players gained this season will serve them well going into the offseason and in preparation for the 2017-18 campaign.