Game Notes: (WBK) Augustana College @ North Central College (1/23/19)

Final Score
NCC 58, Augustana 49

Game Summary
The Cardinals (5-14, 3-7) got hot to start this one off, hitting some early threes to taken an 11-4 lead. This prompted a timeout by the Vikings (11-8, 5-5), who did manage to hang around a little bit, trailing 18-12 after one quarter. Offense ground to a halt in the second quarter though, as it took four minutes for the Cardinals to break the ice, and Augie another minute before they got on the board. The Vikings closed the gap to five with about a minute to go, but a three made it 28-20, a lead the Cardinals took into the locker room. The Vikings scored the first four points in the second half to narrow the gap, but the Cardinals locked down on defense, holding the Vikings scoreless for another five minutes before going bombs away to take a 42-31 lead after three. But the Vikings didn't go quietly as the Cardinal offense slowed down a little bit before pushing the lead back to double digits about halfway through the frame. The Vikings managed to pull back within four with just under two minutes to play, but the Cardinals put the game away at the free throw line for their second straight win.

Key Players

• Natali Dimitrova (NCC): 7-14 FG (1-1 3PT), 1-2 FT; 16 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl. Nat helped set the tone early in this one, scoring 14 of her points in the first half, including nine in the opening quarter. Her first bucket came on a postup, where I completely expected her to get double teamed by Augie's second big, but help never came. I mentioned then and there that they needed to feed her. This was especially true as the game went on since she was being guarded in the post by a 5'7" guard multiple times. Even so, this was a pretty good performance for her as she continues to show how much she's improved over the past couple years.
• Page Desenberg (NCC): 3-6 FG (2-3 3PT); 8 pts, 4 reb (1 off). The stat line may not seem impressive, but Page was the catalyst for the Cardinals taking command of the game late in the third. She hit back to back threes late in the frame to build a 13 point lead, and hit a big layup in the fourth off an inbounds pass to push the lead back to double digits. Simply put: she was clutch last night.
• Scooter Lopez (AUG): 0-3 FG (0-3 3PT); 0 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 7 stl. This is the first time I've ever included as a key player someone who didn't score. I could have easily gone with leading scorer Izzy Anderson (17 pts on 5-16 shooting) or Alexis Jones (15 pts, 8 reb, 3 stl), but Lopez' line is crazy. She wreaked havoc on defense while getting her teammates involved, and did a decent job on the glass even though her team got badly outrebounded.

Key Stats

• NCC: 24 turnovers. Augustana plays more of an up-tempo style of play; it's not quite The System, but they did press a lot. The Cardinals didn't have a ton of trouble with the press in and of itself, but they didn't do a great job taking care of the ball. If you'd told me before the game that the Cardinals would have this many turnovers, I'd have been worried that it would be a blowout loss for North Central. But thanks to efficient shooting (7-14 from three and 11-14 at the line) combined with the below, the Cardinals escaped with a win.
• AUG: 1-21 3PT (4.8%), 8-17 FT (47.1%). I figured I had to include the free throw numbers, because those aren't ideal, but the three point shooting line? That's absurd. Augie's postgame wrap called it "cold shooting," but I don't think that does it justice. It took 38 minutes for the Vikings to hit a three. I've never seen that bad of a shooting night before. There were a fair share of open looks here too, but they just didn't fall.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• CAR 67 (14-5, 8-2), @ ELM 59 (8-10, 4-5)
• @ IWU 97 (16-3, 9-1), NPU 52 (7-12, 3-7)
• WHE 76 (15-4, 9-1), @ CRL 59 (7-12, 2-8)
• Bye: MIL (5-13, 1-8)
• MBK: NCC 93 (16-3, 8-2), @ MIL 92 (10-8, 4-6) (OT)

Final Thoughts

This was a really weird game. Even the officiating was kind of bizarre; they let a lot of things go early but also called some weird fouls in some instances too, while also letting a bunch of travels go. I'm not saying this to complain, because overall I think they did a fine job tonight. It was just a weird, low-scoring game.

You have to give credit to North Central. Augie was cold and just missed a ton of shots, but the Cardinals also played really good defense in this one. It's their first multi-game winning streak of the season, and I think Maggie McCloskey-Bax's prediction back in early December is starting to come true. She told me following the Millikin loss that, "We're young; we'll get there." They're definitely getting there. Following up a great effort in a five point loss at Illinois Wesleyan with two straight solid wins? Things are rounding into form.

That's before you get into how impactful of a win this is. It locks up a season sweep of the Vikings, which in and of itself is big because it includes a win in Rock Island, not an easy place to play. But for the conference race, this is huge. The Cardinals have road rematches against North Park and Millikin on the docket for their next two games. Both those teams left Naperville with victories in December, so if the Cardinals run their win streak to four, they tie the season series with both, and barring a major upset by one of those teams or Carroll against the cream of the CCIW crop, the Cardinals will own the tiebreaker over North Park, Millikin, and Carroll when it comes to the CCIW Tournament field because of the aforementioned sweep of Augustana.

I'm getting too far ahead of myself though. First up on the docket is North Park on Saturday. Those Vikings won by a single point in overtime back in December, but seem to be struggling and are battling some injuries. Hopefully the Cardinals can come back from the north side of Chicago with a third straight win and a ton of confidence heading down the home stretch.

The NFL Is Broken

I feel like there's a general rule with how I decide on topics for Confessions of a Sportscaster. There are the somewhat scheduled posts, either for the Death to the BCS Playoffs, Pigskin Pick 'Em contest, or Game Notes from North Central games. Then there's the unscheduled ones, where something happens and I feel compelled to write about it. It happened in September when the NFL couldn't figure out what the hell roughing the passer is. My most cited one is when Lance Easley and Golden Tate stole a win with their bullcrap (and make sure you see through The Ringer's lies; that play was not even remotely close to 50-50).

But Saints fans might be justified in thinking they got screwed over more than Green Bay did that fateful night in 2012. And Chiefs fans? They could serve as a catalyst for another rule change that's arguably just as important.

2019 NFL Championship Weekend Preview

It was another chaotic week at work, so I’m late getting these on record. But Adam just got me his picks, so we’re back to pick the conference championship games!

Formatting edits have been made to this post after the fact for readability. No changes have been made to the predictions.

Once More Unto the Gauntlet

I'm running out of titles. I was going to go with "Once More Unto the Breach," but I used that in 2015.

One of my many annual features as a part of NCAA Division III basketball season is a checkin on the rest of the conference at the halfway point. This will be followed up in the next couple weeks when the NCAA regional rankings drop, where I'll look at how North Central fares in that arena as well.

But for now, with a single round robin complete, let's look at how North Central is doing.

Game Notes: (MBK) Carthage College @ North Central College (1/16/19)

Final Score
NCC 67, Carthage 63

Game Summary
This one was not easy as the Red Men (7-10, 2-6) scored the game's first basket and kept the pressure up early. But the Cardinals (14-3, 6-2) stayed with them, taking an early 13-7 lead before the Red Men embarked on a 12-2 run to grab the lead. The rest of the half was somewhat back and forth, with the Red Men holding a five point lead with about two minutes left, but the Cardinals tied the game at 33 on a Mike Pollack three right before the buzzer. That momentum carried over into the second half, with the Cardinals scoring five quick points and forcing a Red Men timeout, but it wasn't quite enough to stop the bleeding as the Cardinals later used a 13-0 run to grab firm control of the game. But the Red Men had one more push in them, following with a 15-4 run to cut it to a one possession game. North Central was able to pull away just enough though thanks to solid efforts in the paint and at the line.

Key Players

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 8-13 FG (0-2 3PT), 12-13 FT; 28 pts, 10 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 1 stl. A week after doing most of his damage distributing the ball, Raridon took a more active role in the offense in this one, especially in the second half where he scored 18 of his points. He was able to get to the basket plenty in this one while also hitting his usual mid range jumpers, and was lethal at the free throw line.
• Kienan Baltimore (CAR): 7-12 FG (0-2 3PT), 4-5 FT; 18 pts, 6 reb. Baltimore came into the game as one of the CCIW's leading scorers, and showed why in this one with a solid offensive performance. He did get away with at least four or five uncalled travels that the crowd clamored for and played a significant chunk of the game in foul trouble. That he remained as effective as he was is a testament to how good a player he is, even if he did flop a couple times. His other major problem was taking care of the ball, as he committed six turnovers.
• Sean Johnson (CAR): 2-7 FG, 1-2 FT; 5 pts, 9 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 8 blk. The big question for this game was how effective the 6'10" center would be, and he was. He picked up a couple early blocks to help set the tone and was a beast on the glass. He also played solid defense for the most part, though the Cardinals did get open looks based off of him switching. Johnson's eight blocks are one shy of the Carthage single game record.

Key Stats

• NCC: 19-22 FT (86.4%). On a night when other shooting was subpar (35.7% from the field, 27.6% from deep), the Cardinals needed to find other ways to get points on the board, and they succeeded at the line. Raridon did most of the damage, but other guys stepped up when they got their trips to the line.
• CAR: 15 turnovers. This is the kind of number you'd see more likely in a women's game than a men's game, but the Red Men didn't take good care of the ball, and it was a big reason why they lost. North Central notched steals for eight of those 15 giveaways, leading to 22 Cardinal points.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG 77 (16-1, 8-0), @ WHE 73 (12-5, 5-3)
• IWU 82 (11-6, 4-4), @ ELM 80 (9-8, 4-4)
• MIL 71 (9-7, 3-5), @ NPU 58 (4-13, 2-6)
• Bye: CRL (6-11, 2-6)
• WBK: @ IWU 82 (14-3, 7-1), NCC 77 (3-14, 1-7)

Final Thoughts

The conclusion of Wednesday's games marked the halfway point of CCIW play, so on Thursday I will write up the annual post looking at the CCIW at the halfway point. This means my thoughts on how the conference looks will wait until then.

Last night was an interesting one as Carthage refused to go quietly into the night. A lot of credit has to go to Carthage coach Bosko Djurikovic, who was kind of a treat on the sideline. Beyond just bellowing instructions to his players and getting in officials' ears, he was also talking about flopping I think kind of to the officials as well as to the table, while also having a fun interaction with a fan sitting behind us with a grin on his face. I don't want to say it was a reunion game, per se, but it was kind of cool to get to see 19 minutes of action from Carthage sophomore Brett Czerak, who went to Aurora Central Catholic with my brother, and he acquitted himself pretty well on the night.

The Cardinals kick off the second half on Saturday with a trip up to Carroll. The Cardinals have split with the Pioneers in the first two years since Carroll returned to the CCIW, with one win apiece both at home and on the road.

2019 NFL Divisional Preview

It was a week full of chaos and a relatively heavy workload. And in Adam's case, being in a state of mourning and/or anger at Cody Parkey, so we're scrambling to get our Divisional Round previews up before kickoff!

We had a so-so Wild Card weekend, with Adam taking a narrow lead overall. But now the stakes are higher as the top two teams from each conference will make their 2018 postseason debuts this weekend.

Once again, below Adam and I will each have a little more in-depth analysis of the games this weekend and our final score picks, which will count as picks both straight up and against the spread.

Let's get to it!

Game Notes: (WBK) Carthage College @ North Central College (1/9/19)

Final Score
Carthage 67, NCC 57

Game Summary
This might have been the fastest game I've ever worked, but it didn't start great as the Lady Reds (10-5, 4-2) scored the game's first five points, but the Cardinals (3-13, 1-6) started to crawl back from the free throw line. Carthage jumped out to a 19-8 lead early on, prompting a timeout, after which the Cardinals worked their way back, trailing 22-15 after one. North Central played a strong second quarter to push the Lady Reds' lead as low as four, but they had an answer every time, taking a 37-30 lead into the locker room. North Central started the second half strong with two straight layups, but the Lady Reds started to connect from beyond the arc to pull back away, leading 53-39 after three. Carthage would push the advantage as high as 18 before both teams put in the ends of their benches and the Cardinals got a couple garbage time buckets to trim the lead.

Key Players

• Madie Kaelber (CAR): 8-11 FG (3-5 3PT), 3-3 FT; 22 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl. After missing last year's date at Merner due to injury, last night was the Madie Kaelber Show on both ends of the floor. She wreaked some havoc on defense, jumping passing lanes a couple times early to lead to Carthage baskets, while also bombing away from deep and converting on layups as well.
• Bailey Gilbert (CAR): 5-14 FG (3-8 3PT), 3-4 FT; 16 pts, 10 reb (4 off), 5 ast, 2 stl. Good teams always need someone doing the dirty work as well, and Gilbert fit that role well. She wasn't as efficient shooting the ball as Kaelber was, so instead wreaked havoc on the boards and did a great job finding open teammates.
• Haydn Braun (NCC): 5-9 FG (4-7 3PT); 14 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl. Braun hasn't had the greatest of sophomore years. She hasn't gotten a ton of runtime, sitting behind Tyonne Howard and Alanna Newsome for significant stretches of games. But she got hot early last night and was able to stay in the game, creating an intriguing lineup of her and the aforementioned two (when normally Lyndsay Brennan or Allison Pearson would take her place) in the backcourt. Hopefully this is the spark needed for her to take the next step.

Key Stats

• NCC: 18-59 FG (30.5%), 6-27 3PT (22.2%). The good news is that after an abysmal night at the free throw line on Saturday, the Cardinals went 15-17. Unfortunately the rest of their shooting failed to catch up. Amazingly, the Cardinals shot better in the second half (31.3/27.3) than the first (29.6/18.8) despite seemingly going ice cold for significant stretches of the second half.
• CAR: 8-21 3PT (38.1%). The Lady Reds snapped a four game losing streak in Naperville behind finally having a good shooting night at Gregory Arena. Only hitting eight doesn't really capture the impact though, as they hit threes at crucial moments when it seemed like the Cardinals were threatening, and that was really the difference in the game. Some of these were defensive breakdowns, but a lot were just good offensive movement. Tip your cap.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• ELM 77 (7-8, 3-3), @ CRL 70 (7-8, 2-4)
• @ WHE 76 (12-3, 6-0), MIL 75 (5-10, 1-5)
• IWU 93 (12-3, 5-1), @ NPU 60 (6-10, 2-5)
• Bye: AUG (10-5, 4-2)
• MBK: NCC 85 (13-3, 5-2), @ IWU 83 (9-6, 2-4)

Final Thoughts

The Cardinals missed some layups last night, which could have turned the tide, but I don't think it would have been enough. North Central did a great job defending inside as they contained forwards Rachel Szydlowski and Maggie Berigan to 17 points on 7-17 shooting, but Carthage just wasn't missing from deep. It's their first win in Naperville since Stephanie Kuzmanic pushed off on her game-winner in 2014, thus killing one of my favorite memes in CCIW basketball. But you know what they say: all good things must come to an end.

The loss drops the Cardinals to 1-6, remaining in the basement by half a game. I have to hope that the second half will be kinder, but the Cardinals had a favorable first half schedule with five home conference games, and dropped them all. I'll cover the halfway point next week after we've reached it, but the Cardinals close it out with a trip down to Bloomington to take on Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night.

Game Notes: (MBK) Elmhurst College @ North Central College

Final Score
NCC 82, Elmhurst 70

Game Summary
This one was nearly a disaster as the Cardinals (12-3, 4-2) scored the opening basket, but followed that up by allowing an 11-2 Blue Jay (9-5, 4-1) run. Elmhurst remained in firm control, pushing the lead to 22-9 about eight minutes in and forcing a North Central timeout. The Cardinals slowly chipped back away with a 15-4 run of their own to pull back within two, but a five second call on Connor Raridon flipped the momentum back Elmhurst's way. The Blue Jays seemed poised to take a ten point lead into the locker room, but Jake Rhode drained a 40 footer at the halftime buzzer to make it 43-30. After presumably getting the fear of God put into them at halftime, the Cardinals came out much better to start the second half, opening the stanza on a 7-0 run and finding a way to tie the game at 45 about six minutes in. The Blue Jays scored the next five, but that was their last real push of control as the Cardinals followed that with a 15-1 run highlighted by back to back threes to make it a 58-51 game and force an Elmhurst timeout before the Cardinals capped the run with one more bucket. The Blue Jays got no closer than five the rest of the way, with North Central pushing the lead as high as 14.

Key Players

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 5-11 FG (1-3 3PT), 6-7 FT; 17 pts, 4 reb, 9 ast. Connor had a decent shooting night, getting a somewhat rare three while also draining his usual array of fallaways and midrange jumpers. But he also found the open guy numerous times; his nine assists did not crack the top five for a single game, but he is the single game top five list.
• Tommy Koth (NCC): 5-9 FG (2-4 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. I could have gone with Will Clausel (14 pts on 5-7/2-2/2-2 splits, 2 reb, 1 blk), but Tommy's line was more complete, and it was a much needed night for the senior getting what I believe was his first career start. Tommy's second triple was the one that gave the Cardinals a double digit lead with about three and a half to play. All in all, an excellent night.
• Jake Rhode (ELM): 10-20 FG (5-10 3PT); 25 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl. Rhode is in the conversation as one of the best guards in the league, and he showed why in this one. He hit three triples early to help build Elmhurst's big lead (including one "oh crap" wide open one). 14 of his points came before the halftime buzzer, including that 40 foot heave, but he cooled off a bit in the second half, attacking the basket more. The comment I made at the table was that he used up all his good juju on the heave.

Key Stats

• NCC: 7-23 3PT (30.4%). The reason I chose this stat was because of the disparity between halves. North Central went 1-11 (9.1%) in the first half before getting red hot in the second half (6-12, 50.0%), and I feel like to a degree, that tells the tale.
• ELM: 8-21 3PT (38.1%). Same thing here. The Blue Jays hit 7-13 in the first half, for an absurd 53.9% clip, then got cold in the second half, going just 1-8 (12.5%). Again, maybe the juju got used up.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG 109 (13-1, 5-0), @ NPU 64 (4-11, 2-4)
• @ WHE 79 (10-4, 3-2), CRL 61 (5-10, 1-5)
• MIL 69 (8-5, 2-3), @ CAR 59 (6-8, 1-4)
• Bye: IWU (9-5, 2-3)

Final Thoughts

I talked with a North Central insider fan after the game, and he called it one of the best comeback wins he'd ever seen. While the North Central women's comeback against UW-Eau Claire in the magical 2014-15 season is still tops for me, this one has to rank up there. Normally, a team that gets a ridiculous shot to close a half would have all the momentum going into the locker room and coming back out for the second half, the opposite was the case in this game. The Cardinals took one to the nose, and came back standing. The win keeps them in third place in the conference, but they're now just half a game out of second place with the tiebreaker now in place against the occupants. It's a big win to snap a two game losing streak, but the schedule doesn't get any easier going forward. The Cardinals have a date in Bloomington against Illinois Wesleyan coming up on Wednesday, and while the Titans struggled early in CCIW play, they'll be ready for an incoming Cardinal team.

Game Notes: (WBK) Elmhurst College @ North Central College (1/5/19)

Final Score
Elmhurst 75, NCC 59

Game Summary
This game started well enough for the Cardinals (3-12, 1-5), as they opened the game with a 4-0 lead about a minute in. Then the wheels fell off as the Blue Jays (6-8, 2-3) scored the next nine to take control. The Cardinals were able to keep it relatively close though through the first quarter, trailing 17-13 after ten minutes. But then the Blue Jays started to hit from outside to build a double digit lead as the Cardinal offense stalled, with Elmhurst going into the break up 39-20. The Cardinals started the second half strong, scoring the first eight points, but the Blue Jays were able to push the advantage back to the mid teens as the quarter dragged on, leading 55-39 after three. North Central again managed to make a push in the fourth quarter, cutting the margin back to single digits about halfway through the frame, but at that point the teams began to trade baskets, with a late three point play effectively ending the contest.

Key Players

• Kellee Clay (ELM): 5-7 FG (1-1 3PT), 4-5 FT; 15 pts, 5 reb (1 off), 2 ast. The senior had a solid night here with a very efficient offensive performance, and helping contribute to a solid defensive night by the team. She also did a good job on the glass, tying for the second most rebounds on the team.
• Lisa Logan (ELM): 2-6 FG (2-2 3PT), 7-8 FT; 13 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl. Most of Logan's damage came at the line, but she hit a couple big threes to give her team a huge advantage while also doing some damage on the glass and on defense.
• Lyndsay Brennan (NCC): 1-6 FG (0-3 3PT), 1-2 FT; 3 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. This was a bad shooting night, but Brennan found a way to have an impact elsewhere, leading the game in rebounding and picking up quite a few dimes in this one. Too bad the shooting just wasn't there.

Key Stats

• NCC: 2-20 3PT (10.0%), 11-28 FT (39.3%). I had to include both shooting numbers in this one. The Cardinals didn't take many threes in the first half, but missed all of them, and their struggles continued in the second half. The bigger, and far more alarming stat, was the abysmal night at the free throw line. Such a night is unacceptable, and in a game where you lost by 16 (but some of those points came due to intentional fouls late)... you do the math.
• ELM: 7-15 3PT (46.7%). It sure seemed like the Blue Jays both shot and hit more threes than what this line says. They went 4-7 in the first half, doing a ton of damage especially in the second quarter to pull away.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 62 (11-3, 5-0), CRL 52 (7-7, 2-3)
• @ CAR 68 (9-5, 3-2), MIL 63 (5-9, 1-4)
• AUG 77 (10-5, 4-2), @ NPU 65 (6-9, 2-4)
• Bye: IWU (11-3, 4-1)

Final Thoughts

The first half of this game, in particular the second quarter, was one of the worst showings I've seen. I want to try to be optimistic about this team; knowing they're young and that they won't shoot this poorly probably ever again the rest of the way. But they're in last place in the conference and haven't won a single conference home game this year, even though most of the opposition has been beatable. The four teams that have left Naperville with victories this season have a combined three other victories in the conference.

I want to have confidence, especially with a date against Carthage coming up on Wednesday. This is going to be an emotional one: it's the first matchup for Maggie McCloskey-Bax against her former team, and the Lady Reds have lost four straight in Naperville, including last year's overtime victory that I'm still not sure how it happened. Hopefully that streak can continue.

2019 NFL Wild Card Preview

Even in a year where my team isn't in the playoffs once again... I just can't quit the NFL.

While Jen won the 2018 Pigskin Pick 'Em contest with me finishing just one game back, Adam clearly can't quit the NFL either even after a last place finish. He texted me Wednesday evening asking if we were doing anything for the playoffs. And because I can't help myself along with the fact that I've been doing this for years, we are going to go through the NFL playoff slate once again.

Last year it was just me, and I didn't track how I did against the spread. This year we're going to track that information, with Adam grabbing lines Thursday morning off of Bovada.

In a few weeks we will do our usual feature of Super Bowl prop bets, but this year we're doing the appetizer leading up to the main course. Here's a look at Wild Card Weekend.

Game Notes: (WBK) Carroll University @ North Central College (1/2/19)

Final Score
Carroll 72, NCC 65

Game Summary
The game started all right as the Cardinals (3-11, 1-4) began by hitting their first three attempts from beyond the arc to build a 9-4 lead. But the Pioneers (7-6, 2-2) got into the paint and scored almost at will, keeping it close with the Cardinals going up 16-15 after one quarter. After a three to go up four, the Pioneers went on an 11-1 run to take control of the game, pushing the lead as high as seven before the Cardinals fought back, taking a brief lead before going into the locker room down 37-35. The game stayed close early in the third quarter with the Cardinals even taking a 44-41 lead about three minutes in, but Carroll closed the frame on a 15-6 run, then all but put the game away early in the fourth with a flurry of offensive rebounds. The Cardinals would get no closer than five in the final minutes.

Key Players

• Sierra Grubor (CRL): 7-12 FG (1-1 3PT), 5-7 FT; 20 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl. Grubor was lethal off the bench for the Pios, getting some easy layups underneath while also taking advantage of her lone deep look. Grubor scored 13 of her 20 in the first half to get the Pios in control while also contributing everywhere else as well.
• Alyssa Cruz (CRL): 4-9 FG (1-3 3PT), 5-6 FT; 14 pts, 6 reb (1 off), 6 ast. The freshman had an outstanding floor game (albeit with four turnovers, but a 1.5 assist to turnover ratio isn't bad), getting to the rim fairly early and putting the contest away at the free throw line late. The fact that she tied for the game lead in rebounds with six at 5'5" is simultaneously pretty impressive and reflects poorly on North Central.
• Natali Dimitrova (NCC): 6-11 FG (0-2 3PT), 4-5 FT; 16 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 blk. In another year that has been kind of dismal, Nat has been one of the bright spots as she's really raised her game to another level this season. She has turned into a dependable weapon in the post on both ends of the floor, a solid rebounder, and has even improved her free throw shooting. I could do without her five turnovers from last night though, including at least one travel because she shuffles her feet a lot.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outrebounded 46-32. The Pioneers did have a little bit of a size advantage, and to some degree I'm used to seeing the Cardinals get outrebounded, but last night was pretty bad. The aforementioned flurry of offensive rebounds to open the fourth was the alarming one; officially the Pioneers had 12 offensive rebounds, six of which I counted occurring in the fourth quarter alone. The third or fourth prompted a Maggie McCloskey-Bax timeout where she reamed the team for giving those second chances up. While Carroll didn't necessarily make the most of them, it took time off the clock that the Cardinals could have used to cut into the deficit.
• CRL: 42 points in the paint. Some of this was defensive breakdown, but it was also good driving and passing on the part of the Pioneers as they controlled the interior for pretty much the entire game. For comparison, the Cardinals scored 26 in the paint.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• WHE 56 (10-3, 4-0), @ IWU XX (11-3, 4-1)
• AUG 70 (9-5, 3-2), @ ELM 64 (5-8, 1-3)
• @ CAR 76 (8-5, 2-2), NPU 39 (6-8, 2-3)
• Bye: MIL (5-8, 1-3)
• MBK: @ AUG 76 (12-1, 4-0), NCC 59 (11-3, 3-2)

Final Thoughts

I came into last night's game thinking we should have won. And I'd argue that the Cardinals should have. But the Pioneers played some stifling defense to force a bunch of turnovers and controlled both the paint and the glass. It's hard to win against that combination, and if the Cardinals had shot a little bit better they could have stolen a home win. Instead, they are out of a tiebreaker and fully in last place in the CCIW. They're 1-4, with the win coming at Augustana. Of their losses, only the one at Wheaton is fully justifiable. The single digit home losses to Millikin, North Park, and Carroll are all games the Cardinals arguably should have won. Realistically, I would be okay with winning even one of those to get to 2-3, and anything beyond that would be gravy. Instead, you have a young team still trying to find its way.

The Cardinals continue their homestand on Saturday by welcoming in another beatable opponent in Elmhurst. While we're not in must-win territory yet, this one is a big one if the Cardinals want to stay relevant in the conference picture the rest of the way.