Game Notes: (WBK) Illinois Wesleyan University @ North Central College (2/19/25)

Final Score
IWU 79, NCC 55

Game Summary
Things were okay for the first couple minutes. The Cardinals (10-14, 6-9) were able to get across half court against a pressure defense and get a couple baskets while keeping the Titans (23-1, 14-1) into mostly halfcourt sets. A Cardinal layup cut it to 7-6 with 6:14 remaining in the first quarter. And then the wheels fell off. Titan pressure began forcing turnovers, and the Titans capitalized to the tune of a 23-0 run, with the Cardinals only managing a free throw to ultimately kill that run. Illinois Wesleyan pushed the lead as high as 31 in the second quarter, but the Cardinals cut it to 27 by halftime. NCC cut it to 21 quickly out of the second half gate, but a Mia Smith timeout stopped the bleeding and the Titans pushed the lead back up. The Titans' largest lead of the game came at the end of the third at 73-36, and Smith called off the dogs with about six minutes to go. The Cardinals' reserves managed to get the deficit back down to 20, prompting an angry Smith to use her final timeout with about two minutes to play before the Titans added a couple last baskets to close out the scoring.

Key Players

• Sawyer White (IWU): 6-9 FG (2-4 3PT), 1-1 FT; 15 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 7 stl. Take your pick; this is an incredibly balanced Titan team, so we'll highlight their defensive master and the game's leading scorer. White picked off numerous ill-advised Cardinal passes, tying her season high in steals (done two other times this year) and is up to 78 on the year in 24 games. She's still 34 shy of her own single season program record in that category, but if my math is right, her final steal in this game moved her into second for a career in program history; Rebekah Ehresman's mark of 296 will be shattered probably by January of 2026.
• Lauren Huber (IWU): 5-12 FG, 2-2 FT; 12 pts, 11 reb (8 off), 2 ast, 3 stl. With five Titans in double figures, the other player to focus on has to be Huber. I saw the double-double and figured this was a no brainer, but the other number that jumped out was the eight offensive rebounds. I knew the Titans had gotten quite a few, but I didn't remember Huber specifically getting that many. Not the best shooting night, but she contributed in other ways as well.
• Biz Daly (NCC): 6-10 FG, 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl. Daly probably had the best night out of anybody. She was able to get a few wide open looks for easy layups, though after the outcome was pretty much decided. The rebounding numbers leave a little to be desired, but she filled the stat sheet enough elsewhere. It's been a good sophomore campaign for Daly, and I hope she can continue to develop into a serious All-CCIW caliber player.

Key Stats

• NCC: 28 turnovers. Look, it starts and ends here. Nine of the 28 came in the final six or so minutes of the first quarter after Megan McClure's layup made it a 7-6 ball game, including a couple stretches of three straight giveaways. As you'd expect, those 28 turnovers turned into 46 Titan points. For comparison, the Titans did commit 20 turnovers of their own, but the Cardinals only turned those mistakes into 14 points.
• IWU: Outrebounded NCC 39-28. I probably could have gone a couple different ways here, but this was another thing that jumped out to me during the contest. The Titans ended up with 14 offensive rebounds in the contest (including the aforementioned eight by Huber). Ultimately this didn't end up harming the Cardinals too badly, as they only gave up 12 second chance points, but it kept the ball in Titan hands and didn't allow the Cardinals to try to cut into the deficit.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ ELM 75 (15-8, 7-8), CAR 67 (16-8, 8-7)
• @ WHE 64 (13-11, 8-7), MIL 53 (8-16, 7-8)
• WHE clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• CRL 97 (17-7, 12-3), @ NPU 51 (3-22, 0-16)
• BYE: AUG (10-14, 6-9)
• MBK: NCC 80 (14-10, 7-8), @ CRL 76 (8-16, 4-11)
• NCC clinches a CCIW Tournament berth

Final Thoughts

I came into the game with tempered expectations; the Cardinals had lost to the Titans down at the Shirk Center a little over a month before, but the margin was single digits. I figured the Cardinals could give the Titans a game. That was true for about four minutes, and then the Titans showed why they're one of the best teams in the country. This is a team with legitimate national title aspirations, and if they play the way they did on Wednesday, they can beat absolutely anyone.

Meanwhile for the Cardinals, Wednesday was about the worst case scenario we could have seen. While the loss wasn't unexpected, it was what happened elsewhere that poses a problem. Elmhurst's victory puts the Blue Jays in the drivers' seat for a tournament bid, and Millikin has a head to head sweep over the Cardinals that would get the Big Blue in ahead of them. Needless to say, Saturday is win-or-go-home for the Cardinals, but they need a ton of help, in particular from Illinois Wesleyan and Carroll (and possibly from Carthage depending on exactly how three-way tiebreakers play out), to play a 26th game.

All told, it's been somewhat of a disappointing season for North Central. They started fairly strong, but lost some games they probably shouldn't have over the course of the season. Nonetheless, there's still some good pieces in place, and Maggie McCloskey-Bax has done a good job reloading talent. This group will be in the mix again next year. But for now, my eyes shift to Wheaton on Saturday and hope for an extended season.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/8/25)

Final Score
NCC 86, NPU 81

Game Summary
Taking on its second top-three conference opponent in as many games, the Cardinals (13-9, 6-7) traded baskets early with the Vikings (14-8, 9-4), who led 25-23 with just under eight minutes to play in the first half. The Cardinals finally took control with an 11-0 run, and closed the half on an 8-0 run, those as part of a larger 27-6 Cardinal run that led to a 48-31 NCC lead going into the locker room. After allowing the first two points of the second half to go down 19, the Vikings began to claw their way back in, cutting the deficit down to single digits about six minutes into the frame. The Cardinals did just enough to stay in front until the Vikings were finally able to draw back even at 77 with under four minutes to play. The Cardinals responded with a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession, and did just enough the rest of the way to hang on for their second consecutive huge home win.

Key Players

• Drew Gaston (NCC): 9-13 FG (3-4 3PT), 4-4 FT; 25 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast. As seems to always happen, on Senior Night, the seniors find a way to step up and save the day. Just a few days after Gaston hit a couple huge fallaways he was back at it again. In a season where he's struggled from beyond the arc, he had an excellent night from deep, and continued to shine on his baseline fadeaways. But no moment was bigger than out of a Cardinal timeout with 32.3 seconds left and 11 seconds on the shot clock. Gaston took a pass from Terrance Moncrief on the wing, dribbled right, stepped back, and launched a three with the shot clock winding down. Said shot hit the rim, ricocheted off the top of the backboard (somehow avoiding the shot clock, which would have been ruled out of bounds), front rim again, then bounced home off the back iron to serve as the final basket of the game and the eventual dagger. Gaston likely won't win Player of the Week honors given that Wheaton's Soren Richardson dropped 53 on this Viking team on Wednesday and followed that up with 29 more against Carroll Saturday night, but I dare you to find two more cold-blooded daggers than what Gaston came up with this week.
• Justin Sveiteris (NCC): 5-9 FG, 1-2 FT; 11 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 1 blk, 1 stl. Sveiteris has really started to come into his own as the season has progressed. He was needed more so in this game with James Bullock, Jr. out, and once again he shone. His 11 points was tied for second-most on the team with Ethan Helwig, his six rebounds tied the team high, and he played good interior defense, especially given his late foul trouble (he finished the game with four). He may not necessarily win any awards this year, but he has become a solid rotation piece for a CCIW team, and you need those.
• TJ Gardner (NPU): 7-11 FG (0-1 3PT), 5-8 FT; 19 pts, 2 stl. To a degree, I think Gardner's game was a microcosm of North Park's game as a whole. Gardner spend a good chunk of the second half attacking the basket and getting to the line. He had one of five North Park and-ones in the second half, and was able to get to the line several other times. But his performance at the line also served as a microcosm for the game for North Park.

Key Stats

• NCC: 8-17 3PT (47.1%). The Cardinals did a ton of damage on the inside as well, but it was complemented by their outside shooting, especially in the first half when they went a scorching 6-9. That cooled off a ton in the second half, but they didn't rely on it, and when they needed a big three... Drew Gaston gave them the aforementioned one.
• NPU: 15-22 FT (68.2%). In the first half, the Vikings seemed to be settling for outside shots a lot more, and that was a big reason why the Cardinals ended up building that tremendous lead. North Park did a great job adjusting in the second half, when they went into full attack mode and the Cardinals had a tough time stopping them without fouling. As mentioned, the Vikings notched five separate and-ones in the second half alone. Problem was, they couldn't fully capitalize. North Park made 19 trips to the line in the second half alone, but only hit 13, and in a game they lost by five... you do the math.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG 74 (13-8, 6-6), @ MIL 52 (11-11, 5-8)
  
• With the MIL loss, NPU clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• @ CAR 85 (16-5, 10-2), IWU 74 (18-4, 10-3)
• CAR clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• @ WHE 91 (5-16, 2-10), CRL 81 (6-15, 2-10)
• BYE: ELM (10-11, 6-6)

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t be surprised if Soren Richardson wins @CCIW_Athletics Player of the Week for this week.

But I dare you to find a guy who had two more cold-blooded daggers than @DrewGaston5 this week. #WeAreNC #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/QOGsWJtBpD

— Lucas Mitzel🎙 (@northsider89) February 9, 2025

Amazing how quickly a week changes things. A week ago, the Cardinals were coming off their third overtime loss in conference at Augustana with an absolute gauntlet coming up and desperately needing some victories to keep themselves in the conference race. The only team who maybe had a better week than the Cardinals did is Carthage, who after the bye on Wednesday knocked off Wesleyan for the second time this year to put themselves in the driver's seat for the conference title. North Central, meanwhile, has a one game lead for the sixth and final tournament spot, but they're just a half game out of fourth place. The Cardinals cannot catch the top two teams anymore, but they can mathematically still earn a home conference tournament game. They just need to keep this momentum up and probably get some help.

I need to build the spreadsheets again to take a look at all the scenarios, and I'll probably tweet stuff out once I do that. But we're down to a pretty fun race in the CCIW with just two weeks to go. The Cardinals finish off their home gauntlet (and likely their home schedule) as they welcome Carthage to Merner on Wednesday. It's a game I won't attend, but hopefully with how they've played in the last week, they can prove that they have what it takes to stand on their own.

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/8/25)

Final Score
NCC 82, NPU 71

Game Summary
Senior Day got off to a great start for the Cardinals (9-13, 5-8) as they started all four of their seniors and took a 10-4 lead in the early going. The Vikings (3-19, 0-13) stayed with it though, tying the game twice at 10 and then again at 13. A good NCC response led to a 20-16 Cardinal lead after one. The Cardinals briefly pushed the lead to double digits midway through the second quarter, but the Vikings fought back to within three late, though a late layup helped push the Cardinal halftime lead to 40-34. The third quarter was where the game was effectively decided though, as Cardinal pressure finally ramped up enough, as an extended 14-2 NCC run pushed the Cardinal lead up to 20 as the Vikings went over six minutes without a field goal. NCC led by as many as 22 early in the fourth, with some Viking garbage time scoring bringing the margin down to a more reasonable level.

Key Players

• Biz Daly (NCC): 8-13 FG, 2-2 FT; 18 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. Coming off the bench for senior Ceyda Yucel on Senior Day, Daly looked back to her form from early in the season. She had a very efficient day and led the team in scoring. While I'd like to have seen more rebounds, her paint presence and scoring touch has improved from her rough stretch recently.
• Jocelyn Trotter (NCC): 4-6 FG, 5-5 FT; 13 pts, 7 reb (4 off), 3 ast, 5 stl. I feel like Trotter is very much a pass-first player, despite multiple calls from Coach McCloskey-Bax to take advantage of open looks. In this one, Trotter was a big key in the Cardinals taking early control as most of her makes came off putbacks, and she took advantage at the free throw line as well. Her five steals in this game give her 47 for the year, which is pretty good given the months she missed due to injury, but she will need to match this game's pace over the final three (a little less if the Cardinals can sneak into the conference tournament) if she wants to join the top ten mark for a single season in program history.
• Caroline Long (NPU): 11-17 FG, 1-3 FT; 23 pts, 3 reb (1 off). Long had the best game out of any of the Vikings. She had a personal 6-0 run once the margin hit 20 in the fourth, and she added another bucket at the end for the last score of the game to give herself high scorer honors for the contest. Unfortunately for her and her team, it wasn't enough to get them over the top.

Key Stats

• NCC: 31 points off 22 NPU turnovers. This is the recipe for NCC's success: get into your full court defense, force turnovers, and cash in. 13 of the giveaways came off Cardinal steals, paced by the aforementioned five from Trotter, with Grace Keiffer notching four more. By comparison, the Cardinals coughed the ball up 16 times, which the Vikings turned into 20 points.
• NPU: 6-12 3PT (50.0%). This was largely buoyed by a 3-5 fourth quarter, but that was part of why this margin was as tight as it was in a game that the Cardinals largely seemed to control. The Vikings' free throw shooting did them no favors (11-19).

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ MIL 59 (8-13, 7-5), AUG 51 (9-13, 5-8)
• @ CAR 87 (16-6, 8-5), IWU 81 (20-1, 11-1)
• CRL 71 (15-6, 10-2), @ WHE 63 (11-10, 6-6)
• CRL clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• BYE: ELM (12-8, 4-8)

Final Thoughts
This caps a solid week for the Cardinals, who after losing a couple rough games last week, had a good bounce back including a huge win in Kenosha this past Wednesday. The twin victories keep North Central's season alive and will hopefully provide a confidence boost. They will need all the help they can get, with a trip to Carroll coming this Wednesday.

Game Notes: (MBK) Illinois Wesleyan University @ North Central College (2/5/25)

Final Score
NCC 72, IWU 64

Game Summary
Early on it seemed like the the number two team in the country in the Titans (18-3, 10-2) would run away with this one as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead just three and a half minutes into the game. But Vince Kmiec called a timeout to stop the bleeding, and that reset got the Cardinals (12-9, 5-7) back on track. The Titans kept in front, leading 19-13 with a little over 12 minutes to go, but then the Cardinals went on an extended 18-0 run to take command of the contest. All told the Titans went seven minutes without a field goal before hitting a three to cut it back to single digits, though the Cardinals would hit a long two to go into the locker room up 41-30. The start of the second half was all Titans again, as they opened on a 14-2 run despite another Kmiec timeout, grabbing the lead for the first time since the opening minutes. That was short lived, as Sean Molloy hit a fallaway from the paint to retake the lead, and that sparked a 7-0 Cardinal run. The Cardinals kept a five point lead with about four minutes to go, but the Titans fought back to tie the contest at 60 with just over three minutes to go. Drew Gaston answered with a fallaway on the ensuing possession, and the Cardinals would lead the rest of the way for the upset.

Key Players

• Tyler Swierczek (NCC): 7-9 FG (3-4 3PT), 2-2 FT; 19 pts, 3 reb (1 off). With Ethan Helwig and Alejandro Diaz out of the lineup, someone needed to step up for the Cardinals, and Swierczek filled that role. He scored eight, including a couple threes, during that critical 18-0 run, and added a couple big baskets during the second half.
• Terrance Moncrief (NCC): 6-16 FG (1-3 3PT), 4-4 FT; 17 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 4 ast, 3 stl. It wasn't the most efficient night for Moncrief, as Hakim Williams did a good job on him on the perimeter. But Moncrief filled in in other ways, and when he was needed he was able to get his points. All four of his free throws came in the closing seconds to ice the game away.
• Drew Gaston (NCC): 5-9 FG (1-3 3PT), 3-3 FT; 14 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast. Getting the start with Diaz out, Gaston played admirably. The Titans though might be seeing baseline fadeaway jumpers in their nightmares as Gaston hit a couple key ones. He gave the Cardinals that 62-60 lead, then added another one with under a minute to go to make it 66-62.

Key Stats

• NCC: 15-17 FT (88.2%). On a night where you're playing the number two team in the country, you need to take advantage of free throws when gifted them by your opponent. And the Cardinals, who Alex Campbell mentioned on the broadcast are the #11 team in the country in free throw percentage, lived up to that reputation. And when the Cardinals needed them the most in the closing minute, the Cardinals went 6-6 to seal the win.
• IWU: 16 turnovers. If there's an Achilles heel to this Titans team, it's taking care of the ball. They're averaging 14 giveaways per game this season, and that theme held true in this game. The Cardinals notched eight of those on steals, took advantage of a couple early offensive fouls on the Titans, and one of those turnovers was the result of a Harrison Wilmsen technical foul. The Cardinals scored 18 points off of those 16 turnovers, while the Titans managed just nine points off six Cardinal giveaways.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ ELM 78 (10-11, 6-6), MIL 68 (11-10, 5-7)
• WHE 102 (4-16, 1-10), @ NPU 89 (14-7, 9-3)
• Soren Richardson (WHE): 53 pts
• CAR 84 (15-5, 9-2), @ CRL 75 (6-14, 2-9)
• BYE: AUG (12-8, 5-6)
• WBK: NCC 62 (8-13, 4-8), @ CAR 50 (15-6, 7-5)

Final Thoughts

At least once a year, something magical happens at Merner.

Last night is why I do this. #whyd3 #d3hoops https://t.co/F6IQI0WLPt

— Lucas Mitzel🎙 (@northsider89) February 6, 2025

When these two teams met in Bloomington last month, the Cardinals ended up forcing triple overtime before the Titans finally escaped with a victory. It's been a rough month on the whole for the Cardinals since the drubbing of Wheaton a month ago, with two other overtime losses in addition to that previous game in Bloomington. So in what was an energetic, packed house, this one might have meant just a little bit more. Vince Kmiec cracked after the game that we'd just won a national championship. While that's obvious hyperbole, it was a much needed win, and the fact that it was an upset against the second-ranked team in the country was the proverbial cherry on top.

That proverbial cherry also keeps the Cardinals season alive. There's a clear top three in the Titans along with North Park and Carthage, then a dropoff. Elmhurst is a game clear for the four seed, and the Cardinals are fighting with Augustana and Millikin for the last two spots. NCC has a split with both, but the advantage the Cardinals now have is with this win over the Titans, this win will likely give the Cardinals the edge over both as we get down to the nitty gritty.

Senior Night will be on Saturday as the Cardinals welcome in North Park for another critical game. The Vikings have dominated the series in recent years, but are coming off a shocking loss at home to previously winless in conference Wheaton. The Vikings are just a game out of first with the two teams above them playing, so it's a game both teams need.

Game Notes: (WBK) Millikin University @ North Central College (1/29/25)

Final Score
Millikin 76, NCC 69

Game Summary
It seemed early on like we would be in for a good night as the Cardinals (7-12, 3-7) got some early takeaways off their press and jumped out to a 12-0 lead. But the Big Blue (7-12, 6-4) hit a bunch of threes to keep themselves in the contest, though they would trail 25-18 after one. The Cardinals kept it up in the second quarter and even pushed ahead a little bit for a 40-29 intermission lead. Things seemed in hand as with 6:44 left in the third NCC took its biggest lead of the contest at 48-31. And then it all went to hell. Millikin slowly chipped away, getting it back to single digits with about two minutes to go and cut it to five by the end of the third. The Big Blue needed just a minute to tie the game in the fourth and took their first lead just over a minute later. All told an extended 22-2 run by Millikin decided the game as the Cardinals choked this one away.

Key Players

• Nikkel Johnson (MIL): 9-17 FG, 6-7 FT; 24 pts, 7 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. The freshman has missed some time so far this season, but had easily the best game of her young career as she just destroyed the Cardinals' interior defense in the second half. 10 of her 24 came in the second half, including three straight layups on consecutive fourth quarter possessions that more or less salted the game away for the Big Blue. She could be a major problem for CCIW foes in the coming years.
• Bella Dudley (MIL): 8-10 FG (2-2 3PT), 1-3 FT; 19 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Dudley also came off the bench for the Big Blue and was another offensive spark for this team. One of her two threes came immediately in the fourth quarter to cut it to a two point game, but she was also able to easily get to the basket a few times in this one.
• Biz Daly (NCC): 8-12 FG, 3-4 FT; 19 pts, 6 reb (4 off), 1 ast. This is probably the lone bright spot from a rough outing. I've chronicled the struggles the past two games for Daly, but she got into a rhythm early and had a nice bounceback game in this one. She did run into some foul trouble, which might not have helped, but hopefully this was a good confidence builder going into the home stretch.

Key Stats

• NCC: 4-17 FG in the 4th quarter (23.5%). Yeah. From that aforementioned 6:44 mark in the third quarter onward, the Cardinals missed a total of ten layups. Twelve, if you count the pair of missed tip in attempts. Granting that there were some offensive rebounds mixed in there, that's still probably 16-20 points left on the floor in a game you lost by seven. You do the math.
• MIL: 7-14 3PT (50.0%). I mentioned in the summary that their three point shooting kept them in the game early. The Big Blue went 4-5 in the opening quarter to keep from getting their doors blown off, and actually started 5-6 in the game counting Dudley's three early in the second. I'd almost forgotten about the hot start as they missed their next five tries, but the couple hits early in the fourth as part of the aforementioned 22-2 run really swung the momentum.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ ELM 80 (12-6, 4-6), AUG 71 (7-12, 3-7)
• WHE 56 (10-9, 5-5), @ NPU 50 (3-16, 0-10)
• @ CRL 80 (13-5, 8-1), CAR 53 (14-5, 6-4)
• BYE: IWU (18-0, 9-0)
  
• MBK: NCC 65 (11-8, 4-6), @ MIL 56 (10-9, 4-6)

Final Thoughts

In a season that has turned frustrating since the calendar flipped to 2025, last night was a new low. Coach McCloskey-Bax mentioned offhand towards the end that they'd spent much of a practice working on layups leading up to this game... and you can see how that went here. It's a devastating loss that puts the Cardinals in the bottom third of the league standings with time running out. NCC is a game back of Elmhurst for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament, and with the split there we'd have to go through the tiebreaker list to figure out who would get that spot.

Ultimately though the Cardinals have to regroup, as they now find themselves facing an absolute must-win game on Saturday as they head to Rock Island to take on Augustana. The Vikings and Cardinals are tied for seventh in the league standings, with the Cardinals winning the first matchup in Naperville back in December. A sweep would put the Cardinals likely clear of them, but needing to steal another couple games if they want a chance to sneak into the postseason.

Game Notes: (MBK) Elmhurst University @ North Central College (1/25/25)

Final Score
Elmhurst 77, NCC 73 (OT)

Game Summary
In another heartbreaker, the Cardinals (10-8, 3-6) got off to a good start, scoring on the game's first possession and using a 10-0 to flip a five point margin early on to keep the game in their control. Elmhurst stuck around though, not letting it get beyond that five point deficit before coming back, though NCC would lead 30-29 going into halftime. The second half saw the Cardinals go up by a game-high eight early, and after a layup gave the Cardinals a 45-39 edge, the Jays countered with a 9-0 run to go up three. Naturally, the Cardinals responded with a 9-0 run of their own to retake that lead. It would be short-lived though, as Elmhurst scored the next seven, and a quick Cardinal three to regrab the lead was answered. The teams traded two point possessions a bit, but 40 minutes would not be enough on this night as we went to overtime. Early Cardinal baskets were quickly answered, and the Jays went up four with about two minutes to go. But the Cardinals found a way to tie the game at 73 with just 13 seconds to go. Unfortunately, Vinnie Adjahoungbeta was able to work his way free on the right side and got a floater to go with 2.8 seconds to go, and Ethan Helwig's baseball pass down the court went harmlessly out of bounds to allow the Blue Jays to escape with the win.

Key Players

• Dominic Trelenberg (ELM): 6-14 FG (1-3 3PT), 7-8 FT; 20 pts, 8 reb (4 off), 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. Trelenberg had the best outing of the Jays in this one, as he was able to get to the basket enough in this one despite a decent Cardinal defensive effort. He scored six of his points in the extra session, four off free throws, assisted on the three that put the Jays up four, and got a layup that made it 73-71.
• Vinnie Adjahoungbeta (ELM): 4-10 FG (0-1 3PT), 2-3 FT; 10 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. In 30 minutes off the bench, Adjahoungbeta was able to wreak a ton of havoc on the glass, and then hit what proved to be the game-winner in the closing seconds.
• Alejandro Diaz (NCC): 7-11 FG (3-7 3PT), 2-4 FT; 19 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 2 stl. As the leading scorer, Diaz was a big reason why the Cardinals stayed in this game, though it could be argued he's fortunate he was. Diaz picked up his second foul fairly early in the first half, then got his third before Vince Kmiec could get him out. Diaz would not pick up another, which worked out as he hit some big shots, especially in the second half.

Key Stats

• NCC: 7-12 FG (58.3%). This undersells how bad this was. In regulation the Cardinals were just 3-8 from the stripe. All but one of those shots came in the second half, with the misses all coming off either and-ones (though one would result in a second chance layup) or on the front end of one-and-one's. If even one of those free throws falls, we're talking about a completely different game.
• ELM: Outscored NCC on second chances 22-6. Honestly, this was more so the game. Elmhurst won the rebounding battle 43-35, which is significant, but maybe not 16 points significant. But it was the 16 Blue Jay offensive rebounds to eight for North Central, and that more or less sums up how this game went.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ CAR 77 (14-4, 8-1), AUG 69 (10-8, 3-6)
• NPU 69 (13-5, 8-1), @ MIL 61 (10-8, 4-5)
• @ IWU 90 (16-2, 8-1), WHE 68 (3-15, 0-9)
• BYE: CRL (6-11, 2-6)

Final Thoughts

This one hurt. The Wheaton game feels like an eternity ago, and since then the Cardinals have dropped four straight. All six of their CCIW losses are to teams ahead of them, with wins against the teams they're grouped with. If the season ended today the Cardinals would sneak into that sixth seed by virtue of the head to head win over Augie, but that's from even longer ago. I wasn't sure what the ceiling of this team was coming into the season, and I got excited early on that this team could be sneaky good. But at this point, they seem like a middle of the pack CCIW team. They need to get things figured out if they want to make the CCIW Tournament, but it won't be easy with a trip to Millikin on the docket next.

Game Notes: (WBK) Elmhurst University @ North Central College (1/25/25)

Final Score
Elmhurst 69, NCC 65

Game Summary
The Blue Jays (11-6, 3-6) opened the game on an 8-2 run to take the early control, though the Cardinals (7-11, 3-6) did a good job answering back, taking a 15-12 lead after one quarter. They'd push the lead as high as five, but couldn't sustain it and a late bucket gave the Jays a 30-28 halftime lead. Elmhurst pushed their lead up to seven midway through the third quarter, but the Cardinals followed that with an 11-2 run to retake the lead, though Elmhurst would tie it at 50 to end the third. The fourth quarter was largely back and forth, though the Jays held the advantage for most of it. The key stretch came with under a minute to go when a Jocelyn Trotter three tied the game at 63 with 35 seconds to go. Unfortunately, Elmhurst easily broke the Cardinal press for a layup, and the Cardinals never truly threatened again.

Key Players

• Cierra Steemer (ELM): 9-20 FG, 1-2 FT; 19 pts, 17 reb (8 off), 1 ast, 3 blk. The Cardinals did a decent job on Steemer, though she absolutely got hers throughout the game. She made what turned out to be the game-winning layup for the Jays with 28 seconds to go and absolutely dominated the glass.
• Kristin Bukata (ELM): 4-15 FG (0-2 3PT), 7-8 FT; 15 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 5 ast, 1 stl. Bukata is sneaky good. She struggled shooting on the whole, yet finished as the second leading scorer for the Jays and seemed like she scored in some key situations for them.
• Jocelyn Trotter (NCC): 9-11 FG (1-1 3PT), 2-2 FT; 21 pts, 10 reb (4, off), 1 ast, 2 blk, 3 stl. This seems like your typical Jocelyn Trotter game. It's her second straight double-double and third since returning from injury earlier this season. Most of her baskets were her bread and butter pull up jumpers, and she also hit that big three that tied the game at 63. It just wasn't enough today.

Key Stats

• NCC: 8-14 FT (57.1%). For the season, the Cardinals have been around 70 percent from the stripe, so this was an alarming game. They also only shot from the stripe in the second and third quarters, with none in the starting or ending stanzas. Elmhurst, for its part, hit at that 70 percent clip.
• ELM: 18 fast break points. The Cardinal pressure defense did do its part, but the Jays seemed like they had a pretty good grip on it. They were able to run the floor a decent amount and get some easy baskets. None more so than easily breaking the press of Trotter's game-tying three, and going tic-tac-toe to find Steemer for that game-winning layup.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ CAR 61 (14-4, 6-3), AUG 52 (7-11, 3-6)
• @ MIL 72 (6-12, 5-4), NPU 61 (3-15, 0-9)
• @ IWU 93 (18-0, 9-0), WHE 57 (9-9, 4-5)
• BYE: CRL (12-5, 7-1)

Final Thoughts

It has just been heartbreak after heartbreak with this team. After starting CCIW play 2-1, the Cardinals have dropped five of their last six. This also continues an infuriating pattern when playing the other DuPage County bird team: each of the last three seasons the Cardinals have won relatively easily in the first meeting of each season at Elmhurst (including a 20 point victory earlier this season) only to blow it at home on the return trip.

It was another rough game for Biz Daly as well, as she only went 1-10 from the field. Credit to Steemer for defense, but I also wonder a bit of Daly is starting to force it after the Carthage game. Hopefully she'll be able to find her form again soon.

It's getting late early for this Cardinal team; while they still find themselves in the hunt for a CCIW Tournament bid, a loss to a team they'd already beaten once hurts, and they remain in a tie for that final spot with this Blue Jay team who they now have a split with (which means they'll need a separate tiebreaker) and an Augustana team who they do have a win against already. It likely means they'll need to steal one against somebody above them the rest of the way, though they'll have a chance to do that when Millikin comes calling on Wednesday.

Game Notes: (WBK) Carthage College @ North Central College (1/22/25)

Final Score
Carthage 63, NCC 60 (OT)

Game Summary
We had a fun one early as the Cardinals (7-10, 3-5) got the scoring going early, overcoming an early small deficit and leading 24-16 after one quarter. The Firebirds (13-4, 5-3) trimmed the lead a couple times in the second quarter, but the scoring slowed down a ton as the Cardinals took a 35-26 lead to the locker room. NCC scored the first four of the second half to push their lead to a game-high 13, but Carthage fought back, using back to back threes at one point to cut the deficit to three. The Cardinals pushed the lead back to six by the end of the third but went cold to start the fourth, not getting their first field goal until the halfway point of the stanza. Despite that, the Cardinals held onto a four point lead with three minutes to go, but couldn't hold it as a pair of Marianna Morrissey layups tied the game at 56. Carthage had the first shot to win in regulation, but Grace Keiffer swiped the ball with just under five seconds left and the Cardinals called timeout to advance the ball. Josylin Simmons-Doxie's drive did not fall, and we got free basketball in Naperville. It took over two minutes in overtime before the Firebirds opened the scoring. The Cardinals answered a minute later, but the Firebirds retook the lead on the ensuing possession. Keiffer hit a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left to tie the game again, but Alyssa Orozco hit a corner three with 4.6 ticks left, and Keiffer's desperation three to force a second overtime was blocked to end the contest.

Key Players

• Marianna Morrissey (CAR): 6-13 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-4 FT; 15 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 2 stl. Morrissey had a strong first half, scoring nine on 4-7 shooting before going quiet for most of the second half. But her two quick layups late in regulation forced the extra session. She coughed the ball up a lot (six turnovers), but made up for it with some clutch play late.
• Megan McClure (NCC): 5-9 FG (1-2 3PT); 11 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 4 stl. It's been a bit of an up and down year for the fifth-year, but McClure had a solid game in this one. She hit a midrange jumper early in the game, but it didn't really set the tone. She was able to also get free for a couple easy layups, and she played very good defense on the interior (and she was rewarded with the couple blocks and team-high in steals). It just wasn't enough on this night.
• Biz Daly (NCC): 3-15 FG; 6 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. I was high on Biz Daly at the beginning of the season, and she's definitely improved from her freshman year. But this was a rough outing for the sophomore. The Cardinals kept feeding her down low, but she just could not buy a layup the entire night. One of her three makes was a baseline jumper, and as the game went on she stopped backing opponents down and started trying turnarounds, just to get something to fall. Unfortunately for most of the night, it didn't.

Key Stats

• NCC: 22-66 FG (33.3%). This isn't a great line, but when you break it down it gets worse. The Cardinals were hot out of the gates, shooting 11-16 in the opening quarter. For those of you keeping track at home, that means they went 11-50 the rest of the game. This is a streaky team, and I even said at the table that I didn't think the first quarter was necessarily sustainable, but they just went absolutely cold at the worst possible time.
• CAR: 23 turnovers. If it weren't for the fact that the Cardinals couldn't buy a basket for most of the night, this would have been a fairly comfortable Cardinal win. Carthage tried a trap defense for chunks of the first half before going away from it due to lack of results. Meanwhile on the other end, 13 steals contributed a majority of the above, plus a few travels and a ten second call that ultimately led to 21 Cardinal points. Cashing in more would have flipped the result, but Carthage won the second chance point battle 13-6 after a +18 rebounding margin.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• WHE 64 (9-8, 4-4), @ AUG 62 (7-10, 3-5)
• @ CRL 73 (12-5, 7-1), ELM 71 (10-6, 2-6)
• IWU 81 (17-0, 8-0), @ MIL 60 (5-12, 4-4)
• BYE: NPU (3-14, 0-8)
• MBK: NCC bye (10-7, 3-5)

Final Thoughts

This one hurt. I had to go up to Alyssa Orozco postgame and congratulate her on her game-winner, because that's all you can do. But in a game that the Cardinals led for a majority of the contest, they just couldn't finish it off.

At the halfway point, the CCIW has a fairly clear set of tiers. Illinois Wesleyan is by itself, unbeaten and ranked second in the nation, with Carroll a tier below. Then there's a decent sized cluster with Carthage a game up on third place, and the Cardinals in a tie for the final spot, a game back of Millikin and Wheaton. The standings more or less make sense for the Cardinals, as they've lost to all the teams above them and beaten everyone even with them or below. Two of their conference wins came on the road, so they'll get the rematch in the comforts of home, plus additional home contests against Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan yet to go. They'll have a shot at the conference tournament still, but they'll need to go on an absolute heater if they want to live up to their preseason ranking.

Elmhurst comes calling this weekend for a matinee tipoff.

Game Notes: (WBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College

Final Score
Wheaton 66, NCC 52

Game Summary
This one started okay as the Cardinals (6-9, 2-4) got some early baskets and ended up leading 16-15 after one quarter. But the Thunder (8-7, 3-3) scored the first ten points of the second quarter and held NCC off the board until after the media timeout, going into half up 32-23. The third quarter proved to be more of the same as the Cardinals turned the ball over numerous times and Wheaton pushed the lead to a dozen before the Cardinals made a little run, getting within four before going into the final frame down five. In the fourth, the Thunder made enough plays down the stretch to slowly be able to pull away.

Key Players

• Kate Oliver (WHE): 8-17 FG (3-6 3PT), 5-7 FT; 24 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk. Oliver had a phenomenal game offensively, scoring several key baskets all over the floor. North Central tried multiple defenders on her, and even in circumstances where they forced her to take a contested shot late in the possession, she'd end up making it. It was that kind of night.
• Annika Richardson (WHE): 9-14 FG (5-8 3PT); 23 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 2 blk, 1 stl. Richardson might have had a better night. Several of her threes were fairly open looks as the Cardinal defense did not do enough to contest a shot, and she took advantage. Her size led to a game-high in rebounds as well.
• Jocelyn Trotter (NCC): 4-12 FG (0-4 3PT); 8 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 5 stl. Trotter was a key part of the comeback effort late in the third and into the fourth quarter, especially with her defense. Unfortunately she couldn't get outside shots to fall, and couldn't do enough in the pullup game to compensate.

Key Stats

• NCC: 20 turnovers. The Cardinals committed nine turnovers in the first half, then proceeded to almost double that just in the opening first few minutes of the third quarter. It was a lot of careless passes; Wheaton committed ten steals in the game. But the Cardinals were also called for a handful of traveling violations, which didn't help matters either. While the Thunder only scored 14 points off those 20 turnovers, the fact that the Cardinals kept coughing it up was ultimately the problem.
• WHE: 26-63 FG (41.8%). In a vacuum, those numbers aren't bad. Having watched the game though, this was part of why the Cardinals stayed in the game. The Thunder shot just 5-18 in the opening quarter, and even while the Cardinals were turning the ball over a ton in the third, Wheaton shot just 5-14. But it was the even quarters where they made their mark, and an 8-21 day (38.1%) from beyond the arc was enough to propel them to victory.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ IWU 63 (16-0, 7-0), Carthage 42 (11-4, 3-3)
• @ AUG 58 (7-8, 3-3), MIL 48 (4-11, 3-3)
• @ ELM 74 (10-4, 2-4), NPU 59 (3-13, 0-7)
• BYE: CRL (10-5, 5-1)
• MBK: @ CAR 93 (11-4, 5-1), NCC 78 (10-6, 3-4)

Final Thoughts

This one hurt. After a game in Naperville last year where the Cardinals played a complete game (albeit against a less-than-full-strength Thunder team) and snapped the 31 game losing streak for a victory I'd waited 15 years for, they couldn't stretch the streak to two. It was not a well-played game, and while the Thunder didn't play their best either, their two best players were the two best players on the floor last night, and they made the plays when they needed to.

The loss puts the Cardinals in somewhat precarious position; they're 2-4 in CCIW play, with their two victories coming against Augustana and Elmhurst, but losses to Wheaton and Millikin put them effective a game and a half back of them as we near the halfway point. They'll hopefully get a chance to rebound at North Park on Saturday before closing out the first half of the round robin at home against Carthage next week.

Game Notes: (MBK) Wheaton College @ North Central College (1/8/25)

Final Score
NCC 86, Wheaton 48

Game Summary
This was a nice bounceback by the Cardinals (10-4, 3-2), scoring the game's first eight points. But the Thunder (3-10, 0-4) were able to hit some shots from outside to keep the game close, maintaining a single digit deficit for the entire first half, though a late three gave the Cardinals a 36-27 lead going into the break. The Cardinals clearly made some good halftime adjustments, and opened the second half on a 19-0 run, that extended to 24-5. Wheaton got no closer than 23 the rest of the way, with NCC getting its biggest lead at the final margin.

Key Players

• Ethan Helwig (NCC): 5-11 FG (4-10 3PT), 3-3 FT; 17 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. Helwig led the Cardinals in scoring, and also had several of the biggest baskets in this one. He hit the three at the end of the first half to answer a Wheaton triple and turn a six point game into a nine point game. He hit two more threes during that aforementioned 19-0 run, plus a pair of free throws that turned the game into a rout. He also played some solid defense to keep Wheaton under wraps.
• James Bullock, Jr. (NCC): 4-10 FG (1-2 3PT), 6-6 FT; 15 pts, 6 reb (1 off). Bullock has started to become a key guy for the Cardinals coming off the bench, and this was probably his best outing. His shooting numbers from the floor aren't great, but he hit a big three at one point and did well from the line. His six rebounds led the team as well.
• Kyle Neibch (WHE): 6-9 FG (all 3PT), 1-2 FT; 19 pts, 4 reb. Niebch was the main focus of Wheaton's offense, and was a big reason why the Thunder stayed in the game in the first half. Four of his six triples came in the opening 20 minutes. His four rebounds were also a team high.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outrebounded WHE 44-19. I could have gone with NCC's three point shooting (12-29, 41.4%), but this number just leapt off the page. Wheaton started a five guard lineup, and though they did get some forwards in at times, they just couldn't win the glass. To help matters more, the Cardinals won the offensive rebounding battle 13-0, which I think might be a first in games I've done. This resulted in a 16-0 advantage in second chance points for the Cardinals.
• WHE: 17 turnovers. This is a lot. Starting with a number of traveling violations early in the game especially, they also did a poor job taking care of the ball in total. Cardinal defenders recorded 10 steals, and the 17 giveaways led to 24 Cardinal points (for comparison, Wheaton forced nine turnovers and got just eight points off them).

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 80 (12-2, 4-1), @ NPU 69 (9-5, 4-1)
• CAR 75 (9-4, 3-1), @ ELM 71 (6-8, 2-3)
• MIL 67 (9-4, 3-1), @ AUG 62 (8-5, 1-3)
• Bye: CRL (4-9, 0-4)
• WBK: @ MIL 80 (3-10, 2-2), NCC 69 (6-7, 2-2)

Final Thoughts

This result was a little bizarre. Wheaton has struggled this season, sure, but in conference they'd had some decent results: a six point loss at Elmhurst, a three point loss at home to North Park, and a five point overtime loss at home to Illinois Wesleyan (albeit in a game they'd led by nine with about four minutes left). So to see this Thunder team come out and get their doors completely blown off was jarring (in a good way). It's a big win for a Cardinal team that needed one after a couple tough losses last week. It also gets the team to 3-2 in conference prior to absolutely running the gauntlet. Three contests remain in the first round of the double round robin, all on the road: at Illinois Wesleyan, at Carthage, and at North Park. Those are the top three teams in the league, by the way. Stealing one to close at .500 at the halfway mark would be great, and anything beyond that is gravy. Meanwhile, 3-5 would be a challenging hole to climb out of, but a doable one with those aforementioned teams all still due to come to Naperville.

Game Notes: (MBK) Carroll University @ North Central College (12/14/24)

Final Score
NCC 68, Carroll 66

Game Summary
There was more drama in the nightcap than there was in the game that preceded it, though at first it didn't seem like it. The Pioneers (2-7, 0-3) took the lead early and just built on it. They had a double digit lead with nine minutes gone in the contest and got it as high as 14 before the Cardinals (8-2, 2-1) started to make some headway and cut it a seven point game before the Pioneers made one late push to end the half up 37-25. After a Kobe Simpson three made it 40-27 about two minutes into the second half, Carroll went cold, and the Cardinals embarked on a 16-3 run that tied the game with under 12 minutes to play. This turned the game into a back and forth classic, with neither team being able to push out to a two possession lead. Carroll tied the game for the 13th time at 66 with about 15 seconds to go. The Cardinals took two and a half ticks to get across halfcourt for a timeout to draw up the final play. And from there... we'll let the video do the work.

Goaltending? You be the judge. #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/gAxIUukjvN

— Lucas Mitzel🎙 (@northsider89) December 15, 2024

Key Players

• Ethan Helwig (NCC): 7-12 FG (2-6 3PT), 4-5 FT; 20 pts, 11 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl.  Helwig was a large factor in the comeback, with 14 of his team-high 20 coming after the intermission. But no play was larger than the final offensive possession when he took a bounce from Alejandro Diaz, lost the handle, somehow got it back, fired up a fadeaway that somehow, someway, bounced home. Just two days after picking a pocket for the game-winning layup at Loras, he does it again.
• Terrance Moncrief (NCC): 8-13 FG (1-1 3PT), 2-3 FT; 19 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 4 stl. Someone came by the table late in the second half and asked what Moncrief was at scoring-wise; it might have even been after he hit his lone three to put the Cardinals up by that much with under 90 seconds to go. You talk about guys have a "quiet" 19 where you aren't really paying attention to his output, go to check the box score at the end of the game and his numbers are really good. Moncrief though, had a loud 19. He was attacking the basket and got a ton of shots to fall, none bigger that that three, even though Carroll immediately came back to tie the game.
• Evan Bland (CRL): 5-8 FG (2-4 3PT); 12 pts, 3 reb. There's probably a few different ways I could've gone, but Bland led the Pioneers in scoring coming off the bench, and hit some big buckets for them in this one. It just wasn't enough on this night.

Key Stats

• NCC: 10-34 FG 1st half (29.4%). This was a big part of it; the Cardinals couldn't buy a bucket early in the game. This mark included a 1-10 effort from beyond the arc. Obviously it got better after halftime (17-30, including 4-9 from beyond the arc), and that helped the Cardinals to a comeback victory.
• CRL: 8-29 FG 2nd half (27.6%). And this ultimately tells the other half. Carroll went about seven minutes without a field goal when the Cardinals were mounting their comeback. The numbers got buoyed by the late efforts to answer Cardinals baskets, but it just wasn't enough.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• CAR 82 (7-2, 2-0), @ AUG 70 (5-3, 1-2)
• NPU 78 (6-3, 3-0), @ WHE 75 (3-8, 0-2)
• BYE: MIL (5-4, 1-1)
• Sunday 4pm: ELM @ IWU

Final Thoughts

Okay, I didn't address it when I dropped the video originally, so let's get to the elephant in the room. Yes, that probably should have been goaltending on Tyler Swierczek. It was pretty clear both in real time and then again on replay that he touched the rim. But in keeping with how most of this game went, they let both teams play.

The Cardinals have now won 12 in a row against Carroll dating back to December of 2018, and that includes a three game sweep last year highlighted by a Sean Molloy fadeaway winning the game in somewhat similar fashion as well as a game in the CCIW Tournament. North Central continues to find ways to win games, even when they don't necessarily play their best. But at 8-2, with a 2-1 mark in CCIW play, they're in good shape.

This is it for conference play for the calendar year. Concordia Chicago comes calling on Friday (a reschedule due to NCC Football doing NCC Football things), plus an exhibition against D-I UW-Milwaukee before the holiday.

Game Notes: (WBK) Carroll University @ North Central College (12/14/24)

Final Score
Carroll 85, NCC 58

Game Summary
This one wasn't pretty. The Pioneers (6-4, 2-1) scored the game's first eight, and while the Cardinals (5-4, 1-1) fought back to cut the deficit to make it a 15-8 ballgame, Caroll finished the opening quarter on an 11-3 run to go up by 15 after ten minutes. A 9-0 Pioneer run keyed their second quarter to a 51-27 halftime advantage. The Cardinals would not threaten in the second half, and Caroll got the lead as high as 32 before settling into the final margin.

Key Players

• Olivia Rangel (CRL): 7-11 FG (1-1 3PT), 3-4 FT; 18 pts, 7 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 1 stl. I could've gone a few different ways, but Rangel had the best floor game for the Pios.
• Emilie Wizner (CRL): 8-15 FG (1-6 3PT), 4-4 FT; 21 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl. Wizner I feel like had kind of a quiet 21. I called her name plenty of times, but it didn't feel like she was the big threat. Maybe part of it was the poor three point night. Regardless, she did enough from elsewhere on the floor to make up for it.
• Elle Sutter (NCC): 5-14 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-4 FT; 13 pts, 10 reb (3 off), 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. Not a great shooting night, as Elle missed some looks from in close (though through contact that was not called much either way all night), and yet she still managed to put up a double-double. For her second official game back, not too bad. She'll get there.

Key Stats

• NCC: 2-15 3PT (13.3%), 14-24 FT (58.3%). It's the combination of these, really. The Cardinals did a poor job at the line, though that wouldn't have been enough to turn the tide. Maybe doing better from deep would have helped. The looks were open, but other than Cate Uhren hitting a pair in the first half... that was it.
• CRL: 56 points in the paint. I mean, considering the Cardinals only scored 58 total, this seems like the game. Carroll did a great job moving the ball around and finding some open looks, and made the Cardinals pay despite them doing all they could.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ IWU 93 (9-0, 3-0), ELM 56 (7-2, 1-2)
• CAR 71 (6-2, 1-1), @ AUG 57 (3-7, 1-3)
• @ WHE 68 (6-5, 2-1), NPU 35 (3-7, 0-3)
• UW-Platteville 60, @ MIL 47 (2-6, 1-1)

Final Thoughts

I hate playing Carroll in women's basketball. It's a credit to Lindsey Schultz, her staff, and the players that they continue to dominate this series, winning the past eight matchups between these two teams. While we're nowhere near Wheaton territory yet, it's getting there.

I was hoping for a little more competitive a game, but this team will have to have a short memory and be ready to go, as they hit the road on Tuesday for a game at Coe. That will be their last game before a two week break for the holidays; that game in Iowa will be the first of five straight on the road. North Central will not be home again until January 15th when they welcome Wheaton to town.

Game Notes: (MBK) Augustana College @ North Central College (12/7/24)

Final Score
NCC 76, Augustana 69

Game Summary
After a tough loss to open CCIW play on Wednesday, the Cardinals (6-2, 1-1) opened with a pair of layups on their first two possessions to go up 4-0. Then the seesaw came out as the Vikings (5-2, 1-1) scored the next five. Neither team could gain a large edge as the game stayed within one possession for the rest of the half, the Vikings scoring with eight ticks left to take a 36-35 halftime edge. Augie pushed their lead to five early in the second half before the Cardinals stormed back, hitting back to back threes to get the seesaw going once again. NCC would lead by as many as four, but the seesaw kept going. After 14 ties, the Cardinals took the 30th lead change of the game on a pair of free throws with just over a minute to go, then hit six more while shutting out the Vikings the rest of the way to seal the home victory.

Key Players

• Ethan Helwig (NCC): 6-11 FG (3-7 3PT), 8-8 FT; 23 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast. Ethan's had some rough games to start the year, but in this one got the ship righted. It was a big boost to get his scoring average back into double figures, he hit some big shots, but it was his work at the free throw line late that helped seal the deal. Helwig hit six in a row in the final minute-plus, including the ones that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.
• Tre Davis (NCC): 3-6 FG (1-2 3PT), 2-2 FT; 9 pts, 1 reb, 2 stl. While I could have gone with the only other double figure scorer in Tyler Swierczek (16 pts), I'll go with the guy who made arguably the play of the game. After Augie tied the game at 53, they shut NCC's offense down for 29 seconds before knocking the ball out of bounds and forcing an inbound with just one second on the shot clock. In past years, the Cardinals would have drawn up a lob play inside; instead Drew Gaston found Davis for a fallaway jumper at the buzzer that, at least for the moment, gave the Cardinals some momentum. Davis followed that up a few minutes later with his lone three that again gave the Cardinals the lead. Not a statistically driven game for Davis, but he hit big shots when his team needed him, and his two steals helped on the other end as well.
• Tyler Knuth (AUG): 6-15 FG (4-9 3PT), 6-6 FT; 22 pts, 1 reb. Knuth's main contribution came from his shooting, as he hit a number of big threes for the Vikings while also taking advantage of his trips to the free throw line. It just wasn't quite enough on this night.

Key Stats

• NCC: 9-23 3PT (39.1%). This is a very good shooting night on its face, but it came in the wake of a rough shooting night on Wednesday where the Cardinals hit just eight of 30 treys (26.7%) in a loss to Millikin. On this night, they didn't settle for threes. They largely came in the flow of the offense, and most importantly: they hit them when they needed to. It's a good bounceback effort.
• AUG: Outscored NCC in the paint 28-16. The Vikings had the size advantage in this one, and they used it. Guys were able to make their way to the basket, and then even in instances where they may not have hit, they got to the free throw line where they also had a good night (11-14, 78.6%). It just wasn't quite enough in this one.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ NPU 73 (5-3, 2-0), MIL 64 (4-4, 1-1)
• IWU 72 (7-1, 1-1), @ CRL 66 (2-6, 0-2)
• @ ELM 73 (4-4, 1-1), WHE 67 (3-7, 0-1)
• CAR 95 (6-2, 1-0), Knox 69

Final Thoughts

After missing the tough loss on Wednesday, it was good to get back to Merner on Saturday. We saw a tough, physical game a lot like many other North Central-Augustana games of the past. They largely let both teams play in this one (from a biased perspective, I thought to NCC's detriment at times in the second half). But when teams did get to the line, they took advantage; the Cardinals were near perfect (23-24, 95.8%, probably could/should have been my key stat for NCC). It got them back in the win column and to .500 in CCIW play.

It's hard at this point to say how good the CCIW on the whole is this season, but we'll find out more on Saturday when the Cardinals welcome Carroll to Gregory Arena for the first time since their CCIW Tournament meeting in February.

Game Notes: (WBK) Augustana College @ North Central College (12/7/24)

Final Score
NCC 72, Augustana 60

Game Summary
After trading baskets to open the game, the Vikings (3-5, 1-1) went on a 7-2 run to take early control. The Cardinals (5-3, 1-0) followed that up with an 8-0 run to take the lead. North Central pushed their advantage to six before settling into a 19-15 lead after ten minutes. Augie hit a three to open the second quarter, but the Cardinals followed that up with an 11-2 run to push their lead to double digits, and allowed just seven second quarter points to go up 35-22 at the break. North Central led by as many as 20 in the third quarter, and while the Vikings would fight back in the fourth quarter, but it took them until the final minute to get back to a single digit margin.

Key Players

• Biz Daly (NCC): 8-13 FG, 10-15 FT; 26 pts, 7 reb (3 off), 2 ast, 2 stl. Another night, another dominant showing from Daly. Her free throw numbers came down from where she's been for much of the rest of the year, but she continues to shine offensively on the whole. Through eight games, she's averaging 19.8 points, tops in the CCIW.
• Megan McClure (NCC): 4-9 FG; 8 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 4 ast. After what was a rough night on Wednesday (she had 10 rebounds, but turned the ball over six times), she had a good bounceback effort in this one. Her eight boards led the team, and after struggling some to start the year she's starting to find her touch on her midrange jumpers again. If she's hitting those, she's one of the best players on the floor.
• Paige Melton (AUG): 4-8 FG, 9-13 FT; 17 pts, 5 reb (3 off), 1 ast. Coming off a 31 point outburst against Elmhurst three nights prior (only the 11th 30+ point night for a Viking in the 21st century per Matthew Nicol of Augustana), she followed this one up with a good second half outburst, primarily at the free throw line. This solid performance combined with her Wednesday outburst earned her CCIW Player of the Week honors for the prior week.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outscored AUG on fast breaks 20-7. The scoring off turnovers only barely favored the Cardinals (17-15), but when NCC got out in transition they made the most of it. Now granted, many of these fast break points were counted off of free throws according to NCC's stats, but it's then a credit to the Cardinals for making enough of those to help power to a victory.
• AUG: 24 turnovers. NCC continues to employ a backcourt press defense off of inbounds plays, and it continues to wreak havoc on opponents. Augie was called for one ten second call, and came close a number of other times. Again, this resulted in 17 Cardinal points, with Cardinal defenders recording 10 steals for the contest.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 80 (8-0, 2-0), @ CRL 71 (5-4, 1-1)
• @ ELM 73 (7-1, 1-1), WHE 58 (5-4, 1-1)
• MIL 67 (2-5, 1-1), @ NPU 57 (3-6, 0-2)
• Bye: CAR (5-2, 0-1)

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed if you looked at the box score that Jocelyn Trotter's name was not mentioned. Apparently she suffered a knee injury somewhere along the line and was held out of the game on Wednesday against Chicago. At the time she was day-to-day, though talking to her pregame she gave a timeline of "a couple weeks." Hopefully that holds true; while the Cardinals will be okay, she's a big piece.

In the interim, the Cardinals needed reinforcements... and they got them. Fresh off another successful soccer season, Elle Sutter is back for her fifth year (fourth, given that she lost a year with a knee injury). This was a very quick turnaround decision for her, as she did not suit up on Wednesday but came off the bench on Saturday. With a modest line (5 pts, 5 reb), she'll probably need a little time to get back into basketball shape, but she'll get there, and when Trotter returns it'll make this group even scarier than they already are.

NCC followed this game up with a trip to Chicago to take on UIC in an exhibition on Sunday. They fell 113-53 in that game; not a surprise against a D-I foe, but a good tuneup. They'll get a chance to rest up and prepare for a big one against Carroll, a team that's had their number in recent years, but off to a slower start in 2024-25.

Game Notes: (MBK) Elmhurst University @ North Central College (1/24/22)

Final Score
NCC 79, Elmhurst 70

Game Summary
Early on, this seemed like a repeat of the Illinois Wesleyan game as the Blue Jays (12-5, 4-4) jumped out to a 17-4 lead just five and a half minutes into the game, forcing Todd Raridon to burn his second early timeout. The Cardinals (11-5, 6-2) had to burn a third at the halfway point of the first half as Elmhurst built a 32-11 advantage. North Central followed that timeout with a 9-0 run, but couldn't trim it to single digits as the Jays took a 45-29 lead into the locker room. A couple early second half Cardinal pushes were negated by answers from Elmhurst, especially halfway through the second half when the Cardinals surrendered a fast break dunk by the Jays to push their lead to 15. But then the Cardinals started to claw their way back, scoring eight straight to cut it to single digits. Elmhurst still led by nine with a little over seven minutes to go before the Cardinals embarked on a decisive 14-0 run that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game, and the Jays would not recover.

Key Players

• Matt Helwig (NCC): 9-12 FG (1-2 3PT), 2-5 FT; 21 pts, 9 reb (1 off), 5 ast, 1 stl. Having just been crowned the CCIW Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week, the nation's third-leading scorer ended up a little below his season average in this one, but was still a key portion of the comeback in this one. He helped keep the Cardinals in it with 10 points in the first half, then kept them in it for most of the second half before scoring two points during the key 14-0 run. His nine rebounds tied the game-high.
• Shea Cupples (NCC): 6-10 FG (5-9 3PT)l 17 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast. First off, that's a pretty good Connor Raridon-esque box score. Second off, let's differentiate the numbers by half. Shea had four assists and a couple rebounds in the first half, but was 0-4 from beyond the arc and I wasn't feeling super confident in him at the break. But then the second half started. He hit back to back triples fairly early that cut into Elmhurst's half-high lead of 17 points, added a third that trimmed it to four, a fourth that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game, then served up the dagger with about two minutes to go when he banked home a fifth, followed next time down by adding a layup to push the lead to eight. I think this was easily the best game of Shea's career, and I'm dubbing this, at least for now, The Shea Cupples Game.
• Jake Rhode (ELM): 5-18 FG (2-14 3PT); 12 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast. Rhode is going to be a unanimous First Team All-CCIW and will likely finish the year as an All-American. So it wasn't a surprise in the early going when he hit two of his first three trey attempts to help get the Jays out to an early 17-4 lead; his second forced the second NCC timeout. So you'd be forgiven for thinking game more or less over five and a half minutes in with him off to a good start. And yet now, look at his final line for the game and marvel at it. He missed his final 11 shots from beyond the arc, something seemingly unthinkable given his history. If he's any closer to his normal self, we're talking about a completely different ball game, considering the help he had from his supporting cast in this game.

Key Stats

• NCC: 8-16 FT (50.0%). This is alarming. And it also factors in a 2-5 night at the stripe by Matt Helwig, who is now ninth in the country in free throw percentage thanks in part to a streak of 61 consecutive makes that was snapped on Saturday at Carthage. They got away with it in this one somehow, but may not again.
• ELM: 7-26 3PT (26.9%). It wasn't just Rhode. The whole Blue Jay team was a tale of two halves. They were hot early as part of building that huge early lead and finished 7-14 from deep in the first half. Those of you who are quick at math will note that that means an 0-12 second half. Rhode took six of those 12 triples that missed, so it wasn't just him that went cold; it was really the whole team.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 89 (15-2, 8-1), @ CAR 72 (8-9, 1-7)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Steve Woltmann

The Miracle on Brainard Street. The Oshkosh game. Recent years have been kind to Merner Fieldhouse in the number of amazing finishes and outstanding games. And now, The Shea Cupples Game can be added to the lore of legend. I have to count, but I know I'm getting close to the century mark of North Central men's basketball games I've announced. And when the time comes, I want to do a countdown of the best/my favorites. Those two aforementioned games will be at or near the top of the list. And now... so will this one.

#ElmhurstBlewA21PointLead https://t.co/rMxFNqUVTr

— Lucas Mitzel🎙 (@northsider89) January 25, 2022

It was unbelievable even as it was happening. You don't expect after getting your butt kicked for the first ten minutes of a game that you're going to be in it, but the Cardinals never gave up. And even then, with the Cardinals threatening and ultimately pulling back within single digits, it didn't seem like it was going to happen. We were all kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop; Rhode was due to hit eventually. But he kept missing, the Cardinals continued to claw back, he kept missing, all of the sudden it was a one possession game, and then the next thing you know the Cardinals have a lead with under five minutes to go, then they push it out and get a dagger with just couple minutes to go and a building that was limited in fans due to COVID restrictions was as loud as it's been since the Oshkosh game.

I don't want to say this was a must-win for the Cardinals, but in a way it was. This was the halfway point of the conference slate with a pair of losses combined with some struggles in non-conference that won't give this squad a lot of leeway when it comes time to start looking at regional rankings and think about building out a tournament bracket. And even in the CCIW itself, coming into a year where the projection was a big three of Illinois Wesleyan/Wheaton/Elmhurst with the Cardinals a tier below, an 0-2 start against that triumvirate had those projections looking spot on. Instead, with the win North Central finds itself a half game up on Wheaton for second place. With a sweep of eighth place Carthage in hand and one more to go against everyone except North Park, whom the Cardinals have yet to play, this team is in good shape, but doesn't have a lot of margin for error with eight to go.

The second half of CCIW play begins Wednesday as the Cardinals welcome in Augustana. NCC has a win over the Vikings at Carver already in the books and is looking to keep pace with Illinois Wesleyan. Oh yeah... and The Belt^TM is going to be in the building on Wednesday.

Game Notes: (WBK): Elmhurst University @ North Central College (1/24/22)

Final Score
NCC 72, Elmhurst 50

Game Summary
This one was never in doubt, as despite the Blue Jays (2-15, 0-9) taking a 3-2 lead a minute and a half into the contest, that was all they'd get in the opening ten minutes as the Cardinals (7-10, 4-4) cruised out to a 19-3 lead by the end of the quarter. The run finished out at 19-0 before the Blue Jays finally got the lid off the basket. The lead grew to 20 by the halfway point of the second, and the Cardinals took a 22 point advantage into the locker room. North Central pushed the lead as high as 26 in the third, and while the Blue Jays made a mini push right at the end of the third into the fourth, but got no closer than 18 while the Cardinals got the lead as high as 29 before lead assistant Chrissi Ekhomu called off the dogs in the final minutes.

Key Players

• Elle Sutter (NCC): 9-16 FG (2-6 3PT), 1-3 FT; 21 pts, 4 reb (2 off), 2 ast, 5 stl. Elle is quickly turning into a piece the Cardinals can build around for the future. I'd completely forgotten about the collection of steals, but she wreaked havoc on a mostly young Elmhurst backcourt and got quite a few breakaway layups. With her size as well, she's rounding into a strong all-around player. I don't think she's All-CCIW quality... at least not yet, but she's trending in the right direction.
• IxChel Leeuwenburgh (NCC): 6-6 FG, 3-4 FT; 15 pts, 9 reb (5 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. I haven't really been able to hype up one of my favorite Cardinals of late, but she showed up in this one. She had plenty of open looks for layups, and did a good job at the line as well. But the team's best rebounder showed up in this one despite only having three boards at halftime (which I thought seemed low because she seemed to keep ending up with loose balls). When she stays out of foul trouble... she's a problem on the boards, and showed she can't be ignored on offense either.
• Marissa Urso (ELM): 5-8 FG (1-2 3PT), 2-2 FT; 13 pts, 2 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. Not a lot of positives to write home about for this one for the Blue Jays, so we'll go with the veteran guard who put up decent numbers in an otherwise forgettable night for the visitors.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outrebounded Elmhurst 44-31. I feel like the Jays had a slight size advantage in this one, but it sure didn't seem like it. That's an impressive rebounding margin for the Cardinals, who collected 18 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second chance points. Elmhurst, by comparison, had seven for six points.
• ELM: 21 turnovers. I feel like 20 is kind of the magic number for turnovers in women's basketball. It's not necessarily a causal link or anything, but anecodotally seems like if you hit that mark in turnovers you're going to have a bad time. And sure enough, the Blue Jays did, with their 21 giveaways leading to 28 Cardinal points. The Jays, for comparison, had 12 off 14 Cardinal turnovers. These two stats more or less tell the story.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 68 (11-7, 8-1), @ NPU 49 (11-5, 4-4)
• AUG 67 (8-10, 2-7), @ CRL 58 (12-4, 4-4)

Final Thoughts
Looking at records in advance, I expected a win. I did not expect the Jays to go almost ten minutes between baskets in the early going while the Cardinals built an insurmountable lead, but that's what ended up happening. It was more or less cruise control from there on out for a Cardinal team down its head coach, as Maggie McCloskey-Bax missed her second straight game due to COVID. Chrissi Ekhomu is 2-0 as the acting head coach, and from what I've heard McCloskey-Bax is doing okay.

I'm skipping the "halfway through conference play" post this year because of all the postponements we've had that have thrown the schedules off, but North Central has knocked out half of its schedule with two against Carroll still to go and a sweep of Carthage in the books. At this stage, we have a couple of tiers. Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan are the class of the conference at 8-1 apiece (with the Titans holding the tiebreaker so far). At the bottom end, you have this Blue Jay team as well as a struggling Augie team (who did get a big win at Carroll on Monday, in fairness)... and then North Central clustered in a group with the rest of the conference. You've got five teams more or less fighting for those last four spots, and the Cardinals are right in the thick of it. The worst loss was by 15 at the Shirk Center in a game the Cardinals led at halftime, as well as 13 point loss at Wheaton, but the other two losses are quality: by six at Millikin and the overtime heartbreaker at home against North Park last week I didn't get to write a recap about. The aforementioned Carthage sweep, plus taking care of business against the bottom of the league has the Cardinals in good position with eight to go.

The upcoming schedule is pretty favorable as they'll get a chance to face those teams in the cluster a second time (or both times, in the case of the Pios) and get the two leaders at home. First up on Wednesday is a rematch with an Augustana team the Cardinals dispatched fairly easily last week.