Game Notes: (WBK) Augustana College @ North Central College (2/20/18)

Final Score
Augustana 86, NCC 63

Game Summary
This one started okay for the Cardinals (5-20, 3-13), who were able to keep pace early with the Vikings (15-10, 8-8) and even held a four point lead at 14-10 with about two minutes to play before taking a 16-15 lead into the second quarter. Augie opened the second quarter with back to back threes though to open up a 21-16 lead, though the Cardinals wouldn't stay down for long as Siarra O'Neill went on a personal 8-2 run to give the Cardinals the lead back. But after Andrea Dickerson tied the game at 29 again, the Vikings went on a 12-0 run to open the game up, though a Hannah Vitkus three made the margin a single digit one before the break. Then the Cardinals went cold, failing to score for over four minutes of the third while the Vikings slowly started to pull away, leading by as many as 21 before taking a 64-46 edge into the final quarter of the season. Augie pushed the margin as high as 27 before Mark Beinborn called off the dogs, and Michelle Roof was able to get both Mayson Whipple and Michaela Reedy off the floor with about a minute to go to standing ovations for their four years of service to the program.

Key Stats

• AUG: 30-35 FT (85.7%). This was one of the biggest stats to take away from this one. North Central was in foul trouble pretty much all night and Augustana took full advantage of it. It's hard to pick out just one player for this, because they were all pretty phenomenal.
• Siarra O'Neill (NCC): 5-18 FG (0-9 3PT); 10 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 2 stl. Siarra all but singlehandedly kept the Cardinals in the game in the second quarter with that aforementioned personal 8-2 run that included some pretty impressive fallaways and a nice layup. The three point line kind of tainted the night a little bit, but it wasn't just her. More below.
• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 5-14 FG (2-10 3PT), 0-2 FT; 12 pts, 4 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 1 stl. I'm sure she wished she hit a couple more shots, but all in all it was a fairly nice sendoff for the senior leader. She was able to attack the basket with some success and had some good looks from deep, but they just weren't falling last night. All told, she finishes her career with 946 points (she would have joined the 1000 point club had she not gotten hurt last year) and 334 assists (3rd most in program history, and probably would have finished second, again, without that injury).

North Central "System" Watch

• Augie Turnovers: 11. Not a good enough total. Augie played a press defense as well that helped force 21 turnovers for their part, though the Cardinals did wreak a little havoc. Siarra O'Neill had two of North Central's seven steals.
• NCC 3PT: 5-41 (12.2%). Really, this was the game. The Cardinals got plenty of open looks, but when O'Neill is 0-9, senior Michaela Reedy goes out with an 0-8 night, and even Mayson Whipple only went 2-10, you're gonna have a bad time.
• NCC FT: 6-11 (54.5%). The Achilles heel reared its head again tonight. Mayson lamented missing her two attempts in her final game, but the rest of the roster struggled as well. For the season, the Cardinals clocked a 60.5 percent clip at the line. This has to improve next year.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 82 (22-3, 15-1), @ ELM 61 (13-12, 9-7)
• Illinois Wesleyan clinches the #1 seed and hosting rights for the CCIW Tournament
• @ CAR 90 (18-7, 11-5), CRL 67 (8-17, 5-11)
• @ MIL 85 (8-17, 3-13), NPU 66 (9-16, 4-12)
• Millikin head coach Lori Kerans retired following Millikin's win
• Bye: WHE (21-4, 14-2)
• (MBK): NCC 83 (18-7, 11-5), @ IWU 74 (19-6, 12-4)
• North Central clinches the #3 seed in the CCIW Tournament
• Augustana clinches the #1 seed and hosting rights for the CCIW Tournament

Final Thoughts

As much as I'd love to point at the free throw and foul disparity and scream about how the Cardinals got screwed, it wouldn't be true. Going 5-41 from deep will kill you every time. This isn't to say that the officiating wasn't questionable last night (the clues are all here on Confessions of a Sportscaster if you know where to look), but it didn't impact the outcome of the game. Michelle Roof got a warning very early in this one for calling out the officials for some poor calls early, but as the game went on she was imploring the team to stop fouling.

This mercifully ends what ultimately was a bad season. It's the fifth 20 loss campaign in program history but the first since 1994. Michelle Roof did express her optimism for next year with the pieces coming in (of which one is confirmed, but I'm sure there's more in the pipeline). One thing I will say: even though I watched a lot of games that went very poorly for the team in red and white, these ladies never gave up. Even last night, they played their hearts out and really, they did all season. I'm proud of this group for keeping their heads up all year long.

Augustana, meanwhile, follows up a conference tournament year with an 8-8 campaign, though they still have some good pieces in place especially on the perimeter. They missed the tournament though, with Elmhurst edging them out with a 9-7 mark, though the Blue Jays are all but certain to be the sacrificial lamb to Illinois Wesleyan, who went 15-1 in the conference this year and are probably on a collision course with Wheaton for the CCIW title.

Later today I'll have a look at the NCAA's third set of regional rankings. I'll very briefly touch on the women's side of Cardinal basketball with more of a look at the rest of the conference (i.e. Illinois Wesleyan and Wheaton) as well as the men's rankings. Then, probably tomorrow, I'll do a season recap for the Cardinals' season and bring everything full circle.