Game Notes (WBK): North Park University @ North Central College (1/25/21)

Final Score

NPU 55, NCC 53 (OT)

Game Summary

It sure seemed like we were in for a very long night as the Vikings (2-0) opened the game on a 14-0 run as the Cardinals (0-2) missed a bunch of early looks and had trouble taking care of the ball. But the Vikings eventually went cold, managing just three free throws the rest of the opening quarter and leading 17-6 after the first ten minutes. Then the wheels fell off, the Cardinals started to hit shots, and we seemed poised to go into the break tied at 24, but an off balance Haydn Braun layup gave the Cardinals a two point edge at the buzzer. The Cardinals kept that momentum up into the third quarter, building a nine point lead and holding off Viking rallies to going into the final ten minutes of regulation up 42-37. The Cardinals scored the first four of the quarter to push their lead back to nine, but were held off the board for eight minutes as the Vikings slowly fought back, taking a one point lead with a minute and a half to go. The Cardinals tied it on a free throw with under a minute to play. North Park came up empty on two chances, but Page Desenberg's three to win was blocked, forcing overtime. The Cardinals took a pair of two point leads in the extra session, but North Park was able to answer both, then take their own lead with under a minute to play. The Cardinals answered on a nice play, but left 28 seconds on the clock for the Vikings. After getting across the time line and calling timeout, they drew up a play for Jayla Johnson, who drove left, and hit a fallaway jumper from about ten feet with 2.8 seconds left to give the Vikings their final lead. The Cardinals tried to find Megan McClure for a game-tying layup, but it fell short, and the Vikings stormed the court, completing the sweep and avenging the end to their season a year ago.

Key Players

• Jayla Johnson (NPU): 10-18 FG (1-2 3PT), 0-2 FT; 21 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 5 stl. North Park's best player played the role last night. She was pretty dominant in the first half, notching 11 points and seven rebounds, despite coughing the ball up four times. She cleaned the turnover game up a bit after halftime, but was held to 4-9 shooting there, and didn't get a look until her game winner with 2.8 ticks left. A comment made by North Park play by play man Greg Sager is that the Vikings are going to need someone else to step up and be a second scorer, but for now having Johnson as your best player is pretty good.
• Esther Miller (NPU): 1-5 FG (0-2 3PT), 7-9 FT; 9 pts, 12 reb (5 off), 1 ast, 4 stl. There were a few directions I could have gone for North Park's second person, and to me it was the 5'9" Miller leading all rebounders (and offensive rebounders). While those five offensive boards only resulted in four points (all Miller free throws), she was a big reason why the Vikings were able to survive their second quarter rough patch.
• Bekah Foley (NCC): 0-6 FG (0-2 3PT); 0 pts, 6 reb (4 off), 2 stl, 4 blk. So why am I going with a player who didn't score last night as opposed to a Haydn Braun, who led the team with 12 points, or a Page Desenberg/Allison Pearson who scored in double figures as well? Foley was a key piece in helping the Cardinals try to hold onto their lead late in regulation. Her four blocks were a career high, and she did a great job containing Jayla Johnson, denying multiple entry passes to her, and despite Foley only recording two steals, she probably forced a handful more with those denials. You need those nitty gritty plays that don't show up in the box score, and Bekah provided those last night.

Key Stats

• NCC: 22 points off 26 NPU turnovers. In a game that seemed like it was over only six minutes in, it was the Cardinal defense that rose to the occasion to help make this an overtime game. Of these 26 turnovers, 14 came off Cardinal steals, and North Central probably drew half a dozen offensive fouls over the course of the game. I lost count of the exact number, but it was a lot. North Park, for their part, had 15 points off turnovers.
• NPU: 15 second chance points. North Park for the game outrebounded the Cardinals, but not by a lot (48-44). However, their edge came on the offensive glass with 17 offensive rebounds (though the Cardinals logged 16 as a team). All of those points, however, came in the first three quarters.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG (0-1) @ ELM (1-0)- PPD
• MIL (1-0) @ CAR (0-1)- PPD
• IWU (0-0) @ CRL (0-0)- PPD
• BYE: ELM (0-0)
• MBK: NCC 83 (2-0), @ NPU 60 (0-2)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Mark Black

This was a tough one. I was convinced we were in for a long night in the first few minutes as North Park built that commanding two touchdown lead. But the Cardinals did a great job refusing to give up, starting hounding the Vikings on the defensive end, took advantage of the numerous offensive fouls, and really turned this into a game. It goes down as another classic in a pretty good recent history of games between these two teams at Merner. It's just unfortunate that North Park had the look for the last shot and made it, but it was a great play by Jayla Johnson.

It's an 0-2 start, but an improvement over the opener when the Vikings won by 12 in Chicago. The Cardinals will go right back to on Thursday night, when they travel to Rock Island to take on Augustana.