Game Notes (WBK): Carthage College @ North Central College (2/18/21)

Final Score
Carthage 70, NCC 62

Game Summary
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Cardinals (1-7) got a bit of a gut punch, as Carthage (1-7) started the game hot, jumping out to a 19-7 lead. But the Cardinals clawed back, scoring seven straight to close out the quarter, including a broken play jumper at the buzzer off a jump ball. The Cardinals took a brief lead at 21-20 early in the second, but Carthage answered, leading by as many as five late before taking a 36-33 lead into the locker room. The Cardinals opened the second half on a tear, scoring eight straight to take a five point lead before Carthage answered with nine straight of their own, forcing a back and forth struggle, with a late old-fashioned three point play giving the Cardinals a 54-50 lead going into the final frame. An early three pushed the Cardinal lead to its highest mark at eight. Carthage cut that in half before an NCC basket with just over five minutes remaining gave them a 62-56 lead. Then the bottom fell out; the Cardinals missed their final seven shots and committed four turnovers in that span as Carthage scored 14 unanswered to close it out.

Key Players

• Lauren Knight (CAR): 5-8 FG (3-5 3PT), 8-10 FT; 21 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl. One thing I noticed in prepping for Thursday's game was how young this Carthage roster is, which to some degree explains why this was their first win. But this was easily the best game of Knight's young collegiate career, as she notched career highs in most categories, specifically points. She was a killer, especially early in the game.
• Bridget Barrett (CAR): 5-8 FG, 0-2 FT; 10 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Another freshman putting up a monster game. While the 11 rebounds aren't a season high (she notched 15 against North Park earlier this year), the four offensive boards helped her team, and she hit a couple huge buckets, including what turned out to be the game-winner.
• Allison Pearson (NCC): 8-18 FG (5-12 3PT); 21 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl. Alli did all she could in this one. She was on fire for stretches of the game, and her fifth three of the game gave the Cardinals that aforementioned eight point lead. Unfortunately she went cold down the stretch, though it doesn't eliminate an all around good game.

Key Stats

• CAR: 8-24 3PT (33.3%). The overall number doesn't tell the whole story, because Carthage was hot to start the game. They went 4-10 from deep in the opening quarter as part of that early 19-7 surge to start the game. That makes for a 4-14 mark the rest of the game, which isn't great, but they hit when they needed to.
• NCC: 3-14 FG in 4th quarter (21.4%). The first half of the quarter was fine; the Cardinals hit three of their first seven shots and led by six when they hit their last one. And then, as has happened so many times this year, they went cold in the final minutes.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 68 (8-1), CRL 57 (5-3)
• MIL 81 (6-3), @ ELM 55 (2-7)
• NPU 66 (5-3), @ AUG 52 (3-2)
• BYE: IWU (3-1)
• MBK: NCC 73 (5-3), @ CAR 53 (3-5)

Final Thoughts
Okay, let me get this out of the way. While it didn't impact the outcome, the officiating, especially in the second half was... interesting. I saw the first ever over and back call made when the ball was ten feet from the midcourt line. While the official's names are not listed on the box score, let's just say it was a familiar face who has been alluded to in previous Confessions of a Sportscaster. The clues are there.

Carthage also lost starter Destiny Antoine early in the game to what appeared to be an ankle injury, and she did not return. Margueret Spear also looked like she hurt her collarbone in the first half, but managed to come back in and finish the game. Gutsy performance from her, so I tip my cap, and extend well wishes to both on speedy recoveries.

As for the game itself... this was a bummer. I was hoping that the spark from a Senior Day win would carry over, and for a bit it seemed like it might. But the theme of the year has been not hanging onto fourth quarter leads, and the Cardinals once again went cold when they could least afford to. It's another game though, that they were in, and their 1-7 record doesn't do justice to the fact that this is a good team.

The Cardinals will get another crack at the team without a name when they head up to Kenosha on Saturday.