Game Notes (WBK): Millikin University @ North Central College (2/13/21)

Final Score
NCC 68, Millikin 55

Game Summary
Celebrating Senior Day on Saturday, it was the seniors who led an early Cardinal (1-6) surge to build a 10-4 lead. The Big Blue (5-3) responded with a 10-0 run and seemed poised to take a narrow lead into the second quarter, with a late Cardinal layup making it 16-14 Millikin ten minutes in. The Big Blue followed that up with an 8-2 run to open the second quarter to build an eight point lead, but the Cardinals fought back, scoring nine straight to retake the lead, then trading threes with Millikin. A late jumper cut the Cardinal lead to one, but a late three gave North Central a four point cushion going into the locker room. The Cardinals were able to push their lead to double digits briefly late in the quarter, but a late Big Blue surge cut it to five going into the final frame. An immediate layup made it a one possession game again, but the Cardinals responded with a three, and after five straight from the Big Blue cut it back to one, North Central closed it out with a decisive 13-2 run over six and a half minutes to claim their first victory of the season.

Key Players

• Haydn Braun (NCC): 5-11 FG (1-4 3PT), 9-10 FT; 20 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. I feel like in a lot of games, layups are this team's Kryptonite, but they hit on Saturday, led by the senior point guard. Her one three came at a critical time, and she was able to get to the basket almost at will. Her 20 points are a season high, and aren't far off her career high of 23 from a year ago.
• Bekah Foley (NCC): 6-14 FG (3-5 3PT), 4-6 FT; 19 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 1 blk, 2 stl. Bekah's defense has been really good this season, but she brought it at the other end of the floor on Saturday. Her outside shot was falling, including at some critical moments as well, and she still provided some excellent defense too. A fitting Senior Day for her.
• Jordan Hildebrand (MIL): 2-9 FG; 4 pts, 9 reb (3 off), 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. It could be argued that this line should go to Millikin's phenom freshman Elyce Knudsen (15 points on 6-16 shooting), but Hildebrand has been the top player for the Big Blue the past couple years... and the Cardinals completely shut her down offensively. Hildebrand didn't score until getting the lone basket during the Cardinals' late clinching run, and she added one more in what was effectively garbage time. She still found ways to get involved, leading her team in rebounding and distributing the ball effectively, but this was probably her worst shooting night in recent history.

Key Stats

• NCC: 20 points off 18 Millikin turnovers. Millikin did not take good care of the ball on Saturday; they threw a handful of passes out of bounds, got whistled for a few traveling calls and such, while the Cardinals only recorded five steals. But the Cardinals capitalized on their chances, while Millikin managed just eight points off 12 Cardinal giveaways.
• MIL: 4-21 3PT (19.0%). The Big Blue have been struggling to shoot the ball of late; they've been below 36 percent shooting on the whole from the field each of the past three games (Saturday included), but it was the three point shooting that really killed them. For the season, Millikin is at 29 percent from beyond the arc, and Saturday didn't help.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 47 (7-1), CAR 40 (0-6)
• @ ELM 78 (2-5), CRL 51 (4-2)
• AUG (3-1) @ IWU (3-1)- PPD
• BYE: NPU (3-3)
• MBK: @ MIL 59 (1-6), NCC 45 (4-3)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Steve Woltmann

The Cardinals have been in every game thus far this season, with the exception of the Illinois Wesleyan game the week before, and should have more wins than just the one they have now. But they finally put together a full, complete game, and it was great to see them pull out a win, especially against a Millikin team that was ranked 13th in the country. That it happened on a Senior Day with some of the parents in attendance was even better.

The Cardinals have five games left this season, including a makeup date with Illinois Wesleyan down in Bloomington to be played in about a week. That is sandwiched between home-and-homes with Carthage (this week) and Wheaton (next week). The Carthage matchup is against a team that is the only winless one in the conference, but they're also better than what their record says they are, especially with as well as they played Wheaton on Saturday. Speaking of the Thunder, NCC gets another crack at ending the long drought against them to close out the year.