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.