Game Notes: (WBK) Millikin University @ North Central College (1/29/25)

Final Score
Millikin 76, NCC 69

Game Summary
It seemed early on like we would be in for a good night as the Cardinals (7-12, 3-7) got some early takeaways off their press and jumped out to a 12-0 lead. But the Big Blue (7-12, 6-4) hit a bunch of threes to keep themselves in the contest, though they would trail 25-18 after one. The Cardinals kept it up in the second quarter and even pushed ahead a little bit for a 40-29 intermission lead. Things seemed in hand as with 6:44 left in the third NCC took its biggest lead of the contest at 48-31. And then it all went to hell. Millikin slowly chipped away, getting it back to single digits with about two minutes to go and cut it to five by the end of the third. The Big Blue needed just a minute to tie the game in the fourth and took their first lead just over a minute later. All told an extended 22-2 run by Millikin decided the game as the Cardinals choked this one away.

Key Players

• Nikkel Johnson (MIL): 9-17 FG, 6-7 FT; 24 pts, 7 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. The freshman has missed some time so far this season, but had easily the best game of her young career as she just destroyed the Cardinals' interior defense in the second half. 10 of her 24 came in the second half, including three straight layups on consecutive fourth quarter possessions that more or less salted the game away for the Big Blue. She could be a major problem for CCIW foes in the coming years.
• Bella Dudley (MIL): 8-10 FG (2-2 3PT), 1-3 FT; 19 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Dudley also came off the bench for the Big Blue and was another offensive spark for this team. One of her two threes came immediately in the fourth quarter to cut it to a two point game, but she was also able to easily get to the basket a few times in this one.
• Biz Daly (NCC): 8-12 FG, 3-4 FT; 19 pts, 6 reb (4 off), 1 ast. This is probably the lone bright spot from a rough outing. I've chronicled the struggles the past two games for Daly, but she got into a rhythm early and had a nice bounceback game in this one. She did run into some foul trouble, which might not have helped, but hopefully this was a good confidence builder going into the home stretch.

Key Stats

• NCC: 4-17 FG in the 4th quarter (23.5%). Yeah. From that aforementioned 6:44 mark in the third quarter onward, the Cardinals missed a total of ten layups. Twelve, if you count the pair of missed tip in attempts. Granting that there were some offensive rebounds mixed in there, that's still probably 16-20 points left on the floor in a game you lost by seven. You do the math.
• MIL: 7-14 3PT (50.0%). I mentioned in the summary that their three point shooting kept them in the game early. The Big Blue went 4-5 in the opening quarter to keep from getting their doors blown off, and actually started 5-6 in the game counting Dudley's three early in the second. I'd almost forgotten about the hot start as they missed their next five tries, but the couple hits early in the fourth as part of the aforementioned 22-2 run really swung the momentum.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ ELM 80 (12-6, 4-6), AUG 71 (7-12, 3-7)
• WHE 56 (10-9, 5-5), @ NPU 50 (3-16, 0-10)
• @ CRL 80 (13-5, 8-1), CAR 53 (14-5, 6-4)
• BYE: IWU (18-0, 9-0)
  
• MBK: NCC 65 (11-8, 4-6), @ MIL 56 (10-9, 4-6)

Final Thoughts

In a season that has turned frustrating since the calendar flipped to 2025, last night was a new low. Coach McCloskey-Bax mentioned offhand towards the end that they'd spent much of a practice working on layups leading up to this game... and you can see how that went here. It's a devastating loss that puts the Cardinals in the bottom third of the league standings with time running out. NCC is a game back of Elmhurst for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament, and with the split there we'd have to go through the tiebreaker list to figure out who would get that spot.

Ultimately though the Cardinals have to regroup, as they now find themselves facing an absolute must-win game on Saturday as they head to Rock Island to take on Augustana. The Vikings and Cardinals are tied for seventh in the league standings, with the Cardinals winning the first matchup in Naperville back in December. A sweep would put the Cardinals likely clear of them, but needing to steal another couple games if they want a chance to sneak into the postseason.