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Box Score

Dec. 15, 2009 -- 21st-ranked University of Chicago shot lights out in the first half, leading wire-to-wire to defeat North Central College, 71-48, in a non-conference women's basketball game at Gregory Arena. Latrice Newson, coming off a 33-point performance three days ago against Loras College, led the Cardinal scoring charge with 17 points.

The visiting Maroons scored the game's first seven points before a Newson jumper got the Cardinals on the board. Chicago's advantage swelled to 10 points with 9:30 remaining in the opening half before the Cardinals mounted an 8-0 run to come within two points. Jenny Swanson jump-started the rally sinking a three before getting a layup courtesy of Newson. Terra Musgrove capped off the run, converting a layup and drawing the foul for the three-point play, putting the home side within two at 21-19 with 6:17 remaining in the half.

Chicago would counter with a run of its own, scoring 15 of the next 17, sinking three three-pointers to build a comfortable 15-point lead with just over two minutes left. Joann Torres sunk two treys during the spurt that saw the Maroons make six of their seven shots from the floor. North Central went into the halftime break trailing 38-25 after Chicago shot a red-hot 56 percent (14-for-25) from the field.

The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to 10 points on two occasions in the second half, but were unable to come any closer.

Newson paced the Cardinals, scoring a team-high 17 points along with eight rebounds. Christine Karl chipped in eight points along with a game-high five assists while Musgrove and Jackie Errico each scored seven points.

Meghan Herrick scored a game-high 18 points for Chicago, finishing the night as the only Maroon in double figures as 11 players scored a basket for the visitors.

With the loss, North Central stumbles to 2-6 while Chicago improves to 6-2. The Cardinals return to the court on Friday, December 18, traveling down to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. for the Cruzin Classic where they will face ninth-ranked Marymount University (Va.) at 2 p.m. (Eastern Time).