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Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Jan. 4, 2011)-- Hitting the road for the seventh time in eight games, the North Central College women's basketball team suffered an 88-67 setback to 11th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University inside the hostile Shirk Center on Tuesday night in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opener for both teams.

Three Cardinals ended the night in double figures with Sophie Newson coming off the bench and scoring a team-high 14 points.

Jackie Errico scored the game's opening bucket before Emily Collins converted a layup with 18:47 remaining in the opening half in what turned out to be the Cardinals' (4-8, 0-1 CCIW) final lead of the game at 4-3 as the Titans (9-3, 1-0 CCIW) mounted an 18-2 run over the next five minutes to take a commanding lead. Half of IWU's points during the run came from behind the three-point line while Olivia Lett accounted for eight of the team's 18 points during the spurt.

IWU led by as many as 20 in the first half before North Central closed out the period on a 12-4 run, cutting the deficit to just 48-36 at the halftime intermission. Newson accounted for five points during the rally, hitting a pair of free throws and canning a three while Jackie Errico poured on six, converting a three the old fashioned way with a layup and a foul before sinking a three-pointer with 10 ticks remaining in the opening half.

The host Titans held at least a 10-point buffer the entire second half before settling on the final 21-point margin.

Newson led the Cardinal scoring charge, finishing with 14 points including a perfect five-for-five at the charity stripe. Errico chipped in 12 points, finishing in double figures for the eighth time this season while Christine Karl registered her third straight double figure scoring effort, tallying 10 points and a team-high five rebounds.

Five Titans ended the game in double digits with Lett leading the way with a game-high 19 points. Melissa Gardner finished with 15 while Stacey Arlis tallied 11 and a game-high nine rebounds.

North Central opens its home portion of the conference schedule on Saturday, welcoming Wheaton College to Gregory Arena with tip-off slated to get underway at 5 p.m.