FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Box Score

Jan. 8, 2011 -  The North Central College women's basketball team fell to 0-2 in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin play on Saturday, losing to Wheaton College, 72-59, at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (4-9) trailed by just four points at halftime, but were unable to make up the deficit and lost for the second straight time.

North Central opened the game with an 11-5 run and led until Laura Karsten's layup with 10:05 left in the first half put Wheaton in front, 14-13. The contest was tied twice before a 12-4 Thunder run gave the visitors their largest lead of the opening period, 28-20. The Cardinals narrowed the gap to 30-29 on Helen Muleya's layup with 1:23 on the clock, but Wheaton's Brooke Olson knocked down a three-pointer just before the buzzer to give the guests at 33-29 edge at the half.

The Cardinals were unable to put together a sustained run in the second half, as Wheaton turned up the defensive pressure and scored 19 points on 10 North Central turnovers.

For the second straight game, North Central was led in scoring by Sophie Newson, who totaled team highs of 11 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. Jenny Swanson finished with a team-best four assists.

Lindsey Brenneman led all scorers with 21 points for Wheaton (9-3, 2-0 CCIW). Olson and Karstens each scored 12 points and Olson also tallied six assists.

North Central travels to face North Park University (7-6, 1-1) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.