Contact: Louis Groce, Graduate Assistant to the Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302



(Nov. 16, 2012) – Despite scoring the fourth-most points in program history, the North Central College women's basketball team dropped their season-opener, 96-84, to Olivet College in the first round of the Chicago Marriott Naperville Tip-Off Tournament. 



Box Score



After a back-and-forth first 12 minutes that produced 13 lead changes, the Comets took the lead for good, 39-38, with 5:19 left in the first half on a bucket by Chelsea Ciba. Olivet closed the half on a 20-7 run to take a 59-46 lead at the break. 



Jenny Swanson poured in 10 of her 13 points in the first half, while Kimberly Wilson added nine to keep the Cardinals within striking distance. 



However, Olivet came out of the half firing, scoring the second frame's first 16 points to blow open the contest, 75-46, with 15:42 left to play. 



North Central managed to creep back into things late by going on a 12-0 run and cut the lead to 95-81, but their late rally ran out of time. 



Wilson scored a team-high 20 points and added four assists in her first game as a Cardinal, while Swanson and Emily Murphy chipped in 13 each.  The Cardinals were held to 34.7% shooting, while the Comets shot 52%. 



The Comet bigs all had big nights with Sydney Radde scoring 16 points and adding eight rebounds, while Stefanie Lang scored a game-high 23 points and nine boards.  Kaleigh Hill checked-in with 19 points and eight rebounds. 



Olivet (1-0) advances to play St. Mary's University (1-0) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., while the Cardinals (0-1) take on Alma College (0-1) at 5:00 p.m.  on day two of the tournament.