FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

Feb. 1, 2014 – The North Central College women's basketball team fell just short of knocking off 10^th ranked Carthage College, Saturday night inside Gregory Arena, as the Lady Reds scored the final six points of the contest en route to an 80-76 win to remain undefeated in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play.
 
Leading 73-72 with just under three minutes remaining in the contest, North Central (10-10, 3-6 CCIW) was unable to build on its lead, squandering three of four free throw chances in consecutive possessions while Carthage's Stephanie Kuzmanic nailed one of two from the line to knot the score at 73.
 
On the Cardinals next possession, Lauren Hernandez split a pair from the charity stripe, putting North Central up by one with 1:24 left.
 
The two teams traded a pair of free throws the next time down the court and with the score tied 76-76 with 44 seconds remaining, Kuzmanic took over and scored the Lady Reds final six points to secure the 80-76 win.
 
North Central took a 39-35 lead into the intermission and led by as many as seven points early in the second half, but shot under 30 percent from the field in the second half.
 
The Cardinal defense held Carthage to 44 percent shooting from the field, down from its season average of nearly 52 percent, and forced 26 turnovers on the evening.
 
Maryssa Cladis paced the Cardinal offense with 14 points on 4 of 9 shooting from three-point range, while Hernandez chipped in 11 off the bench.
 
Alexis Hahn led Carthage with a game-high 18 points off the bench.  Kuzmanic ended the evening with 17 points while Taylor Boardman finished with a double-double, 12 points and 13 rebounds.
 
North Central is back on the hardwood Wednesday, Feb. 5, hosting Millikin University at 7 pm.  Links to live stats, video and audio are available HERE.