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

Box Score

CHICAGO, Ill. (Feb. 8, 2014) – Playing without its three leading scorers, the North Central College women's basketball team led by 18 points at halftime but the offense struggled from the field in the second half and ultimately fell at North Park University, 97-86.
 
The Cardinals (10-12, 3-8 CCIW) took a 54-36 lead into halftime, connecting on eight first half three pointers but were outscored 61-32 in the second half, shooting under 24 percent from the field.
 
North Central closed the opening half on a 21-3 run, highlighted by a pair of long balls from Kelsey Cooling and another three off the hand of Maryssa Cladis.
 
North Park (12-9, 5-5 CCIW) struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just over 37 percent from the field, but the Vikings caught fire after halftime, shooting at nearly a 59 percent pace.
 
The Cardinals led by double digits with under nine minutes remaining in the contest, but North Park closed the game with the game's pivotal run, a 31-10 streak over the final nine minutes.
 
Cladis paced the Cardinals with a career-high 18 points on 4 of 10 shooting from three.  Cooling and Uzuri Williams each added 13 for North Central, while Sofia Svensson grabbed 12 rebounds.
 
North Park was led in scoring Liz Rehberger's 22 points, Dominikque Williams added a 10 point, 12 rebound double-double.
 
North Central travels to Illinois Wesleyan University, Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7 pm.  Links to live statistics, audio and video are available HERE.