Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Jan. 16, 2016) - A game full of extended scoring runs was decided by ballhandling Saturday night at the Shirk Center, as the North Central College women's basketball was stung by its largest turnover deficit of the season and saw Illinois Wesleyan University make the game's final run on the way to a 78-66 win over the Cardinals.
North Central (8-8, 2-3 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) committed more turnovers than its opposition for just the third time this season, leading to its lowest point total of the campaign as well. Nevertheless, the Cardinals remained in contention well into the fourth quarter before Illinois Wesleyan (9-7, 4-1 CCIW) scored 12 of the game's final 16 points.
The Cardinals opened the game with a 7-0 run, as Mayson Whipple found Erica Buck for a layup and Miranda Grizaffi for a three-pointer and Therese Pettersson drove for a layup. IWU, however, countered by scoring 14 of the next 17 points, then scored five points in the final 20 seconds to claim a 22-17 advantage after one quarter of play. The Titans put together a 10-0 rally early in the second period, though North Central responded near the end of the half with three-pointers by Grizaffi and Caroline Heimerdinger and closed the period with a pair of layups by Pettersson to head into halftime with just a 36-30 deficit.
North Central battled back to tie the score at 40-40 less than two minutes after play resumed, as Lauren Hernandez capped off a 10-2 surge with a three-pointer from the top of the key. The game was tied twice more before Hernandez fed Pettersson for a layup to give the visitors their first lead since the early going at 46-44. The Titans' Molly McGraw scored twice in the paint to nudge IWU back in front, but the Cardinals got a pair of free throws from Paula Zerante and a three-pointer from Mayson Whipple to lead once again at 51-48 with 4:25 on the clock. North Central, however, went 0 for 5 from the floor and turned the ball over six times the rest of the period, and the Titans took advantage to score five unanswered points and take a 53-51 lead into the fourth period.
The Cardinals trailed, 61-58, before McGraw ignited what would become the game-winning rally by hitting a three-pointer with 6:19 to play. After a layup by Anita Sterling with 3:33 on the clock, North Central was held scoreless for more than two minutes, during which time the Titans put up seven points to build a 74-63 advantage with just 1:23 left.
Pettersson finished with 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting for the Cardinals, while Grizaffi and Zerante each put up nine. Jamie Cuny grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots and Whipple finished with six assists.
McGraw led all scorers with 21 points, as Maddie Merritt added 18 points and Rebekah Ehresman totaled 16 to go with five steals.
North Central travels to Carthage College (6-10, 2-3) on Wednesday. Tipoff at Tarble Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Links to live video and in-game statistics can be found by clicking HERE.
