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

Box Score

Dec. 16, 2017 – Jumping out to a large first-half lead and holding off a strong second half surge, the North Central College women's basketball team scored a 71-61 win over the University of Dubuque on Saturday behind a season-high 14 three-point field goals.

North Central (2-7) held the lead the entire contest, as back-to-back layups from Natali Dimitrova gave the Cardinals a 19-9 lead with under a minute to play in the opening quarter.

Holding a 24-18 lead with 5:58 to play in the first half, the Cardinal offense roared to life going on a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to open up a 39-20 advantage.  The next four field goals for the Cardinals came from three-point land, as Dimitrova sparked the run with a long ball, while Maya Walls hit from deep twice and Siarra O'Neil completed the run with one of her team-high six three-pointers on the evening.

North Central took a 16-point lead into the intermission, but that quickly disintegrated as the Spartans (2-8) opened the third quarter with a 16-1 run, vanishing the Cardinal lead down to one with 6:17 on the clock.

That proved to be as close as Dubuque would come to overtaking the lead however, as O'Neil and Jessica Dahle gave North Central some much needed breathing room with back-to-back threes, snapping a 0-for-6 streak to start the quarter.

North Central opened the lead back up to double figures later in the third, as a three-pointer and layup on the following possession from Dahle opened up a 57-44 advantage while the Cardinal defense held strong the remainder of the contest.

O'Neil paced the Cardinal offense with a career-high 20 points, as her six three-pointers are tied for third on the program's single-game list.  Dimitrova also finished in double-figures with 12 points, while grapping eight rebounds.  Hannah Vitkus led the team with a career-high 12 rebounds, while Mayson Whipple added a game-high seven assists.

Averaging over 17 points per game entering the contest, the Cardinal defense held Dubuque's Abbey Meyer to 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field.  Cece Pope led the Spartan offense with a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double with nine of those points coming from the free-throw line.  The Spartans managed to get to the line 32 times, but only converted on 18 of those attempts.

North Central is back in action on Monday, Dec. 18, hitting the road at the University of Chicago with tip-off at 6 p.m. inside the Ratner Center.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.