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

Box Score

Feb. 8, 2017 – Jumping out to an early double-digit lead in the first quarter, the North Central College women's basketball team never trailed in a 89-73 win over Millikin University on Wednesday night, snapping a four-game losing streak while sweeping the season series over the Big Blue.

The Cardinals (11-10, 5-7 CCIW) came out on fire, hitting the first three three-point attempts as Anita Sterling opened the contest with back-to-back long balls, while Miranda Grizaffi followed with a three of her own.

Holding a four-point lead with 6:52 to play in the first quarter, Sterling caught fire yet again, connecting on consecutive three-pointers to quickly give North Central a 17-7 advantage.

The Big Blue (9-13, 3-10 CCIW) could not contain Sterling in the first quarter, as the senior nailed her fifth three-pointer of the quarter at the 2:41 mark to give the Cardinals its largest lead of the quarter 25-12, while finishing with 15 of the Cardinals 28 points in the opening frame.

After taking a 47-39 lead in to halftime, the Cardinals opened up a 16-point lead late in the third quarter as back-to-back threes from Shannon Ryan and Jordan Bradley increased the North Central lead 66-50 with 2:22 to play in the third.

Millikin crawled to within five points of the lead early in the fourth, but a 16-6 Cardinal run re-opened the lead back to 15 as a Jamie Cuny layup and three capped the run and sealed the win for North Central.

The Cardinals shot 16-of-52 from beyond the arc, led by Sterling's 21 points and seven rebounds, while Cuny added 16 and also grabbed seven boards.  Ryan also finished in double figures with 10, while Caroline Heimerdinger dished out a team-leading six assists.

Emily Schultz paced the Millikin offense with 29 points on 14-of-21 shooting from the field, while Lauren Moses added a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double, before both fouling out in the fourth quarter.

North Central plays host to Elmhurst College on Saturday, Feb. 11 with Senior Night activities taking place before tip-off at 5 p.m.