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

Box Score

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Dec. 11, 2018) – With a chance at tying the game late on Tuesday evening inside Berg Gymnasium, the North Central College women's basketball team's late attempt at a comeback fell just short at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, dropping yet another nail biter this season.
 
Five of North Central's six losses on the season have been by four points or less, as the Cardinals had opportunities late but were plagued by turnovers in the closing minutes.
 
North Central held as much as a seven point lead in the first half, as a three-pointer from Page Desenberg and a layup from Alanna Newsome gave the Cardinals a 24-20 lead after the opening quarter.
 
After a UW-Stevens Point lay-in cut the lead to two, Mitrese Smith hit from beyond the arc ahead of a Maya Walls jumper that increased the North Central lead 29-22 two minutes into the second quarter.
 
Holding a 31-24 advantage, the Cardinal offense suddenly went cold while the Pointers rattled off 13 straight points to quickly take a 37-31 lead with 2:20 to play in the half.
 
Newsome snapped a streak of over five minutes without a field goal for North Central, connecting from deep, while Walls again knocked down a jumper to cut the UW-Stevens Point lead back to one heading into halftime.
 
The third quarter was one to forget for North Central, as the Pointers opened up a 16-point advantage with 2:37 on the clock thanks to a 13-4 run.
 
With the game on the verge of becoming a runaway for the Pointers, Desenberg came up huge in the final minute of the third quarter, knocking down a pair of three-pointers while the Cardinals stout defense held tight to trim the lead to nine heading into the final quarter.
 
North Central wasted no time in erasing the Pointer advantage, as yet another three-pointer from Desenberg cut the lead to six.  Newsome followed suit with another long ball on the Cardinals' next possession, while sinking a pair of free throws to pull North Central to within one, 61-60.
 
The Cardinal defense meanwhile held the Pointers to zero points over a six minute stretch to get back into the contest, however turnovers on four straight offensive possessions proved costly as the Pointers countered with seven points to open the lead back to seven with just over a minute to play.
 
 Refusing to go down without a fight, Walls put back a lay-in after grabbing an offensive rebound, while Newsome hit her fourth three-pointer of the game on the following a Desenberg steal on the other end, cutting the lead 69-67 with :21 seconds to play.
 
UW-Stevens Point was successful on just one of four free throw attempts in the final seconds, allowing the Cardinals a late chance at a tie.  Despite a perfectly drawn up out of bounds play, the last second three-point attempt fell just short allowing the Pointers to escape with the 70-67 win.
 
Newsome led the Cardinal offense with 23 points on her 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, while Walls finished with 13 and Desenberg added 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.  Tyonne Howard led all players with nine assists on the evening, also recording four steals on the defensive end.
 
Amber Baehman's game-high 24 points paced the UW-Stevens Point (3-3) offense, finishing 11-of-14 from the field while also grabbing nine rebounds.  Brooke Geier finished with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Carly Cerrato added nine points and nine rebounds.
 
North Central returns to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Saturday, Dec. 15, heading to Wheaton College with tip-off inside King Arena at 5 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.