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

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Jan. 16, 2019) – In a tale of two halves, the North Central College women's basketball team squandered a double-digit first half lead as their upset bid over 14^th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University fell just short 82-77 on Wednesday inside the Shirk Center.
 
North Central (3-14, 1-7 CCIW) led by as many as 13 in the first half, as consecutive lay-ins from Tyonne Howard opened up a 26-13 lead with 6:17 to play in the second quarter.
 
Holding the Titan offense to just 13 points over the first 14 minutes of the contest, the Cardinal offense and defense suddenly went cold as Illinois Wesleyan closed out the half on a 17-7 run to quickly trim the lead to a manageable 33-30 at the intermission.
 
Illinois Wesleyan (14-3, 7-1 CCIW) carried that momentum into the third quarter while the Cardinal offense still struggled to find its stride.  Outscored 25-8 in the quarter, the Titans opened up a 55-41 advantage heading into the final quarter.
 
The Cardinals made it a game in the end, mounting a late comeback thanks in part to a trio of three-pointers with under a minute to play, as Maya Walls, Alanna Newsome and Natali Dimitrova all hit from deep to cut the Titan lead 80-77 with under 10 seconds to play, but Illinois Wesleyan was successful on eight of their final 10 shots from the free throw line to hold off the late charge.
 
22 points from Newsome led the Cardinal offense, while Howard finished with 18 points and eight assists.  Walls and Dimitrova also finished in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Lyndsay Brennan grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Four Titans also finished in double figures, led by 19 from Maddie Merritt, including a blistering 15-of-16 shooting from the free throw line.  Raven Hughes and Samantha Monroe each finished with 16, while Kendall Sosa added 12 off the bench.
 
North Central looks to snap its current seven-game losing streak on Saturday, Jan. 19, traveling to Carroll University in a conference matchup slated for 2 p.m. inside Van Male Fieldhouse.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.