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

Box Score

Feb. 9, 2019 – Forcing 24^th-ranked Wheaton College to double overtime with a chance to snap a 20-game losing streak to the Thunder, the North Central College women's basketball team could not hold up an 11-point halftime lead on Saturday, ultimately falling short of the upset bid 68-59 inside Gregory Arena.

Trailing 23-20 with just over five minutes remaining in the second quarter, a Maya Walls three-pointer sparked a 16-0 Cardinal run to quickly take a 36-23 lead to force a Wheaton timeout with under a minute to play before halftime.

After taking an 11-point lead into the intermission, the offense suddenly dissipated to muster only four points in the third quarter, meanwhile allowing the Thunder to claw back to within four heading to the fourth.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Wheaton's Kirsten Madsen and Hannah Williams overtook the lead once again 44-42, however a layup from Walls on the following possession knotted the score once again with 6:09 to play in regulation.

In a low scoring second half, the two teams managed just eight points combined over the final six minutes, as Natali Dimitrova tied the game 48-48 with a jumper at the 2:36 mark.  Both teams had multiple chances to take the lead in the closing minutes as the Cardinals were fortunate to force overtime despite scoring just 12 second half points.

Wheaton (20-4, 14-1 CCIW) struck first in overtime on consecutive baskets from Jordan Myroth and Hannah Frazier to take a quick four-point lead, until Allison Pearson cut the lead back to one with a long ball off her own offensive rebound.

Another Frazier jumper gave the Thunder a 55-53 lead with 19 seconds to play to force a Cardinal timeout.  Coming out of the timeout, Tyonne Howard drove the lane and got the floater to fall to tie the game for the 12^th time and force a second overtime period.

The steam finally disappeared from the North Central offense in the second overtime, as the Cardinals were outscored 13-4 with eight of the Wheaton points coming from Frazier.

Finishing two assists shy of a triple-double, Frazier led all players with 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.  Myroth also finished with a double-double, adding 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Williams also finished in double figures with 12.

15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds from Lyndsay Brennan led the North Central offense, while Dimitrova added 10 points.

North Central (7-16, 5-9 CCIW) wraps up the home portion of the schedule on Wednesday, Feb. 13, playing host to 18^th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University at 7 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.