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

Box Score

WAUKESHA, Wis. (Feb. 15, 2020) – In a game in which they never led in regulation, the North Central College women's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit to steal away an important College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win over Carroll University, 67-61 on Saturday inside Van Male Fieldhouse.

Trailing 40-27 with 3:01 to play in the third quarter, the Cardinals began to slowly chip away at the Carroll lead as back-to-back jumpers from Jessica Kowalczyk and a pair of free throws from Allison Pearson trimmed the Pioneer advantage to seven heading into the fourth quarter.

After Carroll (8-15, 3-11 CCIW) increased their lead back to nine, 51-42 with just over four minutes to play in regulation, Pearson took over to score on consecutive possessions, including a three-point play the old fashioned way to draw North Central to within five.

Two more free throws and another jumper from Pearson suddenly cut the Carroll lead to three with just a minute to play while the Cardinal defense held the Pioneers to zero field goals over the final four minutes.  Natali Dimitrova drew a pair of huge fouls late and proceeded to sink all four free throws to send the game to overtime all knotted 55-55.

Overtime was all North Central as Pearson set the tone from the opening possession, nailing a three-pointer to give North Central their first lead of the contest 58-55.

Following a Carroll layup, two more free throws from Pearson and a dagger of a three-pointer from Stephanie Kowalczyk all but sealed the win with under two minutes to play.

Carroll cut the lead to three in the closing seconds but North Central was able to knock down three of four free throw attempts to complete the comeback win.

After attempting only five free throws in the first half, the Cardinals made a living from the foul line down the stretch, shooting 18-of-21 in the second half.  The two teams combined to shoot 56 free throws on the afternoon, with Carroll shooting 20-of-30 from the charity stripe.

Pearson led all scorers with a career-high 23 points, including a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line, good for second in program history, falling just one shy of the single-game record of 12-for-12 set by Larynn Shumaker in 2012.

Dimitrova also finished in double figures for the Cardinals, adding 13 points while tying Hannah Vitkus and IxChel Leeuwenburgh for the team lead with seven rebounds.

Kayla Stefka was the lone Pioneer to score in double figures, tallying 15 points while Brooke Foster and Alyssa Cruz each finished with eight.

North Central (11-12, 7-7 CCIW) now holds a half-game lead over Carthage College for fifth-place in the CCIW standings with just two games to play, as the Cardinals travel to Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday, Feb. 19 with tip-off inside the Shirk Center scheduled for 7 p.m.

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