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

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 19, 2020) – The North Central College women's basketball team had trouble containing a high-powered Illinois Wesleyan University offense on Wednesday, falling 90-63 in a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) contest inside the Shirk Center.

The Cardinals (11-13, 7-8 CCIW) never led in the contest, as Illinois Wesleyan (16-8, 10-5 CCIW) scored on its first possession and opened the game on a 16-4 run to put North Central in an early hole.

Eventually settling in midway through the second quarter, Allison Pearson sparked a quick 10-2 Cardinal run with back-to-back three-pointers, before Haydn Braun followed suit two possessions later to trim the Titan margin 24-20.

Four points proved to be as close as North Central would come to the lead, as Illinois Wesleyan countered with a 12-2 run of its own from that point forward and North Central never pulled to within single digits the rest of the way.

A career-high 23 points from Braun led the Cardinals, shooting 6-of-12 from three-point range, as her six made three-pointers rank tied for third in a single-game in program history.  Braun also led the team with three steals and tied Stephanie Kowalczyk with four assists.

Three other Cardinals' finished in double figures, as Natali Dimitrova finished with 13 points and Pearson and Jessica Kowalczyk added 11 and 10, respectively.

Sydney Shanks led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting on the evening to lead Illinois Wesleyan, while Kendall Sosa tallied 22 points and Samantha Munroe finished with 10 and five assists.

North Central currently holds the fifth spot in the conference standings by virtue of a tiebreaker over Augustana College (12-12, 7-8 CCIW), as well as a one-game lead over Carthage College (11-13, 6-9 CCIW) who sits seventh.  The Cardinals can clinch the fifth spot with a win on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Wheaton College or with an Augustana loss.  If North Central loses to Wheaton and Augustana and Carthage both win on Saturday, North Central will fall to seventh in the final standings.

North Central squares off at Wheaton on Saturday with tip-off inside King Arena scheduled for 5 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.

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