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

Box Score

WHEATON, Ill. (Feb. 28, 2020) – The North Central College women's basketball team saw its season come to a close on Saturday in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament semi-final, falling 76-44 to top-seeded Wheaton College inside King Arena.

After scoring the opening basket of the contest, the Cardinals mustered just two points over the next eight minutes as the Thunder defense stifled the Cardinal offense while Wheaton meanwhile went on 16-2 run from that point forward to open up an early double digit lead.

North Central trimmed the lead to single digits to end the first quarter, but were outscored 21-9 in the second quarter to face a 39-19 deficit at halftime.  Held to just 24 percent shooting from the field in the first half, the Cardinals were 0-for-8 from three-point range, while Wheaton finished the opening half 7-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Things did not get any better for the Cardinal offense in the second half, failing to score over the first 7:03 of the third quarter.  North Central was held to just 1-for-20 shooting in the quarter and were held to zero field goals over the first 9:45 of the quarter to fall behind 53-25.

Wheaton (20-6) held North Central to their two lowest scoring games of the season, as the Cardinals shot a season-low 19 percent from the field in the loss.

Jessica Kowalczyk was the lone double-figure scorer for North Central, finishing with 11 points, while Natali Dimitrova tallied eight and Allison Pearson finished with seven points and eight rebounds.  Dimitrova finishes her career ranked tied for seventh in program history with 70 blocked shots, while Maya Walls finishes 10th with 55.

CCIW Player of the Year Hannah Frazier paced the Thunder with 17 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and three steals, while Hannah Swider and Hannah Williams each added 10 points.

North Central finishes the season with a 12-15 record, a five-win improvement from a year ago.

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