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Box Score
DECATUR, Ill. (Mar. 4, 2021) – Faced with a tough task to open the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament in top-seeded Millikin University, the North Central College women's basketball team's season came to a close on Thursday with a 86-70 loss inside the Griswold Center.
The Cardinals had a tough time slowing down a high-powered Millikin offense, playing from behind nearly the entire contest. North Central's only lead of the game came in the opening minutes of the first quarter, as a pair of three-pointers from
Rebekah Foley and
Haydn Braun led a 8-4 start for the Cardinals.
That lead quickly dissipated however, as the Big Blue outscored the Cardinals 21-8 to finish the first quarter and held the lead the rest of the contest but North Central refused to go down without a fight.
At one point trailing by 19 in the second quarter, the Cardinals faced a 48-29 deficit but caught fire to score on five straight possessions, closing the first half with a 13-2 run to trim the lead to eight at the intermission.
Coming out of halftime, Millikin opened its lead back to double digits early on but another quick six-point Cardinal run featuring jumpers from Foley and
Elle Sutter and a lain from
Sydney Erwin cut the lead further 58-52 with 5:24 to play in the third.
The Millikin lead proved too much to overcome in the end however, as three-pointers from Ashlyn Sturdy and Bailey Coffman a few possessions later increased the Big Blue lead back to double digits where it would remain nearly the rest of the contest.
The short-handed Cardinal lineup featured three players in double figures, led by a career-high 18 points from Sutter on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, all career highs for the freshman.
Braun and Foley each capped their careers in a Cardinal uniform with 14 points apiece, while Braun cements her name in the program record books, finishing her career ranked fifth all-time in free throw percentage, making 151 of 197 attempts (.767).
Millikin had four players in double figures, led by a game-high 21 points from Coffman. Jordan Hildebrand added 14 points, while Miranded Fox finished with 13 and Sturdy chipped in 10 off the bench.
The Cardinals finish the 2021 season with an overall record of 2-11.
