Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Dec. 7, 2024—Opening College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin play with a victory, the North Central College women's basketball team downed Augustana College 72-60 on Saturday evening inside Gregory Arena, thanks to 26 points from Biz Daly.

Grace Kieffer and Ameli Sanchez scored the first baskets for the Cardinals early in the first quarter. Following a 7-0 Vikings run, Sanchez buried two threes on an 8-0 run for North Central. Biz Daly scored four straight points for the Cardinals to give the home team a 19-15 lead after the first quarter.

An early 7-0 run for North Central put them ahead by six, 26-20 at the media timeout. Megan McClure knocked down a jumper before Kennedy Hartwig made a layup off of a Viking turnover. Elle Sutter scored her first points of the season on a pair of free throws to extend the Cardinals' lead to 13, 35-22 at halftime.

Sanchez opened the second half with a steal and fastbreak layup before a McClure layup kept the Cardinals ahead by 15, 39-24. Josylin Simmons-Doxie hit a jumper followed by a deep ball from Sanchez to increase the North Central lead to 198, 46-28. The teams traded baskets until a layup from Daly with 18 seconds gave the Cardinals a 52-35 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Grace Kieffer scored the first three points of the fourth quarter before Augustana cut the lead to 12, 55-43 with 7:40 to play. Baskets by Simmons-Doxie and Daly kept the Cardinal advantage to double-digits, 61-48. Daly, Simmons-Doxie, Sutter and Kieffer knocked free throws to close out the victory, winning 72-60 over Augustana.

Daly led all scorers with 26 points, including 10 free throws, adding to her seven rebounds and two steals. Sanchez tallied 14 points with Simmons-Doxie racking up 10. As a team, the Cardinals shot 45% from the field. Paige Melton led the Vikings with 17 points on the night. 

The Cardinals head to Chicago Sunday for an exhibition against NCAA Division I University of Illinois-Chicago. Tip-off inside Credit Union 1 Arena is set for 12 p.m. 

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