Contact: Rachel Balinao, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, rabalinao@noctrl.edu

CHICAGO, Ill. (Dec. 13, 2025) - In College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play, the North Central College women's basketball team earned a 79-58 road victory over North Park University on Saturday, maintaining control throughout the entire game. 

The Cardinals held the Vikings scoreless on their first three possessions before Biz Daly opened the scoring with a layup off a feed from Jocelyn Trotter. Daly scored six of the Cardinals' first seven points, all on layups, while Ameli Sanchez added a free throw for a 7-2 lead. Grace Kieffer made her presence felt on both ends, securing a defensive box-out before grabbing an offensive rebound and finishing a put back layup to extend the lead to 9-2. Cate Uhren connected from deep for her first three-pointer, giving the Cardinals a 19-10 advantage. The Vikings responded with a pull-up three pointer of their own, cutting the margin to 19-13. North Park closed the quarter strong, trimming the deficit to six as North Central led 21-15 at the end of the first.

Daly opened the second quarter with a turnaround layup, then scored again a minute later to make it 25-15. Kennedy Hartwig hit her first three-pointer of the game off an assist from Dolly Smith, extending the lead to 30-15. North Park found a cutter on a backdoor play for a layup, but Smith answered by driving to the basket for a layup of her own, making it 34-21. Trotter followed by pulling down an offensive rebound and hitting a mid-range jumper to push the lead to 36-23. 

The Vikings converted an and-1 on a fast-break layup to cut the deficit to 10 points. Kaitlin Park then scored her first basket, finishing in the paint to make it 38=28. In the closing seconds of the half, Uhren drove hard to the basket and finished a contested layup while drawing a foul. North Central continued to score despite North Park's push in transition, taking a 42-28 lead into halftime.

The third quarter started with a scoring drought lasting more than three minutes before North Park's Caroline Long broke it with two free throws. Sanchez answered with a layup off an assist from Daly for her eighth point of the game. Trotter followed by securing another offensive rebound and finishing a put back layup, giving the Cardinals their largest lead of the third at 47-32. 

Kathryn Keehn scored an and-1 for the Vikings, helping North Park cut into the deficit. The Vikings capitalized on consecutive North Central turnovers, converting one into a three-pointer to pull within six at 49-43. After a North Central timeout, Uhren ended the North Park momentum with a three-pointer, her second of the game. She later added another from the corner, shooting 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to push the Cardinals' lead back to double digits, 57-45. 

North Central maintained control in the fourth quarter, starting the period with a Kieffer three-pointer off a pass from Uhren to extend the lead to 61-45. Natalie Doyle provided a spark off the bench, knocking down a jumper off a feed from Smith for her fifth assist of the game. On the next possession, Doyle found Daly in the post, where Daly finished a turnaround layup to push the advantage to 71-49. 

North Park continued to find the basket, but the Cardinals answered at the other end with layups from Park and Alaya Redditt to keep the lead comfortably in hand. Park later added a tip-in after securing the offensive rebound on a missed free throw. With no comeback in sight, North Central closed the game strong to secure a 79-58 victory over the Vikings. 

Daly led the Cardinals with 22 points while adding five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal. Uhren was the next leading scorer with 11 points, shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and added two defensive rebounds. Trotter collected 10 points on the day with three steals, six rebounds, and a team-high five assists. 

The Cardinals shot 56.1% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range. North Central outrebounded North Park 31-23, while both teams finished with 14 assists. North Central built a game-high 24-point lead, scored 15 points off turnovers and never relinquished its advantage.

North Central returns home for a non-conference match up against Illinois College on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. inside Gregory Arena. It will mark North Central's first meeting with the Lady Blues since 1996, when the Cardinals fell 70-61 at a neutral site.