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

DECATUR, Ill. (Jan. 21, 2026) -  To snap Millikin University's hold over the North Central College women's basketball team, the Cardinals earned an 80–69 victory over the Big Blue. Kennedy Hartwig sparked the Cardinals, pouring in a season-high 24 points to tie her career best.

The Big Blue opened the scoring with a three-pointer from the top of the key, but Jocelyn Trotter answered with a layup off an assist from Alaya Redditt. Ameli Sanchez followed with a three of her own before Millikin's Hannah Ermeling knocked down her second three of the night to make it 5-8. Off a Big Blue turnover, Grace Kieffer converted a three to tie the game at 8-8.

Redditt grabbed her own offensive rebound and scored on a putback layup to tie it again at 10-10. Kennedy Hartwig gave North Central its first lead with an offensive rebound and pull-up jumper, 12-10. Cate Uhren then buried a three-pointer before Kieffer picked a Millikin player's pocket and finished a fast-break layup to extend the lead to 17-10. Millikin converted an and-1, but Natalie Doyle answered with a three on the other end to make it 23-15. Millikin missed a jumper as time expired, and North Central carried the lead into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, neither team scored in the opening two minutes. Millikin blocked a North Central layup, but struggled to handle North Central's press. Nikkel Johnson ended the drought with a layup for Millikin, but Cate Uhren answered with back-to-back layups to push the lead to 27-19. 

Millikin chipped away with a pull-up jumper to make it 29-21. Trotter recorded her first block of the night on the defensive end, but Millikin responded on the next possession with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five. Millikin trimmed the margin to four by going 1-of-2 at the free throw line before Uhren split a pair to restore a five-point lead, 30-25. Dolly Smith knocked down a jumper with 30 seconds remaining, and Millikin's Natalie Gartlan answered with a basket of her own before sending North Central into halftime leading 32-27. 

Redditt opened the half with a layup off a pass from Kieffer to make it 34-27. Sanchez was fouled shortly after and went 1-for-2 at the free throw line. Millikin responded with a five-point run to tie the game at 35-35 before taking the lead with a three-pointer, 35-38. Hartwig answered with a step-back jumper to pull North Central within one.

Millikin looked to pull away with a layup, but Hartwig tied the game at 40 with a deep three. The Big Blue regained the lead on a turnaround jumper, 40-42, before Sanchez answered with a layup to knot the score again. 

With under two minutes remaining, Sanchez recorded her second steal of the game and was fouled, converting both free throws to give North Central a 44-42 lead. Trotter extended the advantage with a layup, 46-42, but Millikin answered with a Nikkel Johnson layup to cut it to two. Off a defensive rebound by Uhren, Sanchez found Hartwig in front of the North Central bench, and Hartwig buried a three to make it 49-44. Millikin closed the quarter with an and-1 to tie the game at 49-49 heading into the fourth.

North Central opened the fourth quarter with a surge as Sanchez completes a four-point play after being fouled beyond the arc to make it 53-49. The Cardinals followed with a six-point run on layups from Kieffer and Redditt, along with a jumper from Sanchez, while Millikin kept the pace to make it 59-51.

Hartwig extended the lead to seven with a pair of free throws, 61-53, before Trotter recorded her fourth steal of the night. Millikin cut the deficit to six with a three-pointer, but Hartwig answered immediately with a three of her own to make it 65-56. Taylor Marquart provided another spark by knocking down a corner three while drawing a foul, converting the four-point play to push the lead to 68-58. 

Nikkel Johnson scores a jumper for Millikin but is given a technical foul for taunting, and North Central began to pull away. Hartwig went 4-for-4 from the free throw line during the stretch as the Cardinals built a 13-point advantage. Smith added a tip-in layup to extend the lead to 75-60. Despite continued pressure and baskets from the Big Blue, Marquart finished a floating jumper to make it 79-67, and Millikin was unable to mount a final comeback as North Central closed out the 80-69 victory. 

Hartwig finished with a season-high 24 points, tying her career-high, and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Sanchez added 16 points, two rebounds, two steals, and a block, while Trotter anchored the defense with nine rebounds, four steals, and a block. Kieffer also contributed in steals with three. 

The back-and-forth battle featured seven ties and three lead changes. North Central capitalized on Millikin's 23 turnovers, scoring 27 points off those miscues, while committing just 10 turnovers of its own. 

North Central remains on the road Saturday, Jan. 24 for a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin matchup against Elmhurst University, tipping off at 2 p.m. inside R.A Faganel Hall as the Cardinals look to stay ahead of the Bluejays in the conference standings.