North Central College Cardinals

Contact: Rachel Balinao, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant, rabalinao@noctrl.edu 

AURORA, Ill. (Nov. 14, 2026) - The North Central College women's basketball team defeated Aurora University on Saturday afternoon to move to 1-1 on the young campaign. The Cardinals used 25 points from Ameli Sanchez to dispatch the Spartans 76-73 on the road.

After the opening whistle, the Cardinals secured the first defensive rebound of the game, finding Ameli Sanchez upcourt and being fouled under the basket. Sanchez converted the first bucket to give the Cardinals the lead. 

The Cardinals went on for a seven-point run fueled by Biz Daly, Dolly Smith, and Cate Uhren all converting before the Spartans saw their first point. Sanchez continued to be a force against the Spartans, hitting two big three-pointers, making it 15-1 halfway through the first quarter. Reilly Boyer closed the scoring for the quarter with a layup to give North Central a 27-17 lead going into the second quarter. 

Into the second, Aurora came out with energy, hitting a three-pointer right away to cut the deficit down to seven. The Spartans continued to chip away while Kennedy Hartwig dropped a three-pointer from Smith's pass to keep the Cardinals ahead 31-25. With less than six minutes on the clock, Aurora tied the game with a free throw to make it 31-31.  

Trotter went on to respond immediately with a layup from Michayla Stone's pass to gain the lead back. Trading buckets back and forth, Sanchez sinks her third three-pointer of the game, making it 37-33. Closing the half, the Spartans saw the final points at the free-throw line, cutting their deficit to five, 40-35. 

The second half started with a driving layup from Aurora before Uhren nailed another three-pointer. Both teams continued to trade baskets with Smith hitting a Cardinal three before Sanchez made a turnaround jumper to put her at 16 points. The Spartans worked their way to a one-point difference at 50-49 at the five-minute mark. 

The Spartans tied it once more at the free-throw line before Sanchez hit her fourth basket behind the arc with a pass from Smith, making it 55-52. North Central and Aurora continued to battle, trading driving layups with the Cardinals' layup from Smith. Aurora took their first lead of the game with less than 10 seconds remaining in the quarter with a score of 65-63. \

Sanchez comes out of the break to set the tone tying it back up at 65-65 before Jocelyn Trotter makes a driving layup, sending the Cardinals back up two. Trotter and Uhren continued the run up to 69-65. 

In the final minutes, Sanchez converted at the line, keeping North Central up three before Aurora made a driving layup, changing the board to 74-73. Trotter responded yet again with a jumper with the assist from Sanchez to go back up three.

The lead would go on to hold, and the Cardinals would hold on to defeat the previously unbeaten Spartans 76-73.
Sanchez led all scorers with 25 points on 7-16 shooting and a 4-for-9 performance from beyond the arc. She tacked on seven makes at the charity stripe along with her eight rebounds and six assists. 
Uhren added 17 points on a team-best five-of-nine night from three-point range. Smith, the only other scorer in double digits, had an efficient night, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. 
The Cardinals shot 41.3% from the field and 44.4% from three. The two teams tied with 46 rebounds a piece.

North Central closes their opening three-game road stretch on Wednesday, Nov. 18, visiting Edgewood College for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in Todd Wehr Edgedome.