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Box Score

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Mar. 6, 2015) – In a back-and-forth battle inside Calvin College's Van Noord Arena, the North Central College women's basketball team found itself on the wrong end of a 87-82 contest against 25th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, eliminating the Cardinals from the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.
 
North Central fought back from a double-digit first half and held a brief second half lead, but foul trouble and a 32-59 rebound margin did the Cardinals in Friday evening.  North Central played the final five minutes without its two All-CCIW performers in Tess Godhardt and Jamie Cuny, each fouling out while UW-Oshkosh held a 17-8 advantage on the offensive glass as the Cardinals came in averaging 22 offensive boards per game.
 
"We played a little slower tempo than we are used to," said head coach Michelle Roof, "we just didn't make the plays we needed to make.  We were a little sloppy on defense, had some very uncharacteristic foul trouble and when you play in the NCAA Tournament you have to bring your best game.  UW-Oshkosh did a good job defensively against us and slowing down our leading scorers."
 
North Central (22-6) trailed by as many as 10-points in the first half, as a pair of Alex Richard free throws gave the Titans (23-6) a 45-35 lead with 54 seconds to play in the opening half.
 
After a three-point play by Bobbi Johns on the following possession and a missed layup at the other end by UW-Oshkosh, Mayson Whipple took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the floor and nailed a three-pointer as time expired in the first half, trimming the Titan lead 45-41 at the intermission.
 
UW-Oshkosh finished the first half 17-of-22 in the first half as Cuny and Godhardt each committed three fouls in the first half while the Cardinals were just 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
 
The Cardinals began right where it left off in the first half, opening the second half on another 6-0 run as back-to-back buckets by Godhardt and Paula Zerante knotted the score at 45 and Corrine Rowe North Central its first lead since the 18:03 mark in the first half on a lay-in of her own.
 
The Titans responded with a 6-0 run of its own to regain the lead 51-47 with just over 16 minutes to play, but the Cardinals fought back over the next six minutes as Maryssa Cladis gave the Cardinals a quick 60-59 lead with one of her three longballs on the evening.
 
UW-Oshkosh countered with the game's pivotal run, a 12-4 run over the next 2:40 to take a 73-66 advantage as Eliza Campell capped the run with a three-point play, fouling out Cuny in the process.
 
Less than a minute later Godhardt committed her fifth foul and the Cardinals struggled to get going offensively in the waning minutes, while the Titans secured the contest with its free throw shooting down the stretch.
 
UW-Oshkosh attempted twice as many free throws as North Central, connecting on 28-of-40, while shooting just over 45 percent from the field, while the Cardinals finished 11-of-42 from three-point range on the evening.
 
Cladis led the Cardinals with 14 points on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arch, while Godhardt and Johns each added 11 points.
 
Campell finished with 29 points off the bench to lead all scorers on 11-of-19 shooting from the field, while Marissa Selner and Madeline Staples added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
The Cardinals finish with an overall record of 22-6, the program's best record since 1983-84, setting numerous program and national records this season.
 
"This team was 1-13 in the CCIW its first season and to accomplish what this team has as far as camaraderie and records is unlike anything I've seen before," said Roof.  "We set a goal at the beginning of the season to make the conference tournament and halfway through the season those goals shifted into winning the conference tournament and to receive a NCAA Tournament bid.
 
We're going to look back and enjoy this season and everything we accomplished as a team.  We have built a nice foundation for the future and have set the expectations a little higher for next season."