Nov. 23, 2019 – Despite leading for nearly the entire contest, the North Central College women's basketball team clawed out a 60-59 win over the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday in a game that came down to the final possession.

North Central (3-2) held the lead for 37:31 of the contest, while UW-Stevens Point (3-2) led for just 57 seconds in an evenly contested battle in which both teams finished with 22 made field goals, while the Pointers finished 4-of-14 from three-point range, while the Cardinals shot 3-of-14.

The Cardinals held a 38-31 advantage in rebounds and finished the game a perfect 13-of-13, while the Pointers made only 11-of-17 attempts from the line.

Holding the lead for all but one minute of the opening quarter, a three-pointer from Haydn Braun gave the Cardinals a 19-12 lead with 3:36 on the clock.

Still up by seven, 28-21, with 5:27 to play in the first half, the Pointers rallied to score eight-straight points, including six from Jamie Pfeifer to take their first lead of the game 28-27.

That lead was quickly erased by North Central however, as a layup from Natalie Stavropoulos regained the lead for the Cardinals before Lyndsay Brennan capped the first half with a layup just ahead of the buzzer to take a 32-29 lead into the intermission.

Both teams came out slow in the third quarter, but four-straight free throws from Brennan extended the Cardinal lead 42-33 with just over three minutes to play in the quarter.

Seemingly in control of the game and holding a 52-44 lead with 4:51 to play in the contest, the Pointers simply refused to go down without a fight, scoring the next six points to draw to within two.

With North Central leading 56-54, Mitrese Smith connected from down low on a beautiful pass from Maya Walls to increase the lead back to four, but a three-pointer from Carly Cerrato the next time down the court trimmed the Cardinal lead back to one, 58-57.

After Allison Pearson knocked down a pair of clutch free throws, the Pointers opted to go for the quick two as Amber Baehman cut the lead to one yet again with just nine seconds to play.  On the subsequent inbounds play, the Cardinals committed a costly turnover to give UW-Stevens Point one last shot at the win but a last second three-point attempt fell just off to the left to give North Central its first win over the Pointers in program history, snapping an 0-8 streak dating back to 2000.

Brennan led all scorers with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line, while also finishing with five assists, three steals and three blocks.  Walls finished with 12 points, a team-leading nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks, while Smith also finished in double figures with 10 points.

Four Pointers tallied double figure scoring, led by 12 points from each of Pfeifer and Baehman, while Cerrato added 11 points and Taylor Greenheck finished with 10.

North Central continues the current homestand on Tuesday, Nov. 26, welcoming non-conference rival Benedictine University to Gregory Arena with tip-off at 5 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.
 
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