ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Jan. 22, 2020) – Scoring their third straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win, the North Central College women's basketball team fought off a late Augustana College comeback attempt to survive a game of runs in a 70-63 final inside the Carver Center.

After going down 8-2 early, a three-pointer from Allison Pearson and a jumper from Lyndsay Brennan cut the Viking run before Jessica Kowalczyk gave the Cardinals a 18-15 lead with a three-pointer right before the end of the first quarter.

Back-to-back jumpers from Pearson and Haydn Braun at the midway point of the second quarter gave North Central its largest lead of the opening half 27-17, but the Vikings responded with a 10-0 run of its own over the next two minutes.

After taking a three-point lead into halftime, the two teams played an evenly matched third quarter until the Cardinals went on a late run, scoring the final six points of the quarter including a basket from Stephanie Kowalczyk and a three-pointer from Rebekah Foley to head into the fourth quarter with a 51-42 advantage.

The Cardinals (8-9, 4-4 CCIW) caught fire to start the fourth, opening up a 62-45 lead thanks to a 11-3 run, highlighted by two more long balls from Pearson and a layup from Maya Walls.

Augustana (8-9, 3-5 CCIW) did not go down without a fight however, going on a 13-3 run late to draw to within single digits, hitting a trio of long balls in the closing minutes, but the Cardinals were able to hold on knocking down five of six free throw attempts in the waning seconds.

North Central finished with double digit three-pointers for the third straight game, shooting 50 percent on the evening on 13-of-26 shooting from long range while also assisting on 16 of 23 made field goals.

Four Cardinals scored in double figures, led by 21 points from Pearson and 12 points from Foley.  Brennan and Stephanie Kowalczyk each added 10 points, while Brennan and Natali Dimitrova tied for the team lead with eight rebounds.

The Viking offense was led by 20 points from Alexis Jones, while Mia Lambert added 14 points and Lauren Hall tallied a game-high 11 rebounds.

North Central returns home on Saturday, Jan. 25, hosting Millikin University at 5 p.m. inside Gregory Arena.