Box Score

It was Senior Night for the North Park women's basketball team Wednesday, but a junior came up big in the end to earn the victory.

Sarah Peterson, who had to sit most of the second half after receiving her fourth foul, came up with two big plays in the end to help the Vikings pick up a 61-57 win over visiting North Central College in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action.

After senior Roxxanne Jones gave NP the lead on a short jumper in the lane with 24 seconds left, Peterson poked the ball loose on a NCC inbounds play and quickly passed off to sophomore Kamauria Acree. Acree was fouled in the process and missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, but Peterson was right there to corral the rebound. She then calmly sank a pair of free throws after being fouled, and capped off a thrilling 11-0 scoring run in the final 3:27 where North Park came back from a 57-50 deficit.

Neither team could gain much momentum in the first half, but North Park was able to finish the half solid to take a 34-29 lead into the break. North Central came out strong in the second half however by erasing a five-point deficit in the early going and turning it into as much as a seven-point advantage at 51-44 on a lay-up from Larynn Shumaker.

Jones led NP with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and nine rebounds, while both senior Antionette Collman and junior Dana Christensen finished with nine points each. Acree added eight points and Peterson finished with six points, but had four key steals. Jenny Swanson led North Central with 13 points.

North Park (10-14, 4-9) returns to action Saturday night when it travels to Wheaton to take on the Thunder at 6 p.m.