Thanks to Virginia Smith for the pictures
CHICAGO, Ill. --Â The North Park women's basketball team protected their home court over the weekend, going 2-0 in the North Park Classic tournament. The sweep continues the Vikings' hot start, as they improve to 4-1 on the back of their two wins.
The first of the two came against the Rose-Hulman Fighting Engineers, visiting in from Terre Haute, Indiana. Neither team was able to get their offenses going in the first half, and points were especially hard to come by in the 2nd quarter where both teams failed to reach double digits over 10 minutes. The Vikings' offense began to heat up in the 2nd half though, scoring 35 of their 58 points en route to the victory. Jayla Johnson led all scorers with 16, adding in 7 rebounds and 3 assists to round out her day. Lauren Lee and Emily Czuhajewski poured in 3 threes and 12 -points apiece, tying for second amongst North Park scorers. The Vikings went home with the victory 58-48 in this first game on the back of the scoring efforts of those three, as well as the team effort to only turn the ball over 8 times—winning the turnover margin by a total of 14.
The Bethany Lutheran Vikings—playing out of Mankato, Minnesota—were the matchup for game two. In this battle between Vikings, North Park emerged victorious by a 74-67 margin.Â
Hanna Geistfeld on Bethany Lutheran was unstoppable. Her 30 points led all scorers, and she double doubled with 11 rebounds. However, her 9 turnovers—and the team's 29—made it difficult for Bethany Lutheran to consistently build momentum. North Park had an unstoppable force of their own in Emily Czuhajewski who dropped 26 points—a career high—to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists with a game-high 4 three pointers. Czuhajewski was joined by Jayla Johnson as North Park's other 20 point scorer, putting up 21 on just 14 shots. Despite the impressive scoring total, the defensive end is where Johnson's impact was most felt. Her 9 steals mark a new school record. Other strong performances from North Park include Hairston Chantel who nearly recorded a double-double (10 points 8 rebounds), and Lauren Lee who also put up 10 while going 2-4 from three.
What's Next?
The women's basketball team won't take the court again until after Thanksgiving, where they'll take on Olivet College at home on Saturday, November 27th. Tipoff at the NPU Gym is set for 2 p.m.
