Thanks to Dr. Jeff Nelson, Virginia Smith, and Paige Wilcox for the pictures

CHICAGO, Ill. -- North Park honored the careers of seniors Nicole Hanson, Josie Summerville, Lauren Lee, Emily Czuhajewski, and Jayla Johnson on Saturday evening. This group of girls helped lead the Vikings to their highest single-season win total since 1988 when they won 17 games in the 2019-2020 season. Looking to the future, they will have the chance to accomplish another huge milestone in the upcoming CCIW Playoff Tournament before their careers conclude. 

The Vikings will still need to qualify for the playoffs first, though, and Saturday's loss vs. Augustana makes that even more of a challenge than it already has been. In this battle of two Vikings, Augustana was able to get the upper hand early with a 6-0 lead. North Park swiftly responded with an 8-0 run of their own before the two sides went back-and-forth to close the 1^st quarter at a score of 13-12 in favor of Augustana. The 2^nd quarter again saw Augustana make an early push, this time putting up 10 unanswered points to secure a double-digit lead over North Park after 3 minutes of play. Jayla Johnson would go on to score 6 of the Vikings' next 10 points, helping them get into halftime with a 5-point deficit at a score of 22-27. 

Like clockwork, Augustana was hot to start the 3^rd. They got back up to their double-digit lead with a 12-4 run, but North Park did not have an answer this time as they managed just 9 points in the quarter on 3-17 shooting. The tables turned in the 4^th though as it was now North Park's turn to make an early run, bringing the game within 6 points after trailing by 12 to start the quarter. With a score of 42-48 and 5 minutes remaining, a comeback looked to be looming. However, the offense stalled out for the game's remainder with the team only managing 4 more points as Augustana would go onto win 55-46. 

Senior Jayla Johnson led all scorers with 20 points to go with 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 3-pointers. Lauren Lee and Esther Miller were also disruptive on the defensive end with 4 steals of their own, and Miller's 14 points made her the only other double-digit scorer for the team. 

What's Next?

Next up for North Park is a rematch with Illinois Wesleyan where the Vikings will look to get revenge after losing to IWU in their first meeting on January 24^th. The game is set for 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, February 9^th where IWU will host the contest in Bloomington.