CHICAGO, Ill. -- The North Park women's basketball team took on the North Central Cardinals on Saturday afternoon, ultimately losing by a score of 55-62. Despite the loss, the Vikings sit just one spot out of the playoff picture in seventh place of the CCIW.
An ice-cold second quarter in which North Park went scoreless for nine minutes undermined an otherwise solid performance in tonight's contest. Outside of that stretch, the Vikings outscored North Central in the first and third quarters. They did the same for most of the fourth until late-game foul situations forced NPU to send NCC to the line, where they picked up 6 of their 7 game-deciding points.
Despite the rough patch in the second, the Vikings did knock down two three-pointers prior to the halftime buzzer to salvage a workable 13-point deficit. The disparity increased for a brief moment in the third before North Park went on a strong 14-4 run of their own to close the gap to seven by the start of the fourth. The game's final frame saw that margin more or less hold firm until Lauren Lee and Victoria Perry knocked down back-to-back threes to tie the score at 51-51. The two sides traded baskets from then on, but NCC managed a three-pointer in that timeframe to offset the score by one. The clock proved to be North Park's biggest enemy from there by denying the Vikings the chance to cleanly force a stop and take back possession.
The Vikings were led in scoring by Victoria Perry's 18, marking NPU's only double-digit scorer. Chantel Hairston and Aaliyah Parker-Fox both added 8 points, with the former snagging a team-high 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Esther Miller, honored as part of senior day, matched that mark of 3 to further her lead atop the CCIW steals leaderboard.
What's Next?
North Park's next matchup comes on Wednesday, January 25th when they travel to Bloomington to take on Illinois Wesleyan with tip-off set for 7:00 P.M. That game will mark the start of a road-stretch for the Vikings, who won't play again in Chicago until February 8th.
