The Northland College Women’s Basketball team was looking to even their record up today against North Central College, but woeful free throw shooting and missed opportunities led to a 70-60 loss. Northland finished the game 10 of 26 from the line and missed five front ends of bonus throws in addition. Despite their struggles, Northland was in the game until the end when they were forced to foul.
Northland fell behind 5-0 in the first 23 seconds, but took an 11-10 lead at 13:18 when freshman Ashleigh Galligan got a layup on a pass from Laura Fisher (So., Green Bay, WI). They expanded their lead to 18-12 on the second of Lindsey Hamm’s four three-point baskets for their largest lead of the game, and kept the lead to until two minutes were left in the first half when the Jills hit a cold streak. During that time, Northland went 0-8 from the field including five missed layups, three in one possession when repeated rebounds led to easy shots but the Jills couldn’t get it in. They also missed three free throws and had two turnovers during that stretch. Meanwhile the Cardinals finished with the first half with a 7-1 run to take a 37 to 31 lead into the locker room.
The second half was a back and forth battle. For the first 15 minutes of the half, Northland never could tie the game, but they also never trailed by more than six points. Time after time the Jills had good shots or free throws, but couldn’t get anything to fall. North Central made just enough baskets to keep the Jills from evening the contest.
Northland still had the game at three points, trailing 62-59 with 1:40 to go, but as the Jills were forced to foul in the last minute, the Cardinals iced the game with six of eight free throws. “We had our opportunities today, but didn’t capitalize on them,” said Coach Roiger. Northland finished the contest a dreadful 38.5% from the free throw line, and were outrebounded 51-34. Leading the Jills in scoring was Lindsey Hamm with twenty points, twelve of those coming from beyond the arc. Chelsea Lundgren finished the game with thirteen points for Northland. Leading North Central was Brianne Parra with seventeen points, and Gia Navarra with thirteen. The Jills next match-up is at 5:30 on Tuesday, November 18th. They host the Finlandia University Lions and hope to secure their first win of the season.