Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College women's basketball team used a second-half surge to overcome a 16-point first half deficit and defeat North Central College 86-72. With the victory, Elmhurst upped its record to 13-5 overall and 6-1 in the CCIW.

Megan Ney scored a career-high 28 points and Lyndsie Long poured in 24 points to pace the Bluejays in the victory.

After falling behind early 7-0, North Central (4-14, 1-6 CCIW) used a 36-13 run to build a 36-20 lead with four minutes to play in the half. The Bluejays closed the half with six straight points to pull to within 10 points (38-28) at halftime.

The Cardinals hit the opening bucket of the second half before the Bluejays began chipping away at North Central's lead. A 12-0 run by Elmhurst evened the score at 40-40 just four minutes into the half.

The Cardinals opened back up a five-point lead (49-44), but a jumper by Long gave Elmhurst its first lead (52-51) in over 26 minutes. After the two teams exchanged buckets and leads, Kelsey Monroe knocked down a jumper to put Elmhurst up 53-52 with 11 minutes to play. The Bluejays slowly pulled away, opening up a double-digit lead and scoring the 86-72 win.

Ney sparked the Bluejays in the second half, pouring in 20 of her career-high 28 points in the contest's second 20 minutes. Ney  added a team-leading nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Long totaled 24 points and seven rebounds in the victory for Elmhurst. Meghan Merklein nearly broke the 20-point barrier, scoring 19 for the Bluejays. Monroe added 10 points and three steals for Elmhurst.

North Central was led by Christine Karl's game-high 29 points. Karl shot 11-of-20 from the floor for the Cardinals. Jenny Swanson and Jakie Errico totaled 15 points apiece while Latrice Newson scored 13.

Elmhurst shot 54.5 percent (30-of-55) from the floor in the contest, including 57.1 percent (20-of-35) in the second half. The Bluejays hit 6-of-15 3-point attempts (40.0 percent). After scoring just eight points in the paint in the opening half, the Bluejays pounded the ball inside in the second half, scoring 22 of their 58 second half points in the lane.

North Central shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the field, including 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from beyond the arc. 

Despite being outrebounded 15-12 in the first half, Elmhurst dominated on the glass in the second half. The Bluejays outrebounded the Cardinals 22-10 in the second half to finish with a 34-25 edge in rebounding.

Elmhurst travels to Augustana College on Saturday, January 30.