ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst women's basketball team secured its place in the CCIW Tournament by holding off North Central College for a 61-59 win at R.A. Faganel Hall.
 
Elmhurst wrapped up the regular season with a 10-15 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the CCIW. North Central closed out the season with a 7-18 overall record and a 5-11 mark in league play.
 
Elmhurst controlled the pace for most of the opening quarter, building a five-point lead before North Central battled back to take an 11-10 lead with 2:48 left. Elmhurst closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 17-11 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Bluejays pushed their lead up to seven at the start of the second quarter, but North Central took over from there, using an 18-5 run over the next 5:30 to open up a 29-23 lead. The Bluejays found themselves in a 31-25 hole at the half. Elmhurst was ice cold in the second quarter, hitting just 3-of-16 shots (18.8 percent) from the floor and missing all six three-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Cardinals knocked down 6-of-14 from the floor (42.9 percent) and hit 4-of-8 from beyond the arc in the second quarter.
 
Elmhurst started quickly in the third quarter as the Cardinals suffered through a shooting slump. Elmhurst started the quarter on a 13-2 run to open up a 38-33 lead with 3:44 left in the quarter. The Cardinals answered back to pull even at 42-42, but a pair of Lauren Goff free throws gave Elmhurst a 44-42 after 30 minutes.
 
Leading by two with 8:49 left to play, the Bluejays rattled off the next seven points, taking a 53-44 lead with 5:49 left to play. North Central slowly chipped away at the Bluejays' lead, closing to within a point with 23 seconds left as Elmhurst struggled from the foul line. The Bluejays hit a free throw with 20 seconds left to double their lead to two points. After a North Central turnover, Goff knocked down two free throws to give Elmhurst a 61-57 lead with seven seconds left to play. North Central was fouled shooting a three-pointer with one second remaining. Page Desenberg hit the first two before intentionally missing the third shot. The rebound was knocked around before going out of bounds to the Cardinals with just 0.2 seconds left on the clock. The inbounds pass was knocked away, wrapping up the game for the Bluejays.
 
Elmhurst finished the game shooting 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the floor, including 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from downtown. The Cardinals hit 21-of-58 attempts (36.2 percent from the floor but just 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) from three-point range.
 
Goff came off the bench to lead the Bluejays with a season-high 16 points. Goff hit 3-of-5 shots from downtown. Becca Gerke added 10 points for the Bluejays, all in the second half. Kelly Weyhrich added eight points, five assists and five steals while Kellee Clay scored seven.
 
North Central was led by Desenberg's 21 points and seven rebounds. Lyndsay Brennan added a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds while Haydn Braun scored 10 for the Cardinals.
 
The Bluejays win, coupled with a North Park win over Milliking gave Elmhurst the sixth seed in next week's CCIW Tournament. Elmhurst will play at third-seeded Carthage College on Tuesday, February 19.