ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University women's basketball team dropped a tough CCIW contest with North Park 67-76 Saturday afernoon inside R.A. Faganel Hall.

Elmhurst (3-19, 1-13 CCIW) was able to hold a lead for nearly three quarters, leading after both the first and second quarter, but a fourth quarter burst from the Vikings (8-15, 4-10 CCIW) allowed the visitors to pull ahead for the conference win.

Elmhurst dominated the paint in the matchup, scoring 30 points compared to North Park's 18, but an untimely shooting drought in the fourth quarter ultimately decided the Bluejays' fate against the Vikings. 

Taylor Harazin again led the Bluejays offense, providing 27 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Anna Kleszynski and Katie Matrise both contributed 13 points for Elmhurst, while Kendall Schieppe notched seven points for the Bluejays.

For the Vikings, Victoria Perry led the way with 26 points on 11-for-19 shooting from the field, while Chantel Hairston tallied 19 points for North Park.

Elmhurst scored eight of their 22 first-quarter points from the free-throw line to hold a point advantage heading into the second quarter. The Vikings responded with a trey to take the lead, but back-to-back threes from Lindsay Novak and Kleszynski flipped the advantage in favor of the Bluejays. The teams traded the lead another two times before a ten-point burst from Elmhurst pushed their lead to eight. After a layup from the Vikings put the visitors ahead, Matrise knocked down a trey to give Elmhurst a slight 46-44 advantage heading into halftime.

Elmhurst scored two quick baskets to keep the pressure on North Park to begin the second half, but another run from North Park knotted the game at 50 and again at 54 with four minutes left in the third period. The Vikings ended the third with two-straight jumpers to pull ahead by two heading into the final quarter.

A quick jumper extended the Vikings lead to four before a trio of points from the charity line by Harazin brought the score within one with eight to go in the game. An 11-3 run from North Park extended the visitors lead to nine with 4:35 left, and the Bluejays were unable to get the offense going again, scoring just three field goals in the fourth period to ultimatley fall to the Vikings on their home court.

UP NEXT

Elmhurst will hit the road next Wednesday evening, traveling for a contest against conference-leading Millikin at 7:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

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