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Vikings Earn Conference Playoff Berth with Victory
CHICAGO, IL (February 25, 2004) - Tiffany Campbell made 6 of 10 shots from
3-point range and finished with a game high of 20 points as the North
Park University (NPU) women's basketball team beat visiting Illinois
Wesleyan University 60-53 Tuesday night.
With the victory, the Vikings moved to 15-10 overall, 7-7 in College
Conference of Illinois (CCIW) play and clinched a berth in the CCIW
playoffs this weekend in Decatur, Illinois. Megan Slattery added 13
points and 12 rebounds and Laura Mount totaled 11 points as North Park
won its third straight contest to end the regular season.
Coach Jack Surridge's team will play at 8 p.m. Friday against tourney
host Millikin University in the first round of the conference playoffs.
Wheaton College plays Carthage College at 6 p.m. Friday and the two
semifinal winners play Saturday for an automatic berth in the NCAA
Division III women's basketball playoffs. North Park lost twice to
Millikin in conference play, but the second was a 71-67 nail biter on
January 13.
NPU trailed for nearly the entire game and was down 34-26 at the end of
the first half. A defensive adjustment and the energy of reserve forward
Angie Watt helped the Vikings limit Illinois Wesleyan to just 4 of 19
field goal shooting (21 percent) in the final 20 minutes. They held the
visitors without a field goal in the final 3:49 and scored six of the
game's final seven points after leading 54-52.
Watt finished with six steals in 23 minutes and Mount guarded Brooke
Bailey of the Titans in the second half and harassed her into 2 for 12
overall field goal shooting. Bailey, Illinois Wesleyan's top scorer this
season, managed 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead her team in both
categories but the rest of her teammates struggled offensively.
The home team scored the game's initial basket and then Illinois
Wesleyan took control during the midway point of the first half.
Surridge's offense started clicking with the first possession of the
second half as NPU immediately cut their eight point deficit. A Mount
field goal, a Campbell 3-point shot and an inside basket by Slattery
narrowed Illinois Wesleyan's lead to 34-33 with 17:46 left in the game.
The Titans continued to keep the lead during the next 10 minutes by
making 10 of 12 foul shots (they made 25 of 31 overall. But a Campbell
3-point shot with 7:27 left gave NPU its first lead since the game's
opening possession, 49-47, and a 3-point shot by Shandrel Young with
2:07 remaining put the Vikings ahead 58-52 and gave an energetic
partisan crowd reason to celebrate.
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