Covenant News

Women Vikings Drop Close Contest to Carthage

CHICAGO, IL (February 21, 2005) - Freshman Meghan Hunstock of Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis finished her 2004-05 season in fine style with 13 points and four rebounds, but the North Park University (NPU) women's basketball team lost 68-65 home contest to Carthage College Saturday afternoon.

Shandrel Young scored 15 points and added seven rebounds to lead the Vikings, who finished 11-13 overall, 4-10 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play. Carthage moved to 13-11, 4-9 as Jenny Wuest and Tiffany McCrackin produced 14 points apiece.

Hunstock helped coach Jack Surridge's team take an 18-7 lead with 8:57 left in the first half by making two foul shots after she had scored a pair of field goals minutes earlier. The Vikings kept their lead through intermission, 31-25, and were ahead by 11 points again (43-32) with 16:07 remaining on a Laura Mount 3-point field goal.

Carthage went on a 16-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 48-45 lead and the game was a nailbiter from then on as there were many lead changes and a total of nine ties. The last tie occurred with 1:09 left when Young made a free throw to deadlock the game at 65-65. From there, however, the visitors made three foul shots and Surridge's team couldn't score again, with Tiffany Campbell (13 points) missing a potential game-tying 3-point attempt with three seconds left.

For the season, Young led the Vikings in scoring with a 13.7 points per game average and she added 6.6 rebounds per contest, second on the team. Megan Slattery was the team's top rebounder at eight rebounds per game and she averaged 11.1 points. Mount was the team's top assist person with 76 and also paced the Vikings in steals with 54. Campbell led the Vikings with 43 baskets from 3-point range. Slattery had a .473 field goal percentage to lead the team while Hunstock's .447 percentage was second.

In other NPU sports news over the weekend:

• Mike Peterson tallied 22 points to lead all scorers during the NPU men's basketball team's 97-78 loss at Wheaton College Saturday night. Peterson had his best game statistically as a Vikings player, making 7 of 11 shots in just 17 minutes. Wheaton led 38-32 at the half but coach Paul Brenegan's squad stayed close for the early minutes of the second half. A Matt Lindahl foul shot narrowed the home team's advantage to just two points, 40-38, with 17:55 remaining. But the Thunder scored nine of the next 10 points and pulled away from there. Lindahl (Grace Covenant Church, Iron River, Michigan) finished with 14 points for NPU, now 4-19 overall, 0-11 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play. Wheaton moved to 19-4, 9-3 in conference as Kent Raymond scored 20 points. NPU hosts Carthage College in a 7:30 p.m. CCIW contest tonight, then hosts Illinois Wesleyan University at the same time on Wednesday before ending its season with a 7:30 p.m. conference matchup at North Central College in Naperville Saturday.
• Lucia Abel finished second in two events to help NPU's women's team to a 12th place finish at the 50th annual Chicagoland Indoor Track and field meet at Lewis University last Friday. Abel leaped 18 feet, 2 and ¼ inches (5.55 meters) in the long jump, finishing just behind University of Chicago standout Myra Collins, who had a 18-4 ¼ (5.59 meter) effort. In the triple jump, Abel was the top Division III performer, leaping 36-9 ¾ (11.22 meters) and finishing only behind Division I athlete Melanie Wilson of Valparaiso, who went 37-7 ¼ (11.46 meters). The other point scorer for the Vikings in the women's competition was Allison Weller, who ran the mile in 5 minutes, 34.96 seconds to place seventh overall. Coach Ed Riegert's team had 18 total points as Division I entry Northern Illinois University won team honors with 162.5 points. In the men's competition, NPU placed 13th of 15 teams as Lewis University won the team title with 197 points. The Vikings' 800 relay team placed sixth overall, Marcus Simmons was 10th in the 400 meter race in 52.70 seconds and Benj Ecker was 11th in the high jump. The track and field programs will compete at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) meet this Saturday at Illinois Wesleyan.

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