The NCC women’s basketball team has dealt with a lot in their 2022-23 campaign. With player injuries and only two conference wins this season, the Cardinals are currently out of the CCIW Tournament. However despite this, they still have a slim chance on making it into the postseason.
The Cards picked up a massive 62-55 victory on Jan. 21 against North Park on the road for their second conference win of the season. The growth in this team can be seen between their first match with the Vikings and the one this past week. Back on Dec. 3, 2022 at home, they fell to the Vikings by a score of 75-52. Despite outscoring North Park’s bench, the Cards still fell short and needed to find the answer.
Following the North Park loss, the team picked up a couple of really impressive wins in the month of December. This includes their first conference win on Dec. 17 against Elmhurst and a non-conference victory just two days later against Concordia University Chicago.
An uphill battle
From the very beginning, the Cards have been fighting an uphill battle with their personnel missing games for various reasons.
Elle Sutter, ’24, has yet to suit up this season as she hurt her knee following the soccer season. Sutter was the team’s number-two scorer last season, averaging over 10 points per game.
During the first game of the season, forward Mitrese Smith, ’23, got hurt against Benedictine and missed nearly a month of action, impacting the depth of the Cardinal’s frontcourt significantly.
Along with Sutter and Smith, guard Natalie Stavropolous, ’23, played through a broken finger for almost two months while facilitating the Card’s offense.
All of these injuries stacked up have made it an impressive feat for the Cardinals that they still find themselves in a situation where they can be playing for the CCIW conference title.
Guard Megan McClure, ’23, credited the team’s bond with helping them overcome some of these absences this season.
“Our team is a close group of friends, so if anything negative happened to someone on the team, we were able to help each other get through it. I feel like this has been very useful as our team size shrinks because we trust each other on and off the court,” said McClure.
Newcomers stepping up
With the Cards being damaged in terms of health this season, the freshmen have stepped up in major ways. Abby Davidson, ’26, was given heavy minutes in Smith’s absence and became an instant force in the frontcourt. Even after Smith returned to the court, Davidson has still contributed to the squad. The Galesburg, Illinois native currently leads the Cards in blocks per game (1.9) and is second in rebounds per game (5.4).
Grace Kieffer, ’23, has also been a significant factor on the court this season in her first year at NCC. Hailing from Kimberly, Wisconsin, Kieffer leads the Cards in three-pointers made this season and is top five on the team in scoring. Her outside shooting has kept the squad in games and will be fun to watch in the coming few years.
“Grace and Abby have been amazing additions this season”, said McClure. “Coming in as a freshman is hard. But they were excited to work hard and show that they have what it takes to play on a college basketball team.”
What’s next
The ladies still have three conference games to play. Two of these contests will be played at home in Gregory Arena, with a must-win matchup against Carthage College on Feb. 8 and Senior Night on Feb. 11 against Illinois Wesleyan. The Cards will wrap up the regular season at Augustana College.
