WAUKESHA, Wis. – The Carroll University women's basketball team finished its 2021-22 regular season with an 84-50 rout of North Park University. The Pioneers finished in outright third place in the CCIW, and will be a three seed in the CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament next week.
Olivia Rangel exploded for a season-high 22 points, seven steals, three assists, and no turnovers.
Chloe Halverson followed suit with a season-high 17 on 8-9 shooting.
The Pioneers (18-6, 10-6 CCIW) Made 31-62 field goals to finish an even 50% from the field. The Pio defense stepped up huge, holding North Park to just 37% from the field, and forcing the Vikings to 34 turnovers. Carroll came away with a season-high 22 steals and collected 35 points off turnovers. The Carroll bench put up 29 points thanks in large part to 16 points from
Allison Thompson. The Pios got to celebrate the senior class of
Katie Evans,
Theresa Wichser, and
Kayla Stefka in style, as each senior got on the box score with at least a point.
Carroll started the game with four quick points, but North Park quickly caught up.
Brooke Foster knocked down a three-pointer under five minutes to give Carroll a 13-4 lead and forced a North Park timeout. Rangel scored a driving layup in the paint to cap off an 11-0 run. Thompson got the bucket-and-one to give Carroll a 20-8 lead with 2:16 left in the first quarter. Going into the second quarter, The Pios led 23-10 after nine points from Rangel. The Vikings had cut the lead to 10, but Rangel responded with a step-back three-pointer from the wing. After a few more buckets by both teams, North Park was able to score in the final seconds of the first half to go into halftime down 12.
After a slow start to the third quarter,
Lindsay Schultz called a quick timeout. After the timeout, Carroll exploded on a 6-2 run to force a North Park timeout. After the second timeout of the third quarter, Carroll kicked off a 10-2 run, led by six points from Halverson and four from Thompson. Rangel gave Carroll a 26-point lead with 1:13 left in the third, and her free-throws as time expired pushed the lead up to 31. Carroll dropped 31 points in the third quarter with 13-18 shooting while forcing 14 turnovers with 10 steals. The Pioneers didn't let up and pushed the lead to 36 after a Thompson jumper in the paint with 5:48 remaining in the game. The Pioneers kept their foot on the gas in the fourth quarter, finishing the game up 34 points.
The Pioneers will host the sixth-seeded North Central Cardinals on Tuesday, February 22 at 7 PM in the first round of the CCIW Tournament. Carroll swept the Cardinals in the regular season and won 75-42 in Van Male on January 31.
