Basketball Celebrates New Year with Bout at North Park

The Mount Mary basketball team will tip off the second half of its season with a New Year's Eve playdate with the Vikings of North Park University. Game time is slated for 2 p.m. at NPU Gymnasium.

Mount Mary (0-11 overall) dropped a trio of matchups last week, but were just one possession away from securing its first win of the season Thursday against Rockford. Neither team led my more than three points for much of the game, despite the Regents putting it away with a pair of free throws late to secure the 53-49 win. Sophomore Talesa Campbell (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Boyd Anderson) tallied a game-high 21 points in the loss, her second-highest point total of the season.

On the year, Campbell leads the team with 14.9 points per game, ranking fourth among all scorers in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference. Sophomore Brianna Duke (Milwaukee, Wis./Milw. Academy of Science) adds 11.6 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 3.3 steals per contest.

North Park (7-3 overall) last played on Saturday, December 11—an 86-76 win over CCIW foe Elmhurst—but has cancelled its last two contests due to COVID-19 protocols. Three-time All-CCIW selection and senior Jayla Johnson (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) leads her Viking squad in nearly every statistical category. Her 20.1 points and 3.4 steals per game averages also rank tops in the entire CCIW, and her 7.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per contest both rank fifth in the league.

On the Calendar

Friday, December 31

2:00 p.m. – Basketball at North Park (North Park Gymnasium – Chicago, Ill.)