COD eliminates Harper
The Harper College women's basketball team saw its season come to end Monday night, as the third-seeded Hawks fell to No. 6 College of DuPage 66-39 in the opening round of the NJCAA Region IV, Division III tournament at Joliet Jr. College.
COD (12-19) advances to Wednesday's semifinal vs. No. 2 Milwaukee Tech (16-8).
Harper finished 18-11, completing its first winning season since 2002.
Dooming the Harper women was a first-half performance that saw them shoot just 21 percent (5-for-24)from the field in the opening half, as opposed to COD's 48 percent (13-for-27).
The game began with Harper missing its first 5 shots until a Peggie Parhas layup nearly five minutes into the game got Harper on the board at 6-2.
A pair of Anna Kirchoff free throws got Harper within 2 at 6-4, and then a 12-0 COD run highlighted by 5-foot-11 forward Emily Collins (8 points) made it 18-4 with 8:18 left in the first half.
A Parhas 3-pointer 18 seconds later got the Hawks within 11 at 18-7, which was the closest that Harper got to the Chaparrals, who took a 32-14 lead at the break and led by as many as 34 points with eight minutes left.
Harper shot 26 percent (14-for-53) from the floor overall and 5-for-24 from 3-point range.
Collins led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Julia Ottolino with 18.
Freshman forward Anna Kirchoff led the Harper women with 15 points. In her final game for the Hawks, sophomore guard Peggie Parhas had 14.