Box Score Illinois Wesleyan 87, Millikin 52 - Box Score, Feb. 26

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team will play Elmhurst in the championship game of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament after an 87-52 pasting of Millikin on Feb. 26.

The Titans and Bluejays meet at 2 p.m. at the Shirk Center with the winner earning the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. IWU has a 39-13 lead in the series against Elmhurst and beat the Bluejays, 74-64, at Elmhurst on Jan. 17 and won, 73-60, at the Shirk Center on Feb. 6.

In the semifinal game, sophomore Olivia Lett came off the bench to score 16 points, grab five boards and hand out five assists while junior Hope Schulte also scored 16 as the Titans improved to 25-1. Junior Nikki Preston added 14 points and senior Christina Solari scored 11 points and had a team-high eight rebounds.
Solari and Schulte each had four steals.

The Titans never trailed in the game and led by as many as 41 with six minutes to play in the game.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 53 percent from the field in the game (31 of 59) and limited the Big Blue to 31 percent field goal shooting (16 of 51). IWU held a 42-27 edge in rebounds and Millikin committed 22 turnovers compared to 19 for IWU and the Titans scored 30 points off turnovers. IWU's bench outscored the Big Blue, 35-3.

Elise Wildman had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Big Blue (15-11) while Cecily Aldridge and Julia Robert each added 12.

Elmhurst trailed by five at halftme (31-26) before outscoring Carthage, 42-25 in the final period to post a 68-56 win, the school's first-ever win in a CCIW tournament. Meghan Merklein had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Kelsey Monroe added 15 points and Megan Ney scored 11 to offset the nine points scored by Lyndsie Long, who was named the CCIW's "Most Outstanding Player" earlier in the day. She entered the tournament with a lofty 24.6 scoring average.