Box Score
story by Kinzie Schweigert '15
CHICAGO, Ill. - Senior
Olivia Lett had a career-high 30 points with 10 rebounds but the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team lost a close battle to the University of Chicago Maroons by a score of 80-77 on Saturday (Dec. 3) in Chicago.
The Titans fell to 3-3 overall and the Maroons, ranked No. 2 in the latest Division III national poll, are now 6-0.
Chicago has won 24 consecutive regular season games overall, including 16 in a row at the Ratner Center, and the Maroons have won the last 38 games in which they led at the half.
IWU started out with a 10-7 lead but let it fall away with 11 unanswered points to trail 18-10 with 10:59 to play. But the Titans rallied to tie the score at 24-24 and Chicago took a 40-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Illinois Wesleyan scored the first five points in the second half to close to 40-39 and rallied from a seven-point deficit (51-44) to tie the game at 56-56 with 9:50 remaining.
Chicago led by as many as 11 at 76-65 with 2:48 to go before the Titans went on a run to close to within two at 77-75 with 59 seconds remaining. IWU was down by three with 13 seconds left but missed a chance to tie at the buzzer.
Lett's previous high was 28 against Coe last March in an NCAA tournament game. Junior
Melissa Gardner added 16 total points and sophomore
Colleen McMahon scored 13. As a team the Titans were 27 of 58 (.466) from the field, made 12 of 22 3-point efforts (.545) and hit on 11 of 16 free throws (.688).
The Maroons, who shot 28 of 52 (.538) from the field for the game, were led by senior Bryanne Halfhill, who made 20 points and was six of 10 in 3-point field goals. Chicago made 9 of 18 (.500) from 3-point range and connected on 15 of 25 free throws (.600).
The Titans play next at home against Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday (Dec. 10) at 2 p.m.
