Box Score Illinois Wesleyan 77, Carthage 69 - Box Score

CCIW Tournament Web Site

IWU's CCIW Tournament Web Site

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team took a step toward its fourth straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament championship with a 77-69 win over Carthage at the Shirk Center on Friday, Feb. 25.

The Titans will meet Wheaton (19-6) at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26 for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. The Thunder, making their first appearance in the CCIW tourney championship game since 2007, was a 58-55 winner over Millikin in the first semifinal game.

With the win, IWU improved to 22-4 while Carthage falls to 17-9.

The Titans led 35-29 at halftime and the Lady Reds closed to within two points at 61-59 with 7:43 to play and were within three at 72-69 with 2:06 left before the Titans scored the final five points.

Senior Stacey Arlis scored 24 points (20 in the first half) and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds as IWU easily outrebounded the Lady Reds 54-31.
Junior Olivia Lett scored 21 points while senior Hope Schulte scored 12 and senior Nikki Preston added 10 and handed out six assists.

Illinois Wesleyan made 29 of 73 from the field (39.7 percent) and connected on seven of 27 3-point free tries (25.9 percent) while making 12 of 18 free throws (66.7 percent).

The Lady Reds shot 42.3 percent (22 of 52) from the field and made four of 13 (30.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc. Carthage made 21 of the 32 free throws they tried (65.6 percent).

Carthage was led by the 18 points of Kristi Schmidt off the bench while Heather Gilmore scored 16 and Dani Ripkey finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.