Box Score Christopher Newport 64, Illinois Wesleyan 58 - Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team finished fourth in the NCAA Division III tournament after a 64-58 loss to Christopher Newport in the third place game at the Shirk Center on Saturday, March 19.

The Titans' season ends with a 27-6 record while the Captains finish 30-4.

The Titans trailed by eight at 53-45 with 8:32 left and went on a 9-0 run to get back a 54-53 lead on a Brittany Hasselbring layup with 5:45 to go. Two free throws by senior Nikki Preston and a basket by senior Stacey Arlis gave IWU a 58-55 lead with 4:15 to play. That would be the final points of the game for Illinois Wesleyan.

Two free throws by Barbara Davis tied the game at 58-58 with 1:50 to go and a basket by Kimmy Hopkins put the Captains ahead, 60-58, with a minute to play. After a miss by junior Olivia Lett, Chantal Thomas made two free throws with 21 seconds to play to give CNU a 62-58 lead.
Senior Hope Schulte missed a 3-pointer and Lett had a shot blocked in the Titans' final offensive possessions.
Senior Chelsie Schweers added two free throws with three seconds left to provide the final margin.

Illinois Wesleyan trailed 29-24 at the half but came out on an 8-2 run with 3-pointers by senior Nikki Preston and junior Olivia Lett and a basket by Lett to take a 32-31 lead with 17:05 to play.

Illinois Wesleyan made six 3-pointers in the game and had 48 in NCAA tournament play, topping the old mark of 42 set in 2009 by George Fox.

Senior Chelsie Schweers scored a game-high 23 points and finished with 174 in her NCAA tournament games, breaking the mark of 162 held by Crystal Coleman of Bishop, set in the 1986 tournament.

Schweers also knocked in 25 3-point field goals to set an NCAA tournament record. The old standard was 22 by Stacy Leeds of Washington U. in the 1994 tournament.

The Titans trailed by eight at 53-45 with 8:32 left and went on a 9-0 run to get back a 54-53 lead on a Brittany Hasselbring layup with 5:45 to go. Two free throws by Presion and a basket by senior Stacey Arlis gave IWU a 58-55 lead with 4:15 to play.

Illinois Wesleyan made 20 of 55 from the field (36.4 percent) and connected on six of 21 3-point free tries (28.6 percent) while making 12 of 14 free throws (85.7 percent).

The Titans got 15 points from Lett, 13 from Preston and 12 from Arlis.

The Captains outrebounded IWU by a 37-27 margin as Davis corralled a game-high 11 boards. The Titans were led by the eight rebounds of Arlis.

The Captains, who committed 21 turnovers to 14 for IWU, shot 42.6 percent (20 of 47) from the field and made three of nine (33.3 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc. Christopher Newport made 21 of the 24 free throws they tried (87.5 percent).