Box Score

2012 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Interactive Bracket

Mount Union Sectional Tournament Web Site

ALLIANCE, Ohio - A basket at the buzzer by senior Olivia Lett on a great feed from senior Brittany Hasselbring gave the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team a 70-69 win at Mount Union on Friday (March 9) and a second straight final eight appearance in the NCAA Division III national championship.

Photo Gallery of IWU Women's Basketball at Mount Union

The Titans (25-5) will meet fellow College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin member Carthage at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday (March 10) in Alliance, Ohio. Carthage improved to 22-7 with a 71-61 win over Centre College in the first semifinal game.
The winner of the IWU/Carthage match will advance to the final four in Holland, Mich. March 16-17.

Mount Union had a 69-68 lead and a chance to increase the advantage at the line with 15 seconds left, but Rosa LaMattina missed a free throw and Karen Solari collected the rebound to set up the final play.

Lett led IWU with 26 points while junior Melissa Gardner added 13. The Titans had 44 points in the paint, compared to 18 for Mount Union and IWU also converted 21 points on fast breaks to 9 for the Purple Raiders.

The Titans shot 47.7 percent from the field (31 of 65) and made 5 of 19 3-pointers (26.3 percent). IWU made 3 of the 5 free throws it attempted.

Solari led the Titans with 7 rebounds while Hasselbring had 6 boards while handing off 4 assists.

The Purple Raiders made 50 percent of their 3-pointers (9 of 18) and made 16 of 21 free throws (76.2 percent). Mount Union was 22 of 53 from the floor (41.5 percent).

Kori Wiedt led the Raiders with 22 points while LaMattina scored 16. Mount Union had a 37-32 rebound edge and got a game-high 9 boards from Amanda Rose, who also added 11 points.

Carthage 71, Centre 61: Cailee Corcoran led four Lady Reds in double figures with 24 points to set up the CCIW-only sectional final. Carthage outrebounded Centre, 41-34, and shot 54 percent from the field.

NOTES: Illinois Wesleyan has won 11 straight games this season...The Titans have a 14-9 record in NCAA Division III play...Lett improved to No. 7 in career scoring with 1,284 points...Of the seven losses suffered by the Lady Reds this year, three have been to Illinois Wesleyan and two of those by just one point. IWU beat Carthage 70-69 at home on Jan. 14, topped the Lady Reds 57-53 in Kenosha on Feb. 11 and won at home in the CCIW tourney final 68-67 on Feb. 25...Illinois Wesleyan is the only school with men's and women's teams in the round of eight. The Amherst men lost to Franklin & Marshall 79-71, leaving only IWU. At the start of the tournament there were 15 Division III schools with both men's and women's teams represented. In addition to Amherst, teams that fell were Washington U., Castleton State, Hartwick, Ithaca, Messiah, Misericordia, Rhode Island, St. Thomas, Westminster (Mo.), William Paterson, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and York...