BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team cut into a large halftime deficit but couldn't close enough in a 68-50 loss to Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the IWU home opener on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the Shirk Center.
Illinois Wesleyan has lost three in a row and slipped to 3-5 this season while the Pointers improved to 5-2 with the win.
The Titans were outscored 23-10 in both the first and second periods and trailed 46-20 at the half, trailing by as many as 31 at 44-13 with 3:53 left. Falling into a deep hole In the first 20 minutes, IWU shot .206 from the floor (7 of 34) while Stevens Point fired at a .600 clip (15 of 25) and dominated on the boards with a 28-12 first half advantage. The Pointers finished with a 49-23 rebound edge.
Sophomores
Rebekah Ehresman and
Molly McGraw were the only Titans to score in double figures with 18 and 15, respectively. McGraw scored 11 of her points in the second half. Her two free throws :04 into the game staked IWU to a 2-0 lead, its only lead in the contest as Stevens Point led for 38:57 of the 40 minutes.
Lauren Anklam and Allie Micelli each scored 15 points for the Pointers with Micelli and Autumn Hennes collecting game-highs of seven rebounds each.
The Titans forced Stevens Point into 26 turnovers and converted those into 22 points but the Pointers had the edge in the lane, scoring 34 points in the paint compared to 18 for IWU.
What's Next?Illinois Wesleyan travels to the Pacific Northwest next weekend for games in a tournament at Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Wash. The Titans will tangle with Puget Sound at 4 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, Dec. 18 and will meet Pac Lutheran on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 6 p.m. Pacific time.
IWU's next home game will be on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. when the Titans host Thomas More College, the defending national champion and current No. 1 team in the Division III rankings.
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