Photo Gallery of IWU vs. Carthage

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team connected on seven three-point field goals in the first half to take a 42-30 lead into halftime, beating Carthage College for the first time in four tries by a score of 76-54 at the Shirk Center on Saturday, Jan. 9.
 
IWU is now .500 on the season at 7-7 and 2-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while the Lady Reds dropped their ninth game of the season to fall to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW.
 
Both teams got off to a slow start, shooting a combined 4-17 from the field in the opening five minutes of play. IWU would force 10 Lady Red turnovers in the first quarter resulting in 11 Titan points for IWU to take 16-9 lead. Carthage would use a 7-0 run to start the second quarter including two free throws following a technical foul on Titan head Coach Mia Smith. IWU would respond with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 24-19 lead with 4:54 left in the first half and would take their largest lead of the half at 42-27 with 26 seconds remaining in the half.
 
The Titans picked up where they left off to start the third quarter, using a 9-1 run in the first four minutes of action using five Carthage turnovers to take 51-31 lead only 2:59 into the game. Leading 63-45 heading into the fourth and final quarter, Illinois Wesleyan would trade baskets with Carthage while building their biggest lead of the game 76-51 with 2:14 remaining.
 
Sophomore Molly McGraw led all players with 22 points and four rebounds while junior Shelby Gray had a season high 10 points. Freshman Maddie Merritt had 13 points and team-high six rebounds while Rebekah Ehresman had eight points to go along with four rebounds and four assists.
 
IWU was outrebounded by Carthage 42-38, but forced 31 Lady Red turnovers compared to only 12 for the Titans. Illinois Wesleyan scored 35 points off turnovers and had 30 points in the paint.
 
What's Next?
IWU will be at home for game two of a three game home stand, taking on the Millikin Big Blue on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Shirk Center. Millikin is 6-7 this season and winless in the CCIW at 0-2 going into Saturday night's contest at home vs. Elmhurst.