Bloomington, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team defeated Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Wednesday, Nov. 30 by a final score of 66-38. With a win, the Titans avenged a loss from last season which came by a final score of 70-46. Junior
Molly McGraw scored a game high 12 points on 6-of-15 shooting for the Titans, adding a season-high five rebounds.
With a win the Titans improved to 3-3 on the season while Rose-Hulman fell to 4-2. Also of note, tonight marked the 500th game of head coach
Mia Smith's coaching career at Illinois Wesleyan.
Rose-Hulman kept things close in the first period, trail just 19-14 heading into the second. IWU broke things open for good in the second however, taking a 36-23 lead into the break. Senior
Gabrielle Holness scored all eight of her points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting overall. For the game Holness added four assists, two blocks, and a steal.
The Titans did a great job of containing reigning HCAC Player of the Week, Ally Bromenschenkel, in the first half by holding her to two points, both of which came via free throw. Bromenschenkel was held to 11 points throughout the entire contest with the Titans forcing her into four turnovers.
Offensively, McGraw took control of the game in the second half scoring eight points on 4-of-7 shooting to lead the team. On the defensive side of the ball, senior
Alina Lehocky collected four steals while blocking two shots in the second half.
Sophomore
Maddie Merritt tied McGraw for the team-high in rebounds with five, three of which came on the offensive end.
Illinois Wesleyan defense was as stout as ever on Wednesday, holding Rose-Hulman to their lowest scoring output of the season on 29.2 percent shooting. The Titans forced the Engineers into 27 turnovers, with 16 coming in the second half. In total, Illinois Wesleyan scored 23 points off turnovers opposed to five for Rose-Hulman. On average, IWU is forcing opponents into 26.8 turnovers per game so far this season.
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan opens CCIW action against North Central College this Saturday, Dec. 3 at 5:00 p.m. The Titans will travel to Naperville, Ill. to take on the Cardinals who currently sit at 3-1 with their lone loss coming to Rose-Hulman. North Central is led by Anita Sterling who will come into the game averaging 12.0 points per game.
