WHEATON, Ill. – Holding a 17-point lead with 5:58 remaining in the game, the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team weathered a 13-2 North Central run before pulling away for a 96-84 victory over the Cardinals in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament semifinal at King Arena in Wheaton on Friday, Feb. 26.
 
The No. 2-seed Titans improved to 17-9 overall and will play the host Wheaton in the CCIW tournament title game Saturday at 7 p.m. The No. 3 seed Cardinals see their season come to a close with a 14-12 record.
 
Running out of the gates early, Illlnois Wesleyan built a 31-18 lead after the first 10 minutes of action and led by a score of 50-38 at intermission. The Titans outscored North Central 25-23 in the third quarter to lead 75-61 heading into the final quarter.
 
An Alina Lehocky layup would put the Titans up 88-71 and on the road to a big victory, but would suffer a scoring drought of 4:28 which allowed North Central to pull within eight at 88-80 with 1:58 left in the game. The Titans outscored the Cardinals 8-4 the rest of the way by hitting four free throws and scoring a fast-break layup to put the game away and advance to the title game for the second time in three years.
 
Sophomore Molly McGraw scored a game-high 25 points and added five rebounds while sophomore Rebekah Ehresman recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to go with three assists and three steals. Junior Amanda Kelly would also fill out her stat line, finishing with 12 points, seven assists, six rebounds and six steals while freshman Maddie Merritt (13 points) and junior Gabrielle Holness (10 points) also reached double figures for the Titans.
 
The Cardinals were led in scoring by Mayson Whipple, who netted 19 points to go along with six assists.
 
Illinois Wesleyan was held without a 3-point field goal for the first time in 82 games, going 0-for-11 from beyond the arc while seeing North Central connect on 12-of-45 treys. The Titans made up the deficit at the charity stripe, hitting 28 of 38 free throw attempts while only allowing 13 total free throw attempts from North Central.
 
Illinois Wesleyan led wire-to-wire and held a commanding 68-44 rebounding advantage in addition to netting 36 fast break points.
 
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan will take on Wheaton on Saturday as the No. 1-seed Thunder were 82-51 winners over No. 4 seed Elmhurst. The IWU-Wheaton winner earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III championship tournament ... Wheaton lead the series against IWU, 47-24, and has won four straight against the Titans. This year, the Thunder won 72-66 at Wheaton on Jan. 10 and took a 69-53 decision in Bloomington on Jan. 31 ... The Titans are seeking their seventh CCIW conference tournament championship title, with the previous six coming in seasons in which they won the regular season title as well. IWU has not played in the NCAA Division III championship tournament since winning the NCAA national title in 2012.