WHEATON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team saw No. 18-nationally ranked Wheaton shoot 57.1 percent from the field, dropping a 92-70 decision in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament championship game at King Arena in Wheaton on Saturday, Feb. 27. 

The No. 2 seeded Titans fell to 17-10 with the loss while the Thunder improved to 22-5 on the year and claimed the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III national tournament starting next week. 

IWU took a 5-0 lead just 10 seconds into the game, but would see their lead shortlived as the Thunder claimed the lead for good at the 4:58 mark in the first quarter. Illinois Wesleyan trailed 27-21 after the first quarter and found themselves in a 48-37 hole at halftime. Wheaton would outscore IWU 23-17 in the third quarter before putting the game on ice in the fourth to claim their second straight CCIW tournament title.

Sophomore Molly McGraw led the Titans with 19 points and five rebounds in the game while freshman Maddie Merritt had 12 points and six caroms. Junior Gabrielle Holness pitched in 10 points off the bench while hitting three of IWU's five three-point field goals. 

CCIW "Player of the Year" Katie McDaniels scored a game-high 32 points and had three assists while Hannah Considine scored 16 points to go along with seven rebounds to lead the Thunder.

"We lost to a phenomenal team tonight," said head coach Mia Smith in a postgame interview with WJBC Radio. "If you look at the stats, the thing that is key is the points off turnovers (28) and second-chance points (18). I'm very impressed with Wheaton - they have all five spots filled correctly on the floor. We lost to a good team and had no answer for McDaniels."

The Titans shot only 34.4 percent from the field (22-of-64), and outrebounded the Thunder 38-33. IWU was guilty of 19 turnovers and was also done in by a 40-26 deficit in points in the paint.

"I'm excited for next year already," added Smith. "We return everyone but one player. The conference coaches selected us for fifth preseason and we got a co-championship so we're proud of that."

NOTES: The NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament selection show will air live on NCAA.com at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 29 ... Illinois Wesleyan is looking to make the tournament for the first time since winning the national title in 2012 and boasts a strong strength-of schedule for a potential bid: Six of IWU's 10 losses were to teams currently ranked in the top 25 of the D3hoops.com poll. IWU lost three games to No. 18 Wheaton and also lost to No. 1 Thomas More, No. 17 Wis.-Stevens Point and No. 24 Wis.-Whitewater. ... In nine NCAA postseason appearances, Illinois Wesleyan has posted a 17-9 overall record in the NCAA Division III tournament ... IWU is now 17-6 in CCIW tournament play dating back to 2003 ... If the IWU women are not an at-large selection, it would be the first time since 2001-02 that neither IWU basketball team has made the NCAA postseason tournament. The Titan men's season ended Friday night with a 13-13 record ... Wheaton has now won five straight against the Titans, with the last IWU win coming on Feb. 28, 2014 in the CCIW tournament.