DECATUR, Ill. – A tightly-contested game for three quarters turned into the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team pulling away from Millikin late for a 69-56 victory at the Griswold Center in Decatur on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
IWU is now 13-8 on the season and reclaims sole possession of first place in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin at 8-2 while the Big Blue sit at 7-14 overall and 0-10 in the CCIW.
After an 6-0 Millikin run to start the game, the Titans found themselves in a 10-4 hole before closing out the first quarter on a 12-3 run to take a 16-13 lead. In the second quarter, both teams struggled from the field as the Big Blue took a 25-23 halftime lead with the two teams combining for 29 turnovers.
The start of the second half saw much of the same for the Titans, who fell behind 33-24 after Millikin opened the half on an 8-1 run. Illinois Wesleyan closed out the period by outscoring the Big Blue 22-12 and took a 46-45 lead despite being outrebounded 25-12 in the first three quarters.
IWU took no chances in the final 10 minutes of play, outscoring the Big Blue 23-12 to come away with the 13 point victory and sweep Millikin in the season series.
Junior
Gabrielle Holness scored a team high 18 points and had four assists and four steals while sophomore
Molly McGraw had 14 points. Freshman
Maddie Merritt netted 10 points for the Titans in 25 minutes of action.
Millikin scored 44 of 56 points from Alyssa Saklak and Emily Schultz who scored 24 and 18 points each.
The Titans were outrebounded in the contest 29-18 but forced 37 Big Blue turnovers. IWU went 4-12 from beyond the arc while Millikin was 0-4.
What's Next?Illinois Wesleyan plays its last CCIW regular season road game of the year at North Central at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6 ... In the teams' first meeting at the Shirk Center on Jan. 16, the Titans held the Cardinals to their lowest point total of the season in a 78-66 win ... North Central (10-11 overall, 4-6 CCIW) fell behind by 23 points to Augustana in the first half before losing by a final score of 109-100 on Wednesday night.
