BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team won their fifth game in a row on Saturday, Jan. 14, defeating Carthage College by a final score of 77-50. Junior Molly McGraw scored a game-high 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, in addition to hauling in three rebounds and collecting two steals.

With a win the Titans improved to 10-5 (5-1 CCIW) while Carthage falls to 8-6 (3-3 CCIW).

Led by McGraw four Titans scored in double figures which included a career-high 16 from sophomore Nina Anderson, 12 from senior Amanda Kelly and 10 from sophomore Maddie Merritt. Anderson nearly recorded a double-double with 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Kelly led the team in assists with four while not committing a turnover, improving her conference assist-to-turnover ratio to 2.2 which ranks second in the CCIW.

IWU took a commanding 17-7 lead in the first quarter of play, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The Titans forced Carthage into committing 27 turnovers, a season-high for the Lady Reds. Illinois Wesleyan converted those 27 turnovers into 26 points.

Illinois Wesleyan also saw success on the offensive glass hauling in 15 rebounds of their 43 total on the offensive end. The Titans held a 18-3 advantage on second-chance points.

At half IWU held a sizable 41-22 advantage due in part to Anderson's 10 first-half points. Defensively the Titans forced 16 turnovers in the first half as Carthage shot 33.3 percent from the floor.

The Titan's lead never dipped below 16 points in the second-half and reached as much as 30 points with 1:56 to play in the game.

What's Next?
IWU visits Augustana College on Wednesday, Jan. 18 for the first of two consecutive road games. Augustana owns a record of 12-3 (5-1 CCIW) and are tied with IWU and Wheaton for first place in the CCIW. Tip is set for 7 p.m.