WHEATON, Ill. -- In a closely contested game, the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team fell to Wheaton College by a final score of 66-62 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship game on Saturday, Feb. 25. Junior Rebekah Ehresman led the team in scoring with 16 points, including a 6-of-7 performance from the charity stripe. The Thunder, who improved to 23-4 on the season, claimed the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament with the win.

The Titans, who were aiming to claim their seventh CCIW tournament championship, now hope that their strength of schedule will convince the selection committee they are worthy of a chance in the NCAA Division III tournament. If selected, IWU will make their first appearance in the tournament since winning the NCAA Division III National Championship in 2012. In the event that the Titans aren't selected, they'll conclude their season with a record of 18-9, with seven losses coming at the hands of regionally ranked opponents.

Illinois Wesleyan will await an at-large bid to the national tournament as the field for the NCAA Division III championships will be announced at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, with the selection show aired live at NCAA.com.

Scoring in double-figures for the Titans were Ehresman (16), Sophomore Maddie Merritt (14), and junior Molly McGraw (12). Ehresman added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block to her final tally. Merritt collected a double-double with 10 rebounds (six offensive), a game-high. McGraw hauled in four boards, dished out two assists, and collected one steal. Senior Amanda Kelly led the Titans in assists with four. After leading the team with 17 points on Friday night, freshman Sydney Shanks was held to two points on Saturday, but collected seven rebounds which ranked second on the team.

IWU led for a majority of the first quarter, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead. The Titans maintained this lead until the final seconds of the quarter, prior to a jumper from Wheaton's Kelly Lawson. Each team continued to jockey for position in the second quarter, which featured seven lead changes. In the first half, Merritt led the Titans on offense with eight points. Following an offensive rebound, Merritt sank a lay-up with two ticks on the clock to give the Titans a 31-28 lead heading into halftime.

The second half featured just one lead change, but it was enough for the Thunder to steal the victory from Illinois Wesleyan. After leading by as many as eight points with 5:58 to play, Wheaton went on a 6-0 run to pull themselves back within one possession of the Titans. The Thunder shot 5-of-8 from the field down the stretch as opposed to 1-of-12 shooting from the Titans.

Illinois Wesleyan played solid defense on the perimeter all night, holding Wheaton to 1-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, but the Thunder's lone basket from deep proved to be important. With 2:23 remaining, Chantal Meachem sank a 3-pointer to bring the Thunder within one point. Meachem's triple swung the momentum in Wheaton's favor one final time.

Junior Molly McGraw sunk a heavily-contested 3-pointer with four seconds remaining, but the ensuing free-throws from two-time CCIW MOP Katie McDaniels sealed the deal for Wheaton. The Titans held McDaniels in check all game (3-of-16 shooting), but the senior guard shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line down the stretch.

Illinois Wesleyan shot .348 percent from the field (24-of-69) and made 3-of-15 3-pointers (.200). The Titans held a sizable rebounding advantage over the Thunder, 50-32, and turned 20 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points. Wheaton shot .441 percent (26-of-59) from the floor and were held to 1-of-10 shooting from deep (.100), a season-worst.

The Thunder won the turnover battle, forcing IWU into 16 turnovers while committing just 10. Wheaton scored 12 points off of turnovers, including eight points in the fourth quarter.