BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The No. 17-ranked Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team handled Augustana by a final score of 99-70 on Wednesday, Jan. 31 from the Shirk Center. Sophomore Sydney Shanks scored a career-high 21 points in the effort alongside five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. Shanks' 21 points bested her previous career-high of 17 set against Elmhurst on 2/24/17.

With a win the Titans extended their winning-streak to 16 games and improved to 18-2 on the season with an 11-0 mark in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW). IWU's current winning stretch is tied for the third longest in program history with the 2007-08 team. They currently trail the 18 straight wins of the 2009-10 team and the 30 straight of the 2008-09 squad. Following a loss to the Titans, Augustana fell to 12-8 and 5-5 in conference play.

As a team the Titans were out-shot .524 percent to .439 from the floor, but it was turnovers that turned the tides for Illinois Wesleyan. IWU forced 27 turnovers and scored 37 points off turnovers. The Titans also turned in a strong performance on the glass, out-rebounding the Vikings 39-27 with 19 offensive rebounds. Using those offensive rebounds, Illinois Wesleyan scored 25 second chance points.

Alongside Shanks, four other Titans finished the night in double figure scoring. Junior Maddie Merritt scored 19 points, followed by 16 from senior Molly McGraw, 12 from senior Rebekah Ehresman, and 10 from freshman Raven Hughes. Ehresman flirted with a triple-double collecting seven rebounds and seven assists alongside her scoring.

With 16 points McGraw increased her career point total to 1,424, passing Elaine Hill (1,415) and Kristen Schroff (1,415) for No. 2 all-time in Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball history.

Junior Ashley Schneider and Hughes matched Ehresman's seven rebounds to set the game-high. Hughes needs 25 more made baskets this season to qualify for Illinois Wesleyan's single-season field-goal percentage record of .629 set by Stacey Arlis in 2010-11. Junior Nina Anderson continued her hot-streak from distance with a 3-of-5 performance.

Illinois Wesleyan held a 30-20 advantage after the first, but that didn't prevent Augustana from hunkering down defensively and out-scoring the Titans 17-15 in the second quarter to take an eight point deficit into halftime. Augustana ended the half on a brief 6-0 run.

Despite losing momentum heading into halftime the Titans came out in the third on an 11-0 run which saw the Vikings held scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. Illinois Wesleyan shot 10-of-17 for the quarter to extend their lead to an untouchable 22 points heading into the final quarter. A lay-up from Schneider with 1:25 remaining in the contest game Illinois Wesleyan their largest lead of the contest at 29.

Augustana was led in scoring by Alexis Jones who scored 18 points in addition to a team-high six rebounds. Clare Kramer added 17 for the Vikings alongside 10 points from each of Izzy Anderson and Victoria Allen. Justice Edell led the team with three assists.

What's Next?
With the weekend off the Titans will face-off with Wheaton College on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. from King Arena in Wheaton, Ill. Sitting in second place in the CCIW, Wheaton currently holds a 16-4 overall record and a 9-2 mark in the conference. The Thunder have won 10 straight games heading into a Feb. 3 meeting with Elmhurst College.