BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The No.14-ranked Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team punched their ticket to the second round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball championships on Friday, March 2 with an 83-77 victory over Marietta College.

IWU was led in scoring by senior Molly McGraw, whose 29 points broke the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball record for single-game postseason scoring, a record that was set by Olivia Lett (28) against Coe College on March 11, 2011. McGraw finished the game 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

With a win the Titans improved to 25-3 on the season and 18-10 in NCAA Tournament play all-time. Marietta, who was making their first tournament appearance in program history, finishes their season with a record of 24-5.

Despite opening the game on a cool 5-of-16 shooting stretch, Illinois Wesleyan turned things around to shoot .531 percent for the game on 26-of-49 shooting. From distance IWU shot .471 percent for the game and converted on 8-of-17 attempts. The Titans doubled Marietta's free-throw attempts 28-14 and made 23-of-28 from the charity stripe.

Marietta found success on the glass out-rebounding the Titans 37-32 overall and 17-4 on the offensive end. The Pioneers utilized those 17 rebounds to score 19 second chance points. Marietta beat the Titans at their own game, forcing the Titans to commit 18 turnovers while committing 15 turnovers of their own. This marked just the third time the Titans have committed more turnovers than their opponent this season.

Despite having the flu earlier this week senior Rebekah Ehresman finished second on the team in scoring with 16 and added a near triple-double with eight rebounds, and eight assists. Ehresman finished the game with an 8:1 assist/turnover ratio to improve her season mark to 3.78, a tally that ranks second in the nation for Division III.

Junior Nina Anderson finished third on the team in scoring with 11 and freshman Kendal Sosa contributed 10 points off the bench. Sosa's 10 points were the result of a 2-for-2 performance from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Junior Maddie Merritt led the team in rebounding with nine.

A cold-streak from Illinois Wesleyan to open the contest led to the Titans converting on just four field-goals in the first quarter, allowing Marietta to jump out to an early 19-12 lead. The Pioneers led by as many as nine points in the first half. McGraw missed her first four shots in the quarter, but finished the remainder of the contest 9-of-13 en route to her 29 points.

Illinois Wesleyan wasted no time heating up in the second quarter, going on a 20-4 run to close out the quarter which saw them convert on 10 consecutive shot attempts. Defensively, the Titans held the Pioneers to a 2-of-15 shooting performance for the quarter. IWU used this run to take a commanding 37-25 lead into halftime.

The second half was closely contested as Illinois Wesleyan saw their lead grow by two points following the third quarter. Despite holding onto a 13-point lead with 4:21 to play in the contest, Marietta charged back utilizing a 12-2 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Amisha Herd to cut the Titan lead to three with two minutes to play. McGraw scored five of the Titans final eight points to seal a victory for Illinois Wesleyan.

Marietta was led in scoring by Corrie Burkhardt who scored a team-high 22 points and hauled in a team-best eight rebounds. Herd finished with 20 points for the Pioneers and added eight assists and six rebounds. Shay Lett struggled to find her groove, finishing the day 4-of-17 from the field with nine points and three rebounds.

What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan will host Trine University in the second round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball championships at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 3. The Thunder defeated DePauw University on the Titans home floor on Friday by a final score of 65-50. Trine was behind at halftime, 29-25, but outscored the Tigers 40-21 in the second half. Brandi Dawson and Hayley Martin combined to score 39 points for Trine with Martin finishing with a game-high five blocked shots and 10 rebounds. The Thunder pose as a familiar foe for Illinois Wesleyan, having defeated the Titans in NCAA Tournament competition last season 63-56.