BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball team saw their nine-game losing streak come to an end with a 56-54 loss to Wheaton College at the Shirk Center on Wednesday, Jan. 2.
 
The Titans are now 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while the Thunder won for the fifth straight time and improved to 10-3 and 4-0 in the CCIW.

Senior Maddie Merritt paced the Titans with 22 points and was 10 of 18 from the field while sophomore Kendall Sosa scored 12 and burned in three 3-pointers. Sophomore Riley Brovelli led IWU with a game-high 10 rebounds to go with six points, three assists and two steals. The Titans and Thunder each corralled 35 boards.

Illinois Wesleyan, whose 54 points is a season low, shot 37.9 percent from the field (22 of 58) as starters Ashley Schneider (0 for 9) and Sydney Shanks (0 for 7) failed to make a field goal. The Titans trailed 19-11 after the first quarter and took their only first half lead when senior Nina Anderson made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put IWU up 27-26. The Titans led in the game for 1:29 and the game was tied for 3:34.

The Thunder shot 43.4 percent from the field (23 of 53) and made only five of 20 (25 percent) from 3-point range after starting out by making only one of 13 treys in the first half. Wheaton, who led the game for 35 minutes, 7 seconds, got 16 points from Hannah Frazier and 14 from Jordan Myroth.

Thunder senior Devin Kyler made a 3-pointer to snap a 52-52 tie with 42 seconds left in the contest, giving Wheaton a 55-52 lead.
IWU's last chances came on a missed Sosa 3-pointer (:28) with an offensive rebound to Shanks and a subsequent field goal miss (:12). Frazier made one of two free throws with :09.6 to give Wheaton a 56-52 lead before Merritt's last second basket.

What's Next?
The Titans play at North Park in Chicago next Wednesday, Jan. 9, in a 7 p.m. tipoff.